Gagarin's Cup (hockey). Who won the Gagarin Cup?

The Gagarin Cup is the main trophy of the Continental Hockey League championship. The process of establishing this competition, as well as the way the name was chosen for the cup, is an interesting and fascinating story.

About the Gagarin Cup

The Gagarin Cup was named after the first cosmonaut of the world. At the time of the establishment of the KHL, the organizers considered that the honorary name of the cup could unite people. Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, as sport functionaries rightly noted - a person who associates among the citizens of our country with the highest achievements, he is one of the symbols of the people.

According to organizers of the League, the name of the cup can help Russian hockey become the first in the world, make a breakthrough, besides the name of the cosmonaut is heard by the inhabitants of the whole planet. At the meetings of the members of the League's working committee, the idea to call the cup Gagarin's name was supported unanimously. Noteworthy is the fact that the astronaut himself loved hockey and played it. Suffice it to recall the song about Yuri Gagarin with the words about how the future conqueror of space went out on the ice with a stick. Our legendary compatriot opened the world to space. In turn, thanks to such a sports award as the Gagarin Cup, hockey in Russia can once again assert itself on the international arena.

Czech sensation

Almost all Russian fans know about who won the Gagarin Cup in 2014, about the club "Metallurg" from Magnitogorsk, and, according to many analysts, did not become a big sensation. For some sports experts, the appearance of the Czech team "Leo" in the finals was surprising. This is the Gagarin Cup - the results of the opposition teams can be the most unpredictable. The club from Prague has much more modest financial capabilities than many of its Russian rivals. This team, experts believe, there are no players who could be considered stars.

All Czech hockey players have roughly the same salary, and taxes are much higher than in Russia. Many experts who analyzed the game of the club from Prague, came to the conclusion that the Czechs showed incredible character, the will to win, and therefore deserved to play in the final of the KHL. Sensations and wonderful hockey - Gagarin Cup in 2014 this was clearly demonstrated.

Awards

The main trophy of the KHL is the Gagarin Cup. Hockey is a game for which the principle is not alien: "The main thing is not victory, but participation." And because the League established many other trophies - very interesting, although not comparable in importance to the Gagarin Cup. There is, for example, a prize named after the legendary Soviet hockey player Vsevolod Bobrov. He is awarded to the team that scored in the league more than all the pucks. There is a trophy of the top scorer - he gets a player who in total has scored the highest number of points in the format of "goal plus pass."

There is a prize "Golden Helmet", which receives six of the best players of the season - the goalkeeper, two defenders and three attackers, forming a "dream team". There are individual trophies - goalkeeper (with the highest percentage of beaten goals), the most valuable player of the season, as well as the most qualified referee of the League. There is a prize given to the most effective defender (unlike the attackers, there are not so many chances to score in the game, which is why the goals of the washer are scored by the players of this role).

About the KHL

And now let's talk more about one of the world's largest hockey divisions - the Continental Hockey League (KHL). The Gagarin Cup is the main prize of the international competition under the aegis of this sports organization. Many hockey experts note that the League can already compete with the strongest league of the world in this sport - the NHL, in which teams from Canada and the United States play.

Now in the KHL teams from Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, and also some countries of Europe play. In the clubs - the most famous hockey players of the world. The experience of the KHL games is with such individuals as Jaromir Jagr, Dominik Hasek (both from the Czech Republic), Sandis Ozolins (Lithuania), many famous Russian players. The first draw of the championship was held in the autumn of 2008 - in the spring of 2009. Many experts noted that the KHL immediately declared itself as one of the most serious and prestigious sports.

The main ideological inspirer

In one of his speeches, Vladimir Putin (then in the rank of prime minister of the country) admitted that the KHL is in many ways his initiative. The head of the Russian government considered that the competition should return to hockey the former sharpness characteristic of the times of confrontation between the Soviet and Canadian teams. Putin explained that to recreate the struggle that took place earlier between the North American and European schools of the puck is an interesting prospect.

The Prime Minister also expressed the wish that the KHL would become a league capable of accommodating teams from the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia and turned into a full-fledged continental competition - without regulation from political and administrative structures. It turns out that it was thanks to the state that the KHL and the Gagarin Cup appeared. Hockey in Russia today, like in Soviet times, attracts the attention of the authorities.

Winner of the season-2014

In the KHL season, held in the autumn of 2013 - in the spring of 2014, the winner was the Magnitogorsk club "Metallurg". Gagarin Cup went to hockey players in a stubborn fight against the Czech "Lion" from Prague. "Magnitogorsk" (so often called its team Magnitogorsk fans) - one of the strongest clubs in Russia. Even before the creation of the CHL "Metallurg" repeatedly won national hockey titles. In 1999, he defeated the Moscow "Dynamo", two years later - Omsk "Avangard", in 2007 - the Kazakh "Ak Bars". In 2004, Metallurg was a finalist of the Russian league, but lost in the finals of the championship Omsk "Vanguard".

Structure of the championship KHL

The teams participating in the KHL championship are distributed according to the geography of the cities they represent. The League consists of two conferences - Eastern and Western. In each of them there are two divisions (all named after the great Soviet hockey players). In the Eastern Conference - the name of Kharlamov and Chernyshev, in the Western - in honor of Bobrov and Tarasov. In each of the divisions plays six teams. In the opinion of most experts, there is no particular difference in the class between the teams of conferences, and there are clubs there and there that can achieve the highest results at the end of the championship.

The very drawing of the main KHL prize is carried out in two stages. The first is a regular championship (games in a group), the second is a play-off (for a knockout). At stage number one, each team plays twice with another from their division in their city, and the same number in the other. One game - with the teams of other divisions. As a result of the games in the groups, the play-off participants are determined who play the main prize-the Gagarin Cup. Hockey, as analysts say, can differ in entertainment at different stages. If in the championship teams can play openly and beautifully, then in the playoffs they are afraid to miss the puck and adhere to a more closed tactical model.