Sokil Kiev | |
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Nickname | "White-Blues", "Falcons" |
City | Brovary and Kiev |
League |
Ukrainian Championship (2013–present) |
Founded | 1963 |
Home arena |
Kiev Palace of Sports (capacity: 7,200) |
Colours | |
Owner(s) | Sergei Alekseevich Serhiy Taruta |
President | Evhen Imas |
Head coach | Serhiy Lubnin |
Asst. head coach | Serhiy Klymentiev |
Website | HCSokol.com.ua |
Franchise history | |
Hockey Club Sokil Kiev
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Hockey Club Sokil Kiev
Hockey Club Sokil Kiev (Ukrainian: ХК Сокіл Київ; Russian: ХК Сокол Ки́ев, HC Sokol Kiev; English: Falcon Hockey Club), commonly known as Sokil Kiev or HC Sokil, was a Ukrainian Professional Hockey League team based in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. While their home arena is located in the city, the team also plays out of Brovary, still within the Kiev region.
They are a founding club of the Professional Hockey League of Ukraine, and have formerly competed in the national leagues of Belarus, Russia, and the Soviet Union. Until 2014 Sokil remained the oldest and most accomplished team in Ukrainian hockey, winning 12 of the 19 Ukrainian Hockey Championships held since 1992. The club's senior team is inactive since 2014.
The club was founded in 1963 as part of the Dynamo sports society, and adopted its current moniker in 1973. They are the second major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Kiev, preceded only by its short lived predecessor, also named Dynamo (founded in 1953). They are the most successful Ukrainian team to have competed in the Soviet Championship, finishing as high as third in the highly competitive circuit (1985) and producing several award-winning players. In 1986, Sokil managed to become the first and only Ukrainian-based team to compete in the Spengler Cup ice hockey tournament, where they would finish 2nd. They also became the first Ukrainian team to win an international league championship, doing so in the Eastern European Hockey League consecutively in 1998 and 1999.
Sokil is accredited with developing a majority of the country's top young hockey players, producing NHL All Stars such as Dmitri Khristich and Alexei Zhitnik, and Stanley Cup Champions Ruslan Fedotenko and Anton Babchuk.