Dinamo Riga (original)

This article is about a former hockey club. For the current club, see Dinamo Riga.

Dynmao Riga
Rīgas Dinamo

Full name	Pardaugava Riga 1993–1995 Stars Riga and Pardaugava Riga 1991–1992 HK Riga 1991 Dynamo Riga 1967–1991 Daugava Riga 1960–1967 RVR 1958–1960 Daugava Riga 1949–1958 Dynamo Riga 1946–1949
Nickname(s)	"Dinamieši"
Founded	1946 as Dynamo Riga
Based In	Riga
Arena	Rigas Sporta Pils (Capacity: 4,500)
League	Soviet 1978-1995
Team Colors

Dynamo Riga (Latvian: Rīgas Dinamo) was an ice hockey club, based in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 1946 and disestablished in 1995 as Pārdaugava Rīga.

History of Dinamo Riga

Dinamo Riga was established in 1946, after the re-occupation of the Latvia by Soviet Union. The club was one of the 12 teams which participated in the first Soviet championship in season of 1946/1947. The team's first official game was a victory 5-1 against Dinamo Tallinn on December 1946. First season was considered as a success, as the team finished tournament in the fourth place. The club's first roster mainly consisted from the players of the Latvian national team.

At first club had no permanent place, where the home games were held, but since the season 1950/1951, Dinamo started to play home games at Daugava Stadium, but the games still was played on a natural ice rink and the go ahead of the games depended on a suitable weather, situation didn't change until 1960/1961 season, when the stadium was heavily reconstructed.

Dinamo Riga changed its name to Daugava Riga before the start of 1949/1950 season, and kept it for a decade, before team changed name again. In mid-fifties the core of the team - players, which started their career's before Second World War, started to retire, and team started to slip further down the table as the years went by.

The club again changed its name and since season 1958/1959 and now was known as RVR Riga,, but the name didn't last long as the club two years later was re-named once again to Daugava (RVR). Name changes didn't help teams cause and the club slipped to third division. During the sixties the club adopted new player and staff recruiting policy, switching from local talent developing to gathering players from all corners of Soviet Union and even abroad. The club again changed owners and the name of Dinamo Riga was restored before 1967/1968 season, which ended as the worst season in club's entire history.

In the 1987-88 season, Dinamo Riga had their best finish, losing to CSKA Moscow in the final.

In 1975, Viktor Hatulev of Dinamo Rīga became the first ice hockey player from the Soviet Union drafted by the National Hockey League. He never had a chance to play for the NHL, as Soviet players were not allowed to play for foreign teams. In season 1976-77 Dinamo Rīga star Helmuts Balderis was the leading scorer, had the most goals, and won the best player of the season award (MVP). He was also the goal leader in 1975-76 and leading scorer in 1983. He scored 333 goals in his Soviet Union League career.

After the end of Soviet Union, the team continued to play until 1995 as a member of the International Hockey League, the successor of Soviet Hockey League. During this period, the team was called Stars Rīga and later, Pārdaugava Rīga. It was the former team of the Aleksey Nikiforov, coach of many future NHLers.

As of April 7, 2008 the club has been re-established. See Dinamo Riga (current).

Super series

Dinamo Riga has also participated in Super Series in exhibition games against NHL teams in year 1989 and 1990. Dinamo Riga Super Series record:

Super Series game log: 1–1–7 (home: 0–0–2; road: 1–1–2)
Super Series '89: 1–1–5 (home: 0–0–0; road: 1–1–5) Game Opponent Score Record 1 @ Calgary Flames 2–2 0–1–0 2 @ Edmonton Oilers 1–2 0–1–1 3 @ Vancouver Canucks 1–6 0–1–2 4 @ Los Angeles Kings 3–5 0–1–3 5 @ Chicago Blackhawks 1–4 0–1–4 6 @ St. Louis Blues 0–5 0–1–5 7 @ Minnesota North Stars 2–1 1–1–5
Super Series '90: 0–0–2 (home: 0–0–2; road: 0–0–0) Game Opponent Score Record 8 Washington Capitals 1–2 1–1–6 9 Montreal Canadiens 2–4 1–1–7

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs	Player statistics
1978-79	44	19	18	7	45	150	132	625	6	None	[1]
1979-80	44	16	24	4	36	134	162		8	None	[2]
1980-81	49	22	21	6	50	163	157		5	None	[3]
1981-82	56	17	33	6	40	202	234		8	None	[4]
1982-83	56	27	24	5	59	240	212	619	5	None	[5]
1983-84	44	17	19	8	42	146	172		8	None	[6]
1984-85	52	18	25	9	45	170	196	531	7	None	[7]
1985-86	40	19	15	6	44	138	128	452	5	None	[8]
1986-87	40	14	21	5	33	117	132	485	7	None	[9]
1987-88 (Stage 1)	26	10	12	4	24	88	92		10
1987-88 (Stage 2)	18	11	3	4	25	66	46		3	Lost in finals	[10]
1988-89	44	18	20	6	42	115	131	489	6	None	[11]
1989-90	48	26	15	7	59	148	117		5	None	[12]
1990-91	46	25	16	5	55	187	138		5	None	[13]

Notes

• The player statistics for the 1987-88 season are the total for both stages.
• Soviet league had no playoffs, except for the 1987-88 season.

Notable players

IIHF Hall-of-Famers

Players

• Helmuts Balderis, RW, 1967–77, 1980–85, inducted 1998
• Artūrs Irbe, G, 1987–91, inducted 2010

Builders

• Viktor Tikhonov, Coach, 1968–77 inducted 1998

List of Dynamo Riga players selected in the NHL Amateur Draft

• 1975: Viktor Khatulev (Philadelphia Flyers) (160th overall)

List of Dynamo Riga players selected in the NHL Entry Draft

• 1988: Harijs Vītoliņš (Montreal Canadiens) (188th overall)
• 1989: Artūrs Irbe (Minnesota North Stars) (196th overall), Helmut Balderis (Minnesota North Stars) (238th overall)
• 1991: Sandis Ozoliņš (San Jose Sharks) (30th overall)
• 1992: Sergejs Žoltoks (Boston Bruins) (55th overall), Grigorijs Panteļejevs (Boston Bruins) (136th overall), Viktors Ignatjevs (San Jose Sharks) (243th overall)
• 1993: Aleksandrs Kerčs (Edmonton Oilers) (60th overall)

Head coaches

• Jānis Dobelis, 1946–49
• Edgars Klāvs, 1949–61
• Anatolijs Jegorovs, 1961–1962
• Georgijs Firsovs, 1962–63
• Staņislavs Motls, 1967–68
• Viktor Tikhonov, 1968–77
• Ēvalds Grabovskis, 1977–80

• Vladimir Yurzinov, 1980–89
• Ēvalds Grabovskis, 1989–91
• Jevgeņijs Banovs, 1992
• Juris Reps, 1992–94
• Mihails Beskašnovs, 1994–95
• Leonīds Beresņevs, 1995

Awards and trophies

Pervaya Liga

• 1972–73

Soviet MVP

• Helmuts Balderis: 1976–77

Scoring Champion

• Helmuts Balderis: 1976–77, 1982–83

Goal Scoring Champion

• Helmuts Balderis: 1975–76, 1976–77, 1984–85
• Alexei Frolikov: 1982–83

Soviet / Russian League First Team

• Helmuts Balderis: 1976–77

Best Rookie

• Artūrs Irbe: 1987–88
• Sandis Ozoliņš: 1990–91

References

General

• Ulmanis, Aivis (1998). Melnās ripas bruņinieki: Latvijas hokeja vēsture. Latvijas Hokeja federācija. ISBN 9984-19-017-x. 

Specific