Amur Khabarovsk

Amur Khabarovsk
Full name Hockey Club Amur
Founded 1966
Based in Khabarovsk, Russia
Arena Platinum Arena
(capacity: 7,100)
League Kontinental Hockey League
Division Chernyshev
Conference Eastern
Team colors               
Owner(s) Dalspetsstroy
GM Yuri Hrizman
Head coach Sergei Shepelev
Captain Dmitri Tarasov
Affiliates Amurskie Tigry (MHL)
Website www.hcamur.ru

Hockey Club Amur (Russian: Хоккейный клуб Амур), commonly referred to as the Amur Khabarovsk,[1] is a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Khabarovsk. They are members of the Chernyshev Division of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Located in the Russian Far East, the team takes its name from the Amur River, and plays its home games at the Platinum Arena.

History

Amur Khabarovsk was founded in 1966 as SKA Khabarovsk; it only adopted its current name in 1996, a name that comes from the nearby river Amur. By its location in the Russian Far East, the team is pretty isolated from every other team in the KHL, making rivalries difficult; the nearest KHL team is Admiral Vladivostok. Still, the team is very popular among Khabarovsk citizens, and despite its usual poor results, the team keeps being highly successful at the gates.

For a long time a lower division dweller, Khabarovsk won the championship of the Soviet League Division 3 in 1989, earning promotion to the upper level. In 1996, Khabarovsk promoted to the Russian Superleague. A relegation to the Vysshaya Liga occurred in 2004 when the mining company that funds the club had financial difficulties. The Tigers could promote back to the top level in 2006. That same financial crisis forced the team's reserve squad, the Golden Amur Khabarovsk, to withdraw from the Asia League where it played for the 2004-05 season. The team could finish the season and take part in the playoffs, however; they finished third in regular season standings and failed to reach the playoffs finals.

In 2008, Khabarovsk was one of the 24 founding members of the Kontinental Hockey League. The team played the league's inaugural game on September 2 against Dinamo Riga at home in front of a sell-out crowd of 7,100 people. Unfortunately for the fans, their team lost 4-2 to the Latvian side. Riga and the Tigers were playing back-to-back games in Khabarovsk, however, and on the second match, Amur won 7-6 in a tied game that went to shootouts. But the 2008-09 didn't prove to be very successful for the Tigers. The team was plagued with injuries - in October only, 11 players were side-lined, including imports Kyle Wanvig and Bryce Lampman. The Tigers needed to strengthen their squad, and therefore offered a contract to Carolina Hurricanes's Matt Murley, which resulted in a controversy sometimes compared to Alexander Radulov's, even though there are many differences. Murley's signing didn't prove beneficial for Amur though, as he only contributed 8 points to a fairly impotent offence that scored only 111 goals. Veterans Oleg Belkin and Peter Nylander were Amur's top goal scorers with 11 goals each; Belkin was top scorer with a meager 24 points in 50 games. Amur's defence was better, with regular defencemen Vasily Turkovsky and Viktor Kostyuchenok even managing to finish the season with a +3 and +2 record, respectively. But overall, the season was disappointing for the Tigers, with a 20th place, 15 wins and 60 points.

HC Amur players in 2015-16 season

Things barely improved in 2009-10. Amur finished 21st, out of playoffs again, this time again with 60 points and only 12 wins in regular time (plus three in overtime and six in the shootouts). Former Montreal Canadiens' and Columbus Blue Jackets' David Ling did the best in offense with 32 points, while Alexei Kopeikin and Ruslan Khasanshin were the best goal scorers with respectively 16 and 14 goals. All in all, it's only 129 goals that the team scored, 18 better than the previous season, but still fourth worst in the league. Oleg Belkin had to miss the whole season, while Peter Nylander left the team after ten game to go back in Sweden, joining Timrå IK of the Elitserien. The defence was not as solid as the previous season, with Turkovsky retired and Kostyuchenok traded to HC Spartak Moscow after 14 games. The result was 187 goals against, 29 more than the previous season. Former NHL veteran and Stanley Cup winner Nolan Pratt ended up being the fourth defenceman on the team in icetime and finished the season with 11 points and a -14 +/- rating. Fortunately, despite playing a disappointing season, Khabarovsk could still count on the 4th highest average attendance in the league, with an average of 7,100 fans per game.

Honors

Runners-up

2nd KHL Cup of Hope (1): 2013

Season-by-season KHL record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime/Shootout Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season GP W OTW SOW SOL OTL L Pts GF GA Finish Top Scorer Playoffs
2008–09 56 15 2 2 6 1 30 60 111 158 6th, Kharlamov Div. Oleg Belkin (25 points: 11 G, 14 A; 50 GP) Did not qualify
2009–10 56 12 3 6 4 2 29 60 129 187 10th, East David Ling (32 points: 8 G, 24 A; 46 GP) Did not qualify
2010–11 54 13 1 1 3 4 32 50 112 173 11th, East Radik Zakiev (25 points: 12 G, 13 A; 54 GP) Did not qualify
2011–12 54 23 1 4 3 2 21 84 166 139 7th, East Jakub Petružálek (50 points: 22 G, 28 A; 54 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 4-0 (Avangard Omsk)
2012–13 52 11 1 4 1 0 35 44 115 167 13th, East Jakub Petružálek (33 points: 15 G, 18 A; 41 GP) Did not qualify
2013–14 54 8 1 4 10 1 30 45 106 182 14th, East Alexander Yunkov (29 points: 18 G, 11 A; 50 GP) Did not qualify
2014–15 60 11 0 3 4 2 40 45 117 207 14th, East Dmitri Tarasov (36 points: 13 G, 23 A; 59 GP) Did not qualify
2015–16 60 17 3 3 6 0 31 69 112 143 12th, East Vladislav Ushenin (25 points: 14 G, 11 A; 57 GP) Did not qualify

Players

Current roster

Updated February 21, 2016.[2][3]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
52 Russia Alikin, EvgenyEvgeny Alikin G L 21 2015 Perm, Russia
49 Canada Aliu, AkimAkim Aliu RW/D R 26 2015 Okene, Nigeria
27 Russia Atyushov, VitalyVitaly Atyushov D L 36 2015 Penza, Russian SFSR
13 Russia Bashkirov, RuslanRuslan Bashkirov LW L 23 2012 Perm, Russia
72 Sweden Bergfors, NiclasNiclas Bergfors RW R 28 2015 Södertälje, Sweden
28 Russia Byvaltsev, AlexeiAlexei Byvaltsev C L 22 2015 Magnitogorsk , Russia
54 Russia Cherepanov, NikitaNikita Cherepanov D L 20 2015 Yaroslavl, Russia
25 Russia Dedunov, PavelPavel Dedunov RW L 25 2015 Bolshoy Kamen, Russian SFSR
87 Russia Grachev, EvgenyEvgeny Grachev (A) C L 26 2015 Khabarovsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
88 Russia Ibragimov, RinatRinat Ibragimov D L 29 2015 Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakh SSR
91 Russia Katsuba, StanislavStanislav Katsuba W L 24 2014 Khabarovsk, Russian SFSR
29 Czech Republic Kolář, JanJan Kolář (A) D L 29 2015 Pardubice, Czechoslovakia
95 Russia Kopienko, RomanRoman Kopienko W R 20 2011 Khabarovsk, Russia
6 Russia Kurbatov, EvgeniEvgeni Kurbatov D L 27 2014 Sverdlovsk, Russian SFSR
90 Russia Li, OlegOleg Li RW L 25 2015 Volgograd, Russian SFSR
51 Russia Litovchenko, VyacheslavVyacheslav Litovchenko C L 26 2005 Khabarovsk, Russian SFSR
77 Finland Metsola, JuhaJuha Metsola G L 27 2015 Tampere, Finland
34 Russia Pechurskiy, AlexanderAlexander Pechurskiy G L 25 2014 Magnitogorsk, Russian SFSR
17 Russia Pervushin, VladimirVladimir Pervushin RW L 29 2015 Omsk, Russian SFSR
5 Russia Shulakov, VitalyVitaly Shulakov D L 32 2015 Angarsk, Russian SFSR
18 Russia Skladnichenko, NikolaiNikolai Skladnichenko RW L 21 2015 Moscow, Russia
42 Russia Sokolov, KonstantinKonstantin Sokolov RW L 24 2015 Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakh SSR
55 Russia Stalnov, DaniilDaniil Stalnov D L 21 2015 Rybinsk, Russia
14 Russia Tarasov, DmitriDmitri Tarasov (C) LW L 37 2011 Khabarovsk, Russian SFSR
53 Russia Tolpeko, DenisDenis Tolpeko LW L 30 2015 Moscow, Russian SFSR
71 Russia Ushenin, VladislavVladislav Ushenin F R 23 2015 Magnitogorsk, Russia
79 Russia Ushenin, VyacheslavVyacheslav Ushenin C R 23 2015 Magnitogorsk, Russia
58 Russia Veryovkin, MaximMaxim Veryovkin D L 26 2015 Glazov, Russia
70 Sweden Wandell, TomTom Wandell C L 29 2015 Södertälje, Sweden
98 Russia Zheleznov, MikhailMikhail Zheleznov LW R 25 2014 Moscow, Russian SFSR
80 Czech Republic Zohorna, TomášTomáš Zohorna F L 28 2015 Chotebor, Czechoslovakia
4 Russia Zub, ArtyomArtyom Zub D R 20 2014 Khabarovsk, Russia

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history in the KHL. Figures are updated after each completed regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; bold = current Amur player

Points

Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G
Russia Dmitri Tarasov LW 249 47 62 109 0.43
Czech Republic Jakub Petruzalek RW 133 50 53 103 0.77
Russia Alexei Kopeikin LW 183 32 51 83 0.45
Russia Alexander Yunkov LW 186 38 39 77 0.41
Russia Dmitri Lugin LW 207 31 39 70 0.33
Russia Igor Ignatushkin RW 172 34 24 58 0.33
Russia Vitali Shulakov D 179 16 37 53 0.29
Russia Alexander Nikulin C 103 12 38 50 0.48
Russia Alexander Osipov D 133 31 18 49 0.36
Russia Sergei Plotnikov LW 141 24 20 44 0.31

Goals

Player Pos G
Czech Republic Jakub Petruzalek RW 50
Russia Dmitri Tarasov LW 47
Russia Alexander Yunkov LW 38
Russia Igor Ignatushkin RW 34
Russia Alexei Kopeikin LW 32
Russia Dmitri Lugin LW 31
Russia Alexander Osipov D 31
Russia Sergei Plotnikov LW 24
Czech Republic Petr Vrana C 19
Russia Ruslan Khasanshin C 18

Assists

Player Pos A
Russia Dmitri Tarasov LW 62
Czech Republic Jakub Petruzalek RW 53
Russia Alexei Kopeikin LW 51
Russia Alexander Yunkov LW 39
Russia Dmitri Lugin LW 39
Russia Alexander Nikulin C 38
Russia Vitaly Shulakov D 37
Canada David Ling C 30
Belarus Andrei Stepanov RW 29
Russia Alexander Krysanov LW 28

References

  1. "Amur Khabarovsk's profile". Kontinental Hockey League. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  2. "Amur Khabarovsk Roster" (in Russian). www.hcamur.ru. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
  3. "Amur Khabarovsk team roster". www.khl.ru. Retrieved 2014-12-30.

External links

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