HC Dinamo Minsk

Dinamo Minsk
Dinamo Minsk
City	Minsk, Belarus
League	KHL; 2008–present; Belarusian Extraleague; (2003–2008)
Conference	Western
Division	Tarasov
Founded	2003
Home arena	Minsk-Arena; (capacity: 15,086)
Colours
Owner(s)	BFSO Dinamo
General manager	Oleg Antonenko
Head coach	Dmitri Kvartalnov
Captain	Andrei Stas
Affiliates	Yunost Minsk (BLR); Dinamo-Shinnik Bobruysk (MHL)
Website	hcdinamo.by
Franchise history
2003–	HC Dinamo Minsk
	Current season

Hockey Club Dinamo Minsk or HC Dinamo Minsk, (Russian: Дина́мо-Минск; Belarusian: Дынама-Мінск, Dynama-Minsk) is an ice hockey team based in Minsk, Belarus. They are members of the Tarasov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League.

Dinamo has qualified for the KHL playoffs (Gagarin Cup) four times: in the 2010–11, 2011–12, 2014–15 and 2016–17 KHL seasons. The team has not won a single round in the Gagarin Cup playoffs, losing in all four series.

History

2010–11 IIHF Continental Cup played in Dinamo Minsk home arena

Dinamo was founded in 2003, taking the name of the Minsk club Dinamo, and won the Belarusian Extraleague championship title once and the Belarus Cup twice.^{[citation needed]}

On 26 March 26, 2008, the KHL confirmed the Belarusian club's inclusion in the Bobrov Division. Dinamo Minsk started to play on the ice of Minsk Palace of Sports and was relocated to the newly built Minsk-Arena in December 2009. The first head coach of the club was Paul Gardner, however he was dismissed prior to the beginning of the season. The next head coach became Jim Hughes, a protégé of previous Belarus national team head coach Curt Fraser. But after the first twelve games, the team was ranked next to the last place and Jim Hughes was dismissed. The new vacancy was taken by Russian specialist Vasili Spiridonov whose efforts were not enough to raise Dinamo Minsk from the bottom of the tournament table. The club ended the season ranked 22nd out of 24 teams.^{[citation needed]}

The next season team began under command of Glen Hanlon, who brought the Belarus national team to the sixth place at WC2006 in Riga. The team roster was filled with world-famous players Ville Peltonen and Ossi Väänänen, and also one of the best Belarusian goaltenders Andrei Mezin. The 2009–10 season was similar to the previous one. The team did not show good result and Glen Hanlon was substituted by the head coach of HK Homiel. Dinamo Minsk finished at the 17th spot in the KHL while missing the playoffs, but still managed to win Spengler Cup under the guidance of Alexander Andrievsky.^{[citation needed]}

The 2010–11 season was Dinamo Minsk's best season in the KHL. Marek Sýkora, who is widely thought of as one of the best coaches in the KHL, was appointed head coach. He brought Metallurg Magnitogorsk to the final games in 2005 and a rookie of the KHL Avtomobilist to the KHL playoffs in 2010. Dinamo Minsk under his command managed not only to get into the playoffs but was byt one step removed from the Western Conference semi-finals when Lokomotiv prevailed in the decisive game seven of the series.^{[citation needed]}

The 2011–12 season of Dinamo Minsk was to have begun on 8 September 2011, versus Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. However, on 7 September 2011, the plane carrying the Lokomotiv team to the game in Minsk had crashed during takeoff, killing all but one of Lokomotiv's roster. Four days later, a memorial ceremony took place at the Minsk-Arena, with Minsk players paying tribute to the victims.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2016–17 season, the assistant coach of the Belarus national team Craig Woodcroft, became the head coach of Dinamo Minsk. From the very beginning to the end of the regular season, the "Bisons" were in the playoff zone and breaking a number of club records. They first collected 105 points in a regular season and took eighth place in the general standings of the KHL. But in the playoffs, Dinamo did not succeed. Again, as six years ago, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl became the rival at the first stage. The series ended in five games - 1-4. Also during the season, in December 2016, Dinamo for the second time took part in the Spengler Cup.^{[citation needed]}

Woodcroft had a three-year contract, but elected to leave the team in spring to head the Swiss club Genève-Servette HC. Gordie Dwyer was appointed head coach for the 2017–18 season. The roster had to be formed taking into account the financial difficulties that arose at the end of the previous season, so the team was weakened. Leaders like Ben Scrivens, Kevin Lalande, Raman Hrabarenka, Matt Ellison, Rob Klinkhammer, Sergei Kostitsyn, Andrei Stas and Nikita Komarov left. Instead of these players came mainly young Belarusians and four hockey players who had not previously played in the KHL - Jhonas Enroth, Quinton Howden, Justin Fontaine and Jack Skille. Some of them showed great performance: Enroth joined the Sweden national team to participate in the Olympics in Pyeongchang and became the best player of the season in the opinion of the fans, and Howden took the second place in the list of the team's top scorers. But in general, the season for Dinamo was unsuccessful: the team finished in the 10th place in the conference and did not qualify for the playoffs.^{[citation needed]}

Arenas

Dinamo Minsk called Minsk Sports Palace as their home until they moved to the new Minsk-Arena in 2010.

Season-by-season KHL record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, OTW = Overtime/shootout wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime/shootout losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points

Season	GP	W	OTW	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	Finish	Top Scorer	Playoffs
2008–09	56	12	3	34	7	49	124	197	6th, Bobrov	Yaroslav Chupris (25 points: 9 G, 16 A; 52 GP)	Did not qualify
2009–10	56	17	6	31	2	65	139	164	6th, Bobrov	Geoff Platt (44 points: 26 G, 18 A; 56 GP)	Did not qualify
2010–11	54	17	8	22	7	74	150	155	4th, Tarasov	Konstantin Glazachev (35 points: 12 G, 23 A; 52 GP)	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3-4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
2011–12	54	21	7	20	6	83	158	148	4th, Tarasov	Teemu Laine (42 points: 20 G, 22 A; 54 GP)	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0-4 (Dynamo Moscow)
2012–13	52	18	6	23	5	71	125	148	5th, Tarasov	Tim Stapleton (40 points: 24 G, 16 A; 52 GP)	Did not qualify
2013–14	54	13	4	31	6	53	102	161	7th, Bobrov	Geoff Platt (29 points: 15 G, 14 A; 40 GP)	Did not qualify
2014–15	60	27	7	21	5	100	171	159	3rd, Bobrov	Charles Linglet (58 points: 22 G, 36 A; 54 GP)	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (Jokerit)
2015–16	60	20	7	24	9	83	147	168	4th, Bobrov	Matt Ellison (55 points: 26 G, 29 A; 54 GP)	Did not qualify
2016–17	60	27	10	19	4	105	171	150	2nd, Bobrov	Matt Ellison (49 points: 16 G, 33 A; 54 GP)	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
2017–18	56	20	5	28	3	73	112	129	4th, Bobrov	Marc-Andre Gragnani (35 points: 6 G, 29 A; 55 GP)	Did not qualify
2018–19	62	15	2	37	8	42	119	180	5th, Tarasov	Teemu Pulkkinen (29 points: 15 G, 14 A; 50 GP)	Did not qualify
2019–20	62	11	3	37	11	39	135	232	6th, Tarasov	Ryan Spooner (37 points: 10 G, 27 A; 43 GP)	Did not qualify
2020–21	60	17	15	25	3	67	167	174	4th, Tarasov	Shane Prince (49 points: 25 G, 24 A; 52 GP)	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (SKA Saint Petersburg)
2021–22	47	18	5	16	8	54	138	144	5th, Tarasov	Taylor Beck (38 points: 8 G, 30 A; 42 GP)	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0-4 (SKA Saint Petersburg)
2022–23	68	21	6	27	14	68	175	201	5th, Tarasov	Ryan Spooner (47 points: 19 G, 28 A; 64 GP)	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2-4 (SKA Saint Petersburg)
2023–24	68	26	6	31	5	69	180	178	5th, Tarasov	Sam Anas (46 points: 21 G, 25 A; 60 GP)	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2-4 (Dynamo Moscow)

Players

Current roster

Updated 16 September 2024.^[1]^[2]


No.	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
7	Sam Anas	C	R	31	2023	Potomac, Maryland, United States
67	Yegor Borikov	RW	L	19	2024	Zhlobin, Belarus
27	Josh Brook	D	R	25	2024	Roblin, Manitoba, Canada
3	Pavel Denisov	D	L	23	2024	Gomel, Belarus
19	Dillon Dubé	LW	L	26	2024	Golden, British Columbia, Canada
92	Roman Gorbunov	RW	L	28	2020	Sarov, Russia
79	Jordan Gross	D	R	29	2024	Maple Grove, Minnesota, United States
90	Nikita Guslistov	C	L	22	2024	Cherepovets, Russia
5	Rob Hamilton	D	L	30	2023	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
1	Andrei Kareyev	G	L	30	2024	Moscow, Russia
18	Kristian Khenkel	D	L	29	2024	Minsk, Belarus
89	Dmitri Korobov	D	L	35	2021	Novopolotsk, Belarusian SSR
98	Arseni Kovgorenya	C	L	19	2024	Minsk, Belarus
34	Sergei Kuznetsov	LW	R	22	2021	Zhlobin, Belarus
33	Brady Lyle	D	R	25	2024	North Bay, Ontario, Canada
10	Nicolas Meloche	D	R	27	2024	LaSalle, Quebec, Canada
86	Miroslav Mikhalyov	RW	L	21	2022	Minsk, Belarus
13	Vadim Moroz	F	R	21	2021	Minsk, Belarus
61	Xavier Ouellet (A)	D	L	31	2024	Bayonne, France
81	Vitali Pinchuk	C	L	22	2020	Zhlobin, Belarus
91	Nikita Pyshkaylo	C	L	24	2021	Yubileiny, Belarus
87	Vadim Shipachyov (A)	C	L	37	2024	Cherepovets, Russian SFSR
26	Daniil Sotishvili	F	L	21	2022	Novopolotsk, Belarus
23	Andrei Stas (C)	C	L	36	2023	Minsk, Byelorussian SSR
39	Andrei Tikhomirov	G	L	29	2024	Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
80	Ilya Usov	C	L	23	2024	Minsk, Belarus
22	Yegor Velmakin	G	L	21	2023	Moscow, Russia
83	Alexander Volkov	LW	L	27	2023	Moscow, Russia

Franchise records and scoring leaders

KHL scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history while being a KHL club. Figures are updated after each completed KHL regular season.^[3]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; = current Dinamo Minsk player

Points
Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	P/G
Geoff Platt	LW/C	260	87	83	170	0.65
Matt Ellison	RW	166	66	95	161	0.97
Charles Linglet	LW	221	45	80	125	0.57
Ryan Spooner	C	143	35	88	123	0.86
Alexander Kulakov	LW/RW	376	51	62	113	0.30
Andrei Stas	C	368	45	63	108	0.29
Dmitry Meleshko	RW	356	51	52	103	0.29
Marc-André Gragnani	D	158	18	80	98	0.62
Roman Gorbunov	RW	203	45	47	92	0.45
Alexei Kalyuzhny	C	152	28	63	91	0.60

Goals
Player	Pos	G
Geoff Platt	LW/C	87
Matt Ellison	RW	66
Olexander Materukhin	RW	53
Dmitry Meleshko	RW	51
Alexander Kulakov	LW/RW	51
Roman Gorbunov	RW	45
Charles Linglet	RW	45
Andrei Stas	C	45
Andrei Mikhalev	LW/RW	41
Jonathan Cheechoo	RW	40

Assists
Player	Pos	A
Matt Ellison	RW	95
Ryan Spooner	C	88
Geoff Platt	LW/C	83
Charles Linglet	LW	80
Marc-André Gragnani	D	80
Alexei Kalyuzhny	C	63
Andrei Stas	C	63
Alexander Kulakov	RW	62
Lukáš Krajíček	D	60
Nick Bailen	D	55

Franchise records

Regular season

Most goals in a season: Geoff Platt, 26 (2009–10) & (2015–16)
Most assists in a season: Charles Linglet, 36 (2014–15)
Most points in a season: Charles Linglet, 58 (2014–15)
Most penalty minutes in a season: Duvie Westcott, 146 (2009–10)
Most points in a season, defenseman: Brennan Menell, 38 (2020–21)
Most points in a game: Jonathan Cheechoo, 5 (vs. Jokerit, September 4, 2014, 3 goals and 2 assists)^[4]
Most powerplay goals in a season: Geoff Platt, (2009–10), Jonathan Cheechoo, (2014-15) - tied with 10
Most shorthanded goals in a season: Ilya Dokshin (2008–09), Geoff Platt (2009–10), Alexander Kulakov (2010–11), Zbyněk Irgl (2011–12), Andrei Stas (2011–12), Zbyněk Irgl (2013–14), Matt Ellison (2014–15), Jonathan Cheechoo (2014-15) - all tied with 2
Most wins in a season: Kevin Lalande, 16 (2011–12)
Most shutouts in a season: Kevin Lalande, 4 (2011–12)
Highest plus-minus in a season: Libor Pivko - +18 (2011–12)

Playoffs

Most goals in a playoff season: Geoff Platt, 4 (2010–11)
Most assists in a playoff season: Peter Podhradský, 6 (2010–11)
Most points in a playoff season: Peter Podhradský, 8 (2010–11)
Most penalty minutes in a playoff season: Jordan Henry, 33 (2010–11)
Most points in a playoff season, defenseman: Peter Podhradský, 8 (2010–11)
Most points in a game, playoff: 3, shared by 5 players

Hat-tricks

Dmitry Meleshko, 11-21-2010 at Metallurg Magnitogorsk - needed 43.26 to complete the feat^[5]
Zbyněk Irgl, 11-22-2011 at Barys Astana - needed 31.48 to complete the feat^[6]
Jonathan Cheechoo, 09-04-2014 at Jokerit - needed 42.54 to complete the feat^[7]
Jonathan Cheechoo, 10-24-2014 at Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk - needed 26.09 to complete the feat^[8]
Matt Ellison, 10-03-2015 at Avangard Omsk - needed 17.05 to complete the feat^[9]
Matt Ellison, 10-05-2015 at Barys Astana - needed 21.45 to complete the feat^[10]
Rob Klinkhammer, 10-23-2016 at Sochi - needed 39.52 to complete the feat^[11]
Quinton Howden, 10-02-2017 at Dinamo Moscow - needed 43.45 to complete the feat^[12]