Gagarin Cup

According to the leader of the league, Alexander Medvedev ^[1] , the name Gagarin was chosen for the reason that his name is associated with the highest achievements among the inhabitants of Russia , and Yuri Gagarin himself is a symbol of the nation. In addition, according to the creators of the KHL , the breakthrough made by Gagarin in space should be associated with a breakthrough in hockey . Also, the final matches are held in early April, including April 12 - Cosmonautics Day . Among the options for the name of the cup, the name of Anatoly Tarasov also appeared, but in honor of him it was decided to name one of the league divisions .

The cup was presented to the general public during the first in the history of the KHL “ Match of all stars ”. The presentation was attended by the captains of the playing teams - Alexei Yashin and Jaromir Jagr .

The Gagarin Cup is played by the 16 best teams in the KHL regular season in a series of up to four victories. However, among the 16 strongest clubs, the 16 best teams by points do not necessarily fall. Eight clubs from each conference go to the playoffs, and the division winners go to the playoffs in any situation and “sow” in a pair of the best regardless of the points scored.

Every player ^{[ clarify ]} cup-holder team receives the championship ring.

On April 12, 2009, the Ak Bars team from Kazan became the first owner of the Gagarin Cup and the KHL champion in the 2008/2009 season .

The cup is made of silver of 925-th test , outside is covered with gilding . The front side is engraved with the image of Yuri Gagarin in a spacesuit and a flying comet , and on the other hand there is a hockey player (according to legend, this is Vsevolod Bobrov ). In a circle, it is decorated with small washers on which the names of the winning teams are engraved. The KHL emblem is depicted on the bottom of the cup.

The mass of the cup is 26 kg 800 g ^[2] . Presumably, the volume of the cup is about 12 liters .

The author of the cup is Vladimir Meisel ^[3] , a member of the Union of Artists , the head of the Meisel jewelry studio ^[4] .

From the 2011-2012 season, it was decided that each of the hockey players who won the Cup has the right to take him to his home. The first city the Cup visited was St. Petersburg , where hockey players from Dynamo Moscow - Konstantin Gorovikov and Konstantin Volkov brought it. On May 6, 2012, the Gagarin Cup was put up in the fan zone of the Khimki Arena stadium before the Dynamo - Lokomotiv match.

Dynamo Moscow players Yuri Babenko , Denis Kokarev , Ilya Gorokhov and Alexei Volkov brought the Gagarin Cup to Penza , Tver , Yaroslavl and Yekaterinburg, respectively.

On December 27, 2012, the Gagarin Cup was put up in the assembly hall of the Moscow pre-trial detention center No. 2 Butyrka .

On June 24, 2014, the Gagarin Cup had already visited Novosibirsk , where Victor Antipin, a player from Magnitogorsk Metallurg, brought him there. On June 30, 2014, the trophy visited the village of Tatarsky Dum-Dum in the Yelabuga region of Tatarstan - in the birthplace of the parents of Danis Zaripov .

In the table, the teams are sorted by the number of appearances in the finals of the Gagarin Cup, then by the number of victories. Italics indicate currently non-existent (not playing in the KHL) teams.

Match Duration

Matches with a duration of more than 100 minutes of playing time (more than 5 periods, the winning team is highlighted):

Goals

• In the match “Severstal” - “Atlant” (1: 8) on February 27, 2011 Oleg Petrov scored the “age” hat-trick at the age of 39 years and 10 months , and scored three goals in a row for 3 minutes: 15- I, 17th and 18th ^[6] . In the match “Atlant” - “Lokomotiv” on April 2, 2011 (8: 2), Oleg Petrov also made a hat-trick: 11th, 39th and 59th minutes. Thus, on his account two hat-tricks in one season of the Gagarin Cup.
• A curious goal was scored in the Atlant - Lokomotiv match on March 27, 2011 in the second period of the third match of the series. The Yaroslavl team received a deferred penalty, and their goalkeeper changed for the 6th field player, when Churilov, passing the ball to his player in the home zone, sent the puck into his own net across the entire court. During the match, the goal was recorded on the score of the Atlant goalkeeper Konstantin Barulin , as the last of the Atlant players who touched the puck, but after the game the puck was rewritten for defender Ilya Gorokhov . ^[7]
• A similar curious goal was scored in the fourth match of the final series between CSKA and Ak Bars in 2018: at the end of the 3rd period, the attacking CSKA only took the goalkeeper, replacing him with a field player, as during the turmoil at the gates of Ak Bars Anton Without looking, Lander threw the puck out of his zone, the trajectory of which was originally past the goal of CSKA, but the swirling puck rolling on the edge nevertheless “taxied” into the goal of CSKA along with defender Matt Robinson , who was trying to catch up with it. ^{[8] [9]}

Gagarin Cup Top Scorers

Gagarin Cup Records by Number of Matches

Persons

• Danis Zaripov is a five-time winner of the Gagarin Cup (three times as part of Ak Bars and twice as part of Metallurg Mg ).
• Dmitry Kazionov is a three-time winner of the Gagarin Cup (twice as part of Ak Bars and once as part of Metallurg Mg).
• Alexander Eremenko is a three-time winner of the Gagarin Cup (twice in the Moscow Dynamo and once in the Salavat Yulaev ).
• Coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov four times participated in the final with Kazan “Ak Bars”, and the first three times won the Gagarin Cup with one club.
• Coach Oleg Znarok four times participated in the final of the Gagarin Cup - twice with Dynamo Moscow and once with the HC MVD and SKA , and the first three times won the Gagarin Cup.
• Mike Keenan is the only coach to win the Gagarin Cup with ( Metallurg Mg ) in the KHL and the Stanley Cup with ( New York Rangers ) in the NHL .
• Viktor Kozlov won the Gagarin Cup as a player (Salavat Yulaev), and as a coach (Metallurg Mg).
• Pavel Datsyuk , Vyacheslav Voinov , Oleg Tverdovsky , Alexander Ovechkin and Niklas Backstrom are the hockey players who won the Gagarin Cup (with SKA Datsyuk and Voinov, with “Salavat Yulaev” Tverdovsky, with the Moscow “Dynamo” Ovechkin and Backstrom) in the KHL and the Stanley Cup ( Detroit Red Wings Datsyuk, with the Los Angeles Kings War, with the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes Tverdovsky, with Washington Capitals Ovechkin and Backstrom) in the NHL .
• Pavel Datsyuk is the only hockey player to win the Stanley Cup, Gagarin Cup, World Cup gold and Olympic gold.

Other

• In the KHL playoffs 2009 , the score was the highest in terms of the difference of the goals (+10): on March 14, Ak Bars won against Avangard with a score of 11: 1; and six goals “Ak Bars” scored in the majority.
• In the 2014/15 season, SKA for the first time in the Gagarin Cup draw won back in the series with a score of 0: 3, having won against CSKA with a score of 4: 3 . ^[10]
• “ Salavat Yulaev ”, founded in the year of the flight of Yuri Gagarin into space, won the Gagarin Cup in 2011 on its fiftieth birthday and, accordingly, on the fiftieth anniversary of the flight of Yuri Gagarin.
• The longest goalless match in KHL history: on March 26, 2016, in the KHL playoffs of 2016, CSKA won the away match against SKA 1-0, scoring a goal in 111 minutes 12 seconds ^[11] .
• In 2019, CSKA won the Gagarin Cup in the status of the winner of the regular season . This is the first time in league history.

• KHL official website