| Dinamo Riga | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| City | Riga, Latvia |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Folded | 2023 |
| Home arena | Inbox.lv ledus halle [lv] (capacity: 1,000) |
| General manager | Jurijs Kuzņecovs |
| Website | www |
 | |
Dinamo Riga (Latvian:Rīgas Dinamo) is a professional ice hockey team based inRiga,Latvia. It most recently was a member of theLatvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated withHK Zemgale/LBTU.
The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of aformer team (also named "Dinamo Riga"), which was founded in 1946, but ceased to exist in 1995. Since being re-established, Dinamo Riga played their home games at theArēna Rīga until 2022, which could accommodate 10,300 spectators.
The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 and among the founders of the club wereGuntis Ulmanis,Kirovs Lipmans,Mały Snopp,Juris Savickis,Viesturs Koziols and others. However, on 27 May,Latvian Ice Hockey Federation presidentKirovs Lipmans stepped out of the project because of a possible clash of interests.[1][2] After the first season,Viesturs Koziols also left the project.[3]
Július Šupler became the first head coach of the club.[4] For the first two seasons, he was assisted byMiroslav Miklošovič andArtis Ābols, but in 2010,Viktors Ignatjevs replaced Miklošovič. On 27 April 2011, the new head coach,Pekka Rautakallio, was announced.
In thefirst season of the franchise, the team was led by players likeMasaļskis,Prusek,Westcott,Ņiživijs,Hossa and others. After 2008–09, forwardAigars Cipruss decided to retire and instantly became the manager of Dinamo Riga's farm club,Dinamo-Juniors Riga. The team finished the regular season in tenth position, higher than anyone would have predicted before the start of the season. However, in the first round of the league playoffs, Dinamo lost 3–0 toDynamo Moscow, which later advanced to theGagarin Cup semifinals.
Following the first season, Dinamo managed to sign legendarySandis Ozoliņš, as well asJānis Sprukts,Mārtiņš Karsums and others. The team finished the regular season in eighth place of the Western Conference, which qualified them for the playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs, Dinamo facedSKA Saint Petersburg with players likeSergei Zubov,Petr Čajánek,Maxim Sushinsky andAlexei Yashin on the roster. Still, Dinamo managed to beat SKA 3–1 and advance to the Western Conference semifinals. In the semifinals, Dinamo was defeated 4–1 by laterGagarin Cup finalistHC MVD.
After his league-leading performance, Marcel Hossa signed a two-year contract with the then KHL championsAk Bars Kazan.Martin Kariya signed a two-year contract with SwissNLA'sHC Ambrì-Piotta. New players signed during the off-season includedTomáš Surový,Brock Trotter,Mikael Tellqvist and the returningMark Hartigan.Július Šupler resumed his post as the head coach.
The team finished the season in seventh place in the Western Conference and thirteenth in the league, as the team qualified to the playoffs. In the first round, their opponents wereDynamo Moscow. Dinamo won the series 4–2, advancing to the next round and facingLokomotiv Yaroslavl. Dinamo lost the series 4–1.
As of the end of the third season, head coachJúlius Šupler left the team to be the coach ofCSKA Moscow. On 27 April 2011, Dinamo signedPekka Rautakallio for the head coach position. Also, all the foreign players with no active contracts left the team to play somewhere else.Brock Trotter also left, using his chance to play in the NHL with theMontreal Canadiens.
In February 2022, Dinamo and the Finnish sideJokerit withdrew from theKHL due to theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[5]
On 10 August 2022, it was announced that Dinamo Riga would play in theLatvian Hockey Higher League during the2022–23 season.[6] On 11 July 2023, it was announced that Dinamo Riga would not play in the 2023–24 season.[7]
This is a partial list of the last ten seasons completed by Dinamo Riga. For the full season-by-season history, seeList of Dinamo Riga seasons.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTW = Overtime/shootout wins, OTL = Overtime/shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
| Season | League | GP | W | L | OTW | OTL | Pts | GF | GA | Finish | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008–09 | KHL | 56 | 24 | 23 | 5 | 4 | 86 | 132 | 156 | 2nd, Kharlamov | Lost in First Round, 0–3 (Dynamo Moscow) |
| 2009–10 | KHL | 56 | 23 | 22 | 4 | 7 | 84 | 174 | 175 | 5th, Bobrov | Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4 (MVD) |
| 2010–11 | KHL | 54 | 20 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 81 | 160 | 149 | 4th, Bobrov | Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl) |
| 2011–12 | KHL | 54 | 24 | 5 | 4 | 23 | 86 | 132 | 156 | 3rd, Bobrov | Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod) |
| 2012–13 | KHL | 52 | 13 | 31 | 4 | 4 | 51 | 109 | 151 | 7th, Bobrov | Did not qualify |
| 2013–14 | KHL | 54 | 22 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 93 | 141 | 122 | 3rd, Bobrov | Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Donbass Donetsk) |
| 2014–15 | KHL | 60 | 22 | 30 | 3 | 5 | 77 | 136 | 160 | 5th, Bobrov | Did not qualify |
| 2015–16 | KHL | 60 | 17 | 34 | 8 | 8 | 75 | 129 | 151 | 7th, Bobrov | Did not qualify |
| 2016–17 | KHL | 60 | 11 | 34 | 10 | 5 | 58 | 116 | 158 | 7th, Bobrov | Did not qualify |
| 2017–18 | KHL | 56 | 9 | 31 | 7 | 9 | 50 | 105 | 153 | 6th, Bobrov | Did not qualify |
| 2018–19 | KHL | 62 | 18 | 26 | 8 | 10 | 62 | 129 | 155 | 5th, Bobrov | Did not qualify |
| 2019–20 | KHL | 62 | 11 | 38 | 6 | 7 | 41 | 103 | 187 | 6th, Bobrov | Did not qualify |
| 2020–21 | KHL | 60 | 5 | 41 | 4 | 10 | 28 | 126 | 211 | 5th, Tarasov | Did not qualify |
| 2021–22 | KHL | 45 | 9 | 22 | 5 | 9 | 37 | 93 | 143 | 6th, Tarasov | Did not qualify |
| 2022–23 | OHL | 32 | 16 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 43 | 147 | 105 | 3rd | Lost in Semifinals, 0–4Zemgale/LLU |
For a list of all Dinamo Riga players with a Wikipedia article, seeList of Dinamo Riga players.
| No. | Player | Position | Career |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Sandis Ozoliņš | D | 2009–2012, 2013–2014 |
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/– | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Lauris Dārziņš | 506 | 124 | 175 | 299 | –14 | 282 |
| Miķelis Rēdlihs | 581 | 120 | 173 | 293 | –41 | 386 |
| Miks Indrašis | 319 | 88 | 98 | 186 | +6 | 113 |
 Marcel Hossa | 241 | 105 | 80 | 185 | –12 | 252 |
| Aleksandrs Niživijs | 290 | 45 | 108 | 153 | –46 | 127 |
| Guntis Galviņš | 416 | 31 | 112 | 143 | –1 | 230 |
| Krišjānis Rēdlihs | 449 | 37 | 99 | 136 | –13 | 205 |
| Gints Meija | 541 | 51 | 69 | 120 | –53 | 210 |
| Mārtiņš Karsums | 196 | 62 | 57 | 119 | +3 | 183 |
| Jānis Sprukts | 186 | 42 | 73 | 115 | +12 | 130 |
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | GA | SO | SV% | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Timur Bilyalov | 38 | 2,035:59 | 15 | 14 | 74 | 4 | 93.0% | 2.18 |
| Jānis Kalniņš | 72 | 3,835:47 | 18 | 34 | 143 | 4 | 92.7% | 2.24 |
 Mikael Tellqvist | 103 | 5,880:56 | 44 | 42 | 232 | 5 | 91.8% | 2.37 |
 Jakub Sedláček | 126 | 7,082:09 | 41 | 58 | 286 | 10 | 91.8% | 2.42 |
| Joacim Eriksson | 34 | 1,934:53 | 9 | 17 | 78 | 2 | 91.9% | 2.42 |
 Chris Holt | 90 | 5,246:44 | 37 | 34 | 214 | 6 | 91.7% | 2.45 |
 Mantas Armalis | 12 | 576:37 | 3 | 5 | 24 | 0 | 91.1% | 2.50 |
| Alexander Salak | 32 | 1,835:38 | 8 | 19 | 77 | 2 | 91.2% | 2.52 |
| Kristers Gudļevskis | 42 | 2,255:16 | 13 | 24 | 98 | 3 | 90.1% | 2.61 |
| Martin Prusek | 55 | 3,017:36 | 18 | 26 | 132 | 6 | 91.6% | 2.62 |
