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 renamed 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).
Read more about this topic: Dinamo Riga (original)
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