Aq Bars Kazan

Ak Bars Kazan
City:	Kazan, Russia
League:	Russian Super League
Founded:	1955
Home Arena:	TatNeft Arena
Colors:	Green, red, white
Head Coach:	Zinetula Bilyaletdinov

Aq Bars Kazan (Russian: Ак Барс Казань) is a Russian ice hockey team playing in the Russian Super League.

The team's name, Aq Bars (also transliterated as Ak Bars), is derived from the official symbol of Tatarstan, translated as the White Leopard or Snow Leopard, a traditional symbol which has its origins with the Barsil, one of the Tatar tribes.

Facts

Founded: 1955

Home arena: TatNeft Arena (capacity 10,000)

Uniform colors: Green, red and white

Logo design: The head of a hissing white snow leopard with the Cyrillic letters Ак Барс written in green and red.

Main rivals: Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

Russian Championships won: 2 (1998, 2006)

Superleague West Championships won: 1 (1997)

Superleague East Championships won: 1 (1998)

European Champions Cup 2007 Winner

History

In the 2004-05 season, Kazan signed 11 NHL players, including Russian superstar Ilya Kovalchuk, in an attempt to win the Superleague title, hoping to mark the 1,000 anniversary of the city's founding with this achievement. They did not succeed, however, finishing that season in fourth place and were upset in the first round of the playoffs by Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. The team, though, has had previous successes, winning the Superleague West in 1997 and the Superleague East in 1998, while being runner-up for three consecutive seasons between 2000 and 2002. In 2006 Kazan won the Russian Championship against Avangard Omsk thanks in large part to its first line, anchored by Playoff MVP Aleksey Morozov, which accounted for over 50 points during the teams championship run. During the 2007 IIHF European Championship Cup, Ak-Bars Kazan, led by tournament MVP Aleksey Morozov, represented the Russian Super League and won the championship cup reaffirming Russian dominance at the tournament.

Notable players

• Ilya Kovalchuk
• Dany Heatley
• Darius Kasparaitis
• Michael Nylander
• Jiri Hudler
• Pavel Datsyuk
• Alexei Chupin
• Eduard Kudermetov
• Vyacheslav Kozlov
• Vincent Lecavalier
• Brad Richards
• Alexei Morozov
• Sergei Zinoviev
• Danis Zaripov
• Nikolai Khabibulin
• Vitali Proshkin
• Alexei Kovalev

Current roster

As of January 26, 2007

Goaltenders
#		Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
1		Alexandr Eremenko	L	2005	Russia
35		Mika Noronen	L	2006	Tampere, Finland

Defensemen
#		Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
2		Raymond Giroux	L	2005	North Bay, Ontario, Canada
3		Mikhail Tyulyapkin	L		Russia
5		Ilya Nikulin	L	2005	Moscow, Russia
7		Evgeni Ryasensky	L	2005	Russia
9		Andrei Pervyshin	L	2004	Arkhangelsk, Russia
14		Igor Schadilov	L	2005	Moscow, Russia
17		Jan Novak	R	2006	Czech Republic
33		Andrei Zubarev			Russia
45		Vitali Proshkin	L	2000	Elektrostal, Russia
51		Gennady Razin	L	2004	Kharkov, Ukraine
59		Vyacheslav Buravchikov			Russia

Forwards
#		Player	Position	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
11		Vladimir Vorobiev	LW	R	2005	Cherepovets, Russia
19		Mikhail Yunkov	C	L	2005	Voskresensk, Russia
21		Mikhail Zhukov	C	L	2005	Saint Petersburg, Russia
25		Danis Zaripov	LW	L	2001	Russia
27		Aleksei Tereschenko	C	L	2005	Moscow, Russia
30		Alexandr Stepanov	RW	L	2005	Moscow, Russia
32		Andriy Mikhnov	C/LW	L		Kyiv, Ukraine
34		Dmitri Obukhov		L	2005	Russia
42		Sergei Zinoviev	C	L	2002	Novokuznetsk, Russia
55		Aleksei Badyukov	LW	L	2005	Moscow, Russia
67		Dmitri Kazionov	C	L	2006	Moscow, Russia
73		Igor Musatov	LW	R		Russia
79		Alexander Golovin	LW	R		Kazakhstan
90		Kirill Petrov				Russia
95		Aleksey Morozov	RW	L	2004	Moscow, Russia

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; Pts = Points; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; P = Playoff

External links

• Ak Bars Kazan official site
• Ak Bars Kazan fan site
• "Ak Bars Reaffirm Russian Dominance of European Champions Cup"

Russian Super League

Amur Khabarovsk | Aq Bars Kazan | Avangard Omsk | CSKA Moscow | Dynamo Moscow | Khimik Moscow Oblast | Lada Togliatti | Lokomotiv Yaroslavl | Metallurg Magnitogorsk | Metallurg Novokuznetsk | HC MVD Moscow Oblast | Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk | Salavat Yulaev Ufa | Severstal Cherepovets | Sibir Novosibirsk | SKA Saint Petersburg | Spartak Moscow | Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod | Traktor Chelyabinsk | Vityaz Chekhov

Donate to Wikimedia