SKA St. Petersburg
| SKA Saint Petersburg СКА Санкт-Петербург |
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|---|---|
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| Nickname | Soldiers, Horses |
| City | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| League | Kontinental Hockey League |
| Conference | Western |
| Division | Bobrov |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Home arena |
Ice Palace (capacity: 12,300) |
| Colours | |
| Owner(s) | Gazprom Export |
| President | Gennady Timchenko |
| General manager | Andrey Tochitskiy |
| Head coach | Oļegs Znaroks |
| Asst. head coach |
Harijs Vītoliņš Vladimir Fedosov |
| Captain | Pavel Datsyuk |
| Affiliate(s) |
SKA-Neva (VHL) SКА-1946 (MHL) |
| Website | www.ska.ru |
| Franchise history | |
| SKA Ice Hockey Club | |
The Hockey Club SKA (Russian: Хоккейный клуб СКА), often referred to as SKA Saint Petersburg and literally as the Sports Club of the Army, is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Saint Petersburg. They are members of the Bobrov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In spite of its long history, the club never competed in a league final until the 2014–15 KHL season, where they defeated Ak Bars Kazan winning the Gagarin Cup. In 2012, with an average of 10,126 spectators the SKA became the first Russian club ever to average a five-digit attendance.
The club was established in 1946 as a top level club of the Soviet Hockey Championship to participate in its first season. The original name the club was Kirov LDO (Kirov Leningrad Officers’ Club). It was subsequently changed to ODO (District Officers' Club) in 1953, SKVO (Sports Club of the Military District) in 1957 and finally Sportivnyi Klub Armii (Sport Club of the Army) in 1959. During the Soviet era the SKA (along with CSKA Moscow) belonged to the Ministry of Defense sports club system and consisted of Leningrad Military District officers.
After finishing last in their group during the first season LDO skipped the next season and was downgraded to the second level of the championship in 1948. The club returned to the Soviet Class A in 1950–51 and remained in the top division of the Soviet league until 1991. The highest achievements of the club during that time were 1968 and 1971 Soviet Cup Finals (the former was lost to CSKA Moscow 7–1, the latter to Spartak Moscow 5–1) as well as the bronze medals of the 1970–71 and 1986–87 Soviet Championships.
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