Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk | |
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City | Oskemen, Kazakhstan |
League | Supreme Hockey League |
Founded | 1955 |
Home arena | Boris Alexandrov Sports Palace |
Colours | |
General manager | Sergei Nemchinov |
Head coach | Alexei Fetisov |
Captain | Leonid Metalnikov |
Affiliate(s) |
ShKO Oskemen (KAZ) Altay Oskemen (MHL-B) |
Championships | 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07 |
Website | hc-torpedo.kz |
Torpedo Hockey Club (Kazakh: «Торпедо» хоккей клубы; Russian: Хоккейный клуб «Торпедо»), commonly referred to as Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk, formerly known as Kazzinc-Torpedo (1999–2015), is a professional ice hockey team based in Oskemen, Kazakhstan. Torpedo has typically been the most dominant developmental club in Kazakhstan and its senior level team also plays at the Supreme Hockey League (VHL), one step below the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Most Kazakh players who have reached the National Hockey League (NHL) trace their roots to Torpedo. Kazzinc-Torpedo is the most crowned Kazakhstan team, with 13 championship wins.
The Torpedo were founded by Nikolai Konyakhin in 1955. Konyakhin was a former ice hockey player and he had experience of playing for a youth team of the Moscow region. Father and son Konaykhin's have initiated the foundation of the amateur team at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant. Ice Hockey was a new kind of sport for the factory guys and they started to train and play on the ice of Ulba River in winter. By that time, the factory workers were avtively playing football and bandy. Both teams were calling Torpedo. The new hockey team was named Torpedo, too.
In 1957, they firstly participated at the Kazakh SSR Hockey Championship in Alma-Ata. Also, it was the first official tournament for Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk. They won silver medals at this championship. It was first and last silver medals at the National Championships, because next years they were unbeaten before the 1964. In 1964, Torpedo debuted at the Soviet Hockey Championship's Class B. The team coached by Olympic medalist and multiple champion of USSR Yuri Baulin. His management led to promotion to Soviet Hockey Championship's Class A2. In 1966–67 season, they were runners-up and lost only to Avtomobilist Sverdlovsk.