SKA Saint Petersburg Facts for Kids

Founded	1946
Arena	SKA Arena (Capacity: 22,500)
League	KHL
Division	Bobrov
Conference	Western
Owner(s)	Gazprom Export
President	Gennady Timchenko
GM	Dmitry Konstantinov
Captain	Vacant
Affiliates	SKA-Neva (VHL) SKA-1946 (MHL) SKA-Yunior Krasnogorsk (MHL) Khors-Kareliya Kondopoga (MHL) SKA-Kareliya Kondopoga (YHL)

Hockey Club SKA, often called SKA Saint Petersburg, is a professional ice hockey team. They are based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The team is part of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

SKA plays in the Bobrov Division of the KHL. They won their first major championship, the Gagarin Cup, in the 2014–15 KHL season. They won it again in 2017. In 2012, SKA became the first Russian club to have over 10,000 fans at their games on average.

The team is owned by Gazprom, a large Russian energy company. SKA used its resources to bring together many top Russian KHL players. This helped prepare them for the 2018 Winter Olympics. The Russian team won a gold medal at those Olympics. Many believe SKA's players working together helped them win.

In 2023, Roman Rotenberg, who is the General Manager of the Russian team, thanked Gazprom. He said their support helped Russia win the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Team History
Team Achievements
Top Players
Logos
See also

Team History

SKA playing in the Helsinki Ice Challenge in 2017.

The club started in 1946. It was part of the first season of the Soviet Championship League. The team's first name was Kirov LDO. This name honored Sergey Kirov.

Over the years, the team's name changed several times. It became ODO in 1953, SKVO in 1957, and finally Sportivnyi Klub Armii (Sports Club of the Army) in 1959. During the time of the Soviet Union, SKA was part of the Ministry of Defense sports club system.

After a tough first season, LDO played in a lower league in 1948. They returned to the top Soviet league in 1950–51. SKA stayed in the top division until 1991. Their best results during this time were reaching the Soviet Cup Finals in 1968 and 1971. They also won bronze medals in the 1970–71 and 1986–87 Soviet Championships.

After the Soviet Union ended, SKA joined the International Ice Hockey League. This league was for top teams from the former Soviet Union. In the 1993–94 season, SKA reached the semi-finals of the IHL Cup. Later, the Russian Superleague replaced the IHL. SKA did not have as much success in this new league.

The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) started in 2008. This was a new beginning for SKA. They reached their first KHL Conference finals in the 2011–12 season. The next year, they finished first in the regular season. This earned them the 2012–13 Continental Cup.

In the 2015 Gagarin Cup playoffs, SKA faced CSKA Moscow in the Western Conference finals. SKA was losing 0–3 in the series. But they made an amazing comeback, winning the next four games in a row. This made them the first team in KHL history to win a playoff series after being down 0–3. SKA then defeated Ak Bars Kazan 4–1 to win the Gagarin Cup. This was their first national championship.

SKA could not win the Gagarin Cup again in the next season. They lost to CSKA Moscow in the conference finals. In the 2016–17 KHL season, SKA had an average of 11,735 fans at their home games.