The 2011–12 KHL season was the fourth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The regular season began with the Opening Cup game on 7 September 2011, but because of the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, which occurred during the first period of the Cup game and killed all but one member of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, further play was delayed until 12 September 2011. The tragedy forced Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to cancel their participation in the KHL season. The Opening Cup was renamed the Lokomotiv Cup in honor of those lost in the tragedy. The regular season ended on 26 February 2012 and the following playoffs ended on 25 April.
The Gagarin Cup was won by Dynamo Moscow, defeating Avangard Omsk in a seven-game final series. Dynamo Moscow is the first champion from the Western Conference of the KHL.
League changes
Team changes Expansion to Slovakia
With the admission of Lev Poprad from Poprad, Slovakia the league expanded beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union. This brought the number of teams to 24. However, following the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash that claimed the lives of the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl squad (with the exceptions of forward Maxim Zyuzyakin and goaltending coach Jorma Valtonen), Lokomotiv withdrew from the season, leaving only 23 teams as in the previous season.
Regular season
The regular season was supposed to start on 7 September 2011 with the Opening Cup and end on 26 February 2012 with short breaks in November, December and February for international matches and for the all-star game. However, after the Yaroslavl plane tragedy, the schedule had to be modified: the start of the season was postponed to 12 September and the number of games for each team was reduced to 54 as in the previous season, when also only 23 teams participated.
Notable events
Yaroslavl plane tragedy
On 7 September 2011, the day of the season opening, a tragic airplane accident occurred in Yaroslavl in which the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team was killed. After the news broke in Ufa, where the Opening Cup game between Salavat Yulaev Ufa and Atlant Moscow Oblast was already underway, the match was abandoned. Later, the KHL announced that the start of the season would be postponed to 12 September, and that pre-game ceremonies would be held to honour the Lokomotiv team, while arena entertainment would be cancelled. On 10 September, at Lokomotiv's public memorial service team president Yuri Yakovlev announced that they would not participate in the 2011–12 KHL season.
All-star game
The All-star weekend took place on 20–21 January 2012 in Riga, Latvia. Team Fedorov defeated Team Ozoliņš with 15–11.
League standings
Source: KHL.ru
Points are awarded as follows: 3 Points for a win in regulation ("W") 2 Points for a win in overtime ("OTW") or a penalty shootout ("SOW") 1 Point for a loss in overtime ("OTL") or a penalty shootout ("SOL") 0 Points for a loss in regulation ("L")
The conference standings determined the seedings for the play-offs. The first two places in each conference are reserved for the division winners.
Note: Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.
Western Conference
R Div GP W OTW SOW SOL OTL L GF GA Pts1z – SKA Saint Petersburg BOB54 32 1 5 3 2 11 205130 1132y – Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod TAR54 24 0 6 5 217 157 132 913 Dynamo MoscowBOB54 31 1 3 3 1 15 144116 1054 Atlant Moscow OblastTAR5420 4 7 4 0 19 130 134 865 Severstal CherepovetsTAR5423 0 5 4 2 20 142 133856 Dinamo MinskTAR54 21 0 7 3 3 20 158 148 837 Dinamo RigaBOB54 20 2 4 7 0 21 129 136 798 CSKA MoscowBOB5419 3 0 7 0 25 119 129 709 Spartak MoscowBOB54 15 2 5 3 2 27 124 163 6410 Lev PopradBOB54 13 0 3 5 4 29 125 162 5411 Vityaz ChekhovTAR54 10 1 5 1 1 36 108 193 44 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Withdrew due to the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash y – Won division; z – Won conference (and division); BOB - Bobrov Division, TAR - Tarasov Division
Source: khl.ru
Eastern Conference
R Div GP W OTW SOW SOL OTL L GF GA Pts1 c – Traktor ChelyabinskKHA54 32 2 5 4 0 11 163 116 1142 y – Avangard Omsk CHE54 26 0 5 4 1 18 133 115933 Metallurg MagnitogorskKHA54 29 1 1 1220 150 137 944 Ak Bars KazanKHA54 271 24 1 19 167 136 925 Salavat Yulaev Ufa CHE54 23 34 5 1 18 173 152 896 Barys AstanaCHE54 25 2 1 3 1 22 160 160 857 Amur Khabarovsk CHE54 23 1 4 3 2 21 166 139 848 Yugra Khanty-MansiyskKHA54 19 1 9 3 3 19 139 134 839 Metallurg NovokuznetskCHE54 18 2 4 9 0 21 108 130 7510 Neftekhimik NizhnekamskKHA54 20 2 3 3 1 25 142 165 7411 Sibir NovosibirskCHE54 12 2 4 7 2 27 132 154 5712 Avtomobilist YekaterinburgKHA54 9 3 4 5 3 30 105 165 49 y – Won division; c – Won Continental Cup (best record in KHL); CHE - Chernyshev Division, KHA - Kharlamov Division
Source: khl.ru
Player statistics
Scoring leaders Updated as of the end of the regular season. Source: khl.ru
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = P Plus–minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Player Team GP G A Pts +/– PIM Alexander Radulov Salavat Yulaev Ufa 50 25 38 63 +1 64 Tony Mårtensson SKA Saint Petersburg 54 22 37 59 +35 10 Vadim Schipachev Severstal Cherepovets 54 22 37 59 +16 26 Brandon Bochenski Barys Astana 49 27 31 58 +4 26 Kevin Dallman Barys Astana 53 18 36 54 +15 33 Jakub Petružálek Amur Khabarovsk 54 22 29 51 +14 16 Aleksey Morozov Ak Bars Kazan 53 21 29 50 +10 24 Sergei Shirokov CSKA Moscow 53 18 30 48 +7 26 Vladimir Tarasenko SKA Saint Petersburg 54 23 24 47 +18 15 Petr Vrána Amur Khabarovsk 46 20 25 45 +18 12
Leading goaltenders Updated as of the end of the regular season. Source: khl.ru
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SOL = Shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
Player Team GP Min W L SOP GA SO SV% GAA Vitali Koval Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 30 1612:04 15 9 6 47 4 .930 1.75 Alexander Eremenko Dynamo Moscow 35 1975:20 18 9 5 63 6 .920 1.91 Karri Rämö Avangard Omsk 45 2666:48 19 17 9 87 5 .925 1.96 Michael Garnett Traktor Chelyabinsk 45 2674:37 29 10 6 88 3 .922 1.97 Rastislav Staňa CSKA Moscow 46 2646:42 20 19 4 91 2 .926 2.06
Playoffs
The playoffs started on 29 February 2012 with the top eight teams from both conferences and ended on 25 April with the seventh game of the Gagarin Cup final.
Player statistics
Playoff scoring leaders The following players lead the league in points at the conclusion of the playoffs. Source: khl.ru
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = P Plus–minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Player Team GP G A Pts +/– PIM Roman Červenka Avangard Omsk 20 11 10 21 +6 4 Konstantin Gorovikov Dynamo Moscow 21 6 14 20 +7 16 Mikhail Anisin Dynamo Moscow 21 14 5 19 +7 2 Vladimir Tarasenko SKA Saint Petersburg 15 10 6 16 +10 6 Marek Kvapil Dynamo Moscow 21 8 4 12 +8 4 Alexander Perezhogin Avangard Omsk 21 8 4 12 +6 8
Playoff leading goaltenders The following players lead the league in points at the conclusion of the playoffs. Source: khl.ru
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SOL = Shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
Player Team GP Min W L SOP GA SO SV% GAA Vasiliy Koshechkin Severstal Cherepovets 6 364:40 2 4 0 8 1 .958 1.32 Edgars Masaļskis Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk 3 88:23 0 2 0 2 0 .958 1.36 Karri Rämö Avangard Omsk 21 1209:08 14 6 0 31 3 .940 1.54 Alexander Eremenko Dynamo Moscow 21 1304:23 16 5 0 34 3 .943 1.56 Michael Garnett Traktor Chelyabinsk 16 988:48 8 7 0 29 1 .935 1.76 Jakub Štěpánek SKA Saint Petersburg 13 750:33 7 6 0 22 3 .924 1.76
Final standings
RankTeam 1 Dynamo Moscow 2 Avangard Omsk 3 Traktor Chelyabinsk 4 SKA Saint Petersburg 5 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 6 Ak Bars Kazan 7 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 8 Atlant Moscow Oblast 9 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 10 Barys Astana 11 Severstal Cherepovets 12 Amur Khabarovsk 13 Dinamo Minsk 14 Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk 15 Dinamo Riga 16 CSKA Moscow 17 Metallurg Novokuznetsk 18 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 19 Spartak Moscow 20 Sibir Novosibirsk 21 Lev Poprad 22 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 23 Vityaz Chekhov
Awards
Players of the Month
Best KHL players of each month.
MonthGoaltenderDefenseForwardRookieSeptember Jakub Štěpánek (SKA) Aleksandr Osipov (Amur) Vadim Schipachev (Severstal) Andrei Sergeev (CSKA)October Michael Garnett (Traktor) Vitaly Shulakov (Amur) Vladimir Tarasenko (Sibir) Nikita Tochitsky (Vityaz)November Michael Garnett (Traktor) Alex Riazantsev (Traktor) Vadim Schipachev (Severstal) Sergei Barbashev (CSKA)December Ari Ahonen (Metallurg Mg) Yevgeny Medvedev (Ak Bars) Alexander Radulov (Salavat Yulaev) Dmitry Lugin (Amur)January Teemu Lassila (Metallurg Nk) Kevin Dallman (Barys) Evgeny Kuznetsov (Traktor) Stanislav Bocharov (Yugra)February Alexander Eremenko (Dynamo Msc) Guntis Galviņš (Riga) Robert Nilsson (Torpedo) Roman Tatalin (Vityaz)March Michael Garnett (Traktor) Ilya Gorokhov (Dyn. Moscow) Vladimir Tarasenko (SKA) not awardedApril Alexander Eremenko (Dynamo Msc) Martin Škoula (Omsk) Mikhail Anisin (Dynamo Msc) not awarded
KHL Awards On 23 May 2012, the KHL held their annual award ceremony. A total of 20 different awards were handed out to teams, players, officials and media. The most important trophies are listed in the table below. Golden Stick Award (regular season MVP) Alexander Radulov (Ufa) Best coach Oļegs Znaroks (Dynamo Msc) Alexei Cherepanov Award (best rookie) Dmitry Lugin (Khabarovsk)
The league also awarded six "Golden Helmets" for the members of the all-star team:
Forwards Alexander RadulovSalavat Yulaev Ufa Roman ČervenkaAvangard Omsk Mikhail AnisinDynamo Moscow Defense Dmitri KalininSKA Saint Petersburg Kevin DallmanBarys Astana Goalie Alexander EremenkoDynamo Moscow
References
External links Official Website