The Opening Cup (russian: Кубок Открытия, Kubok Otkrytiya), is the trophy awarded to the winner of the first game of every regular season of the
Kontinental Hockey League
The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...
(KHL). This match is played between the previous season's playoff champion (
Gagarin Cup
The Gagarin Cup (russian: Кубок Гагарина, Kubok Gagarina) is the trophy presented to the winner of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. The Cup was ...
Winner) and the previous season's
Continental Cup winner. The game is played on the home ice of the previous season's playoff champion.
History
During the
first season of the KHL, the match was played between the winner and runner-up of the 2007–08 playoffs of the
Russian Superleague
The Russian Superleague (russian: Чемпионат России Суперлига, ''Russian Championship Superleague''), commonly abbreviated as RSL, was the highest division of the main professional ice hockey league in Russia. It was consi ...
.
The Western Conference in the 2010 Opening Cup game was represented by
UHC Dynamo because the
2009–10 Western Conference champion,
HC MVD, merged with
Dynamo Moscow
MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...
to form the new team after the
2009–10 season.
On September 10, 2011, three days after the
2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash
On 7 September 2011, YAK-Service Flight 9633, a Yakovlev Yak-42 air charter, charter flight operated by Yak-Service, YAK-Service carrying players and coaching staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team, crashed on take-off nea ...
disaster, the KHL head office decided to honor the deceased in the 2011 Opening Cup.
Winners
Appearances
Notes and references
External links
Official September 2013 Opening Cup match gallery(photo contains the trophy)
Official September 2013 Opening Cup match gallery(photo contains the trophy)
{{Kontinental Hockey League
Kontinental Hockey League trophies and awards