Hockey Club Dinamo Minsk or HC Dinamo Minsk (; , Dynama-Minsk) is a professional ice hockey club based in Minsk, Belarus. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Dinamo has qualified for the KHL playoffs (Gagarin Cup) nine times: in the 2010–11, 2011–12, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 and 2024–25 KHL seasons. The team has not won a single round in the Gagarin Cup playoffs, losing in all nine series in a combination of 2nd round and 1st round losses.
History
Dinamo was founded in 2003, taking the name of the Minsk club Dinamo, and won the Belarusian Extraleague championship title once and the Belarus Cup twice.
On 26 March 2008, the KHL confirmed the Belarusian club's inclusion in the Bobrov Division. Dinamo Minsk started to play on the ice of Minsk Palace of Sports and was relocated to the newly built Minsk-Arena in December 2009. The first head coach of the club was Paul Gardner, however he was dismissed prior to the beginning of the season. The next head coach became Jim Hughes, a protégé of previous Belarus national team head coach Curt Fraser. But after the first twelve games, the team was ranked next to the last place and Jim Hughes was dismissed. The new vacancy was taken by Russian specialist Vasili Spiridonov whose efforts were not enough to raise Dinamo Minsk from the bottom of the tournament table. The club ended the season ranked 22nd out of 24 teams.
The next season team began under command of Glen Hanlon, who brought the Belarus national team to the sixth place at WC2006 in Riga. The team roster was filled with world-famous players Ville Peltonen and Ossi Väänänen, and also one of the best Belarusian goaltenders Andrei Mezin. The 2009–10 season was similar to the previous one. The team did not show good result and Glen Hanlon was substituted by the head coach of HK Homiel. Dinamo Minsk finished at the 17th spot in the KHL while missing the playoffs, but still managed to win Spengler Cup under the guidance of Alexander Andrievsky.
The 2010–11 season was Dinamo Minsk's best season in the KHL. Marek Sýkora, who is widely thought of as one of the best coaches in the KHL, was appointed head coach. He brought Metallurg Magnitogorsk to the final games in 2005 and a rookie of the KHL Avtomobilist to the KHL playoffs in 2010. Dinamo Minsk under his command managed not only to get into the playoffs but was one step removed from the Western Conference semi-finals when Lokomotiv prevailed in the decisive game seven of the series.
The 2011–12 season of Dinamo Minsk was to have begun on 8 September 2011, versus Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. However, on 7 September 2011, the plane carrying the Lokomotiv team to the game in Minsk had crashed during takeoff, killing all but one of Lokomotiv's roster. Four days later, a memorial ceremony took place at the Minsk-Arena, with Minsk players paying tribute to the victims.
In the 2016–17 season, the assistant coach of the Belarus national team Craig Woodcroft, became the head coach of Dinamo Minsk. From the very beginning to the end of the regular season, the "Bisons" were in the playoff zone and breaking a number of club records. They first collected 105 points in a regular season and took eighth place in the general standings of the KHL. But in the playoffs, Dinamo did not succeed. Again, as six years ago, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl became the rival at the first stage. The series ended in five games, 4–1. Also during the season, in December 2016, Dinamo for the second time took part in the Spengler Cup.
Woodcroft had a three-year contract, but elected to leave the team in spring to head the Swiss club Genève-Servette HC. Gordie Dwyer was appointed head coach for the 2017–18 season. The roster had to be formed taking into account the financial difficulties that arose at the end of the previous season, so the team was weakened. Leaders like Ben Scrivens, Kevin Lalande, Raman Hrabarenka, Matt Ellison, Rob Klinkhammer, Sergei Kostitsyn, Andrei Stas and Nikita Komarov left. Instead of these players came mainly young Belarusians and four hockey players who had not previously played in the KHL - Jhonas Enroth, Quinton Howden, Justin Fontaine and Jack Skille. Some of them showed great performance: Enroth joined the Sweden national team to participate in the Olympics in Pyeongchang and became the best player of the season in the opinion of the fans, and Howden took the second place in the list of the team's top scorers. But in general, the season for Dinamo was unsuccessful: the team finished in the 10th place in the conference and did not qualify for the playoffs.
Arenas HC Dinamo Minsk called Minsk Sports Palace as their home until they moved to the new Minsk-Arena in 2010. In the 2024–25 KHL season, HC Dinamo Minsk drew the second-highest average home attendance with 14,446.
Season-by-season KHL record Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, OTW = Overtime/shootout wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime/shootout losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points
Season GP W OTW L OTL Pts GF GA Finish Top scorer Playoffs 2008–09 56 12 3 34 7 49 124 197 6th, Bobrov Yaroslav Chupris (25 points: 9 G, 16 A; 52 GP) Did not qualify 2009–10 56 17 6 31 2 65 139 164 6th, Bobrov Geoff Platt (44 points: 26 G, 18 A; 56 GP) Did not qualify 2010–11 54 17 8 22 7 74 150 155 4th, Tarasov Konstantin Glazachev (35 points: 12 G, 23 A; 52 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3-4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl) 2011–12 54 21 7 20 6 83 158 148 4th, Tarasov Teemu Laine (42 points: 20 G, 22 A; 54 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0-4 (Dynamo Moscow) 2012–13 52 18 6 23 5 71 125 148 5th, Tarasov Tim Stapleton (40 points: 24 G, 16 A; 52 GP) Did not qualify 2013–14 54 13 4 31 6 53 102 161 7th, Bobrov Geoff Platt (29 points: 15 G, 14 A; 40 GP) Did not qualify 2014–15 60 27 7 21 5 100 171 159 3rd, Bobrov Charles Linglet (58 points: 22 G, 36 A; 54 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (Jokerit) 2015–16 60 20 7 24 9 83 147 168 4th, Bobrov Matt Ellison (55 points: 26 G, 29 A; 54 GP) Did not qualify 2016–17 60 27 10 19 4 105 171 150 2nd, Bobrov Matt Ellison (49 points: 16 G, 33 A; 54 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)2017–1856205283731121294th, BobrovMarc-Andre Gragnani (35 points: 6 G, 29 A; 55 GP)Did not qualify 2018–19 62 15 2 37 8 42 119 180 5th, Tarasov Teemu Pulkkinen (29 points: 15 G, 14 A; 50 GP) Did not qualify 2019–20 62 11 3 37 11 39 135 232 6th, Tarasov Ryan Spooner (37 points: 10 G, 27 A; 43 GP) Did not qualify 2020–21 60 17 15 25 3 67 167 174 4th, Tarasov Shane Prince (49 points: 25 G, 24 A; 52 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (SKA Saint Petersburg) 2021–22 47 18 5 16 8 54 138 144 5th, Tarasov Taylor Beck (38 points: 8 G, 30 A; 42 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0-4 (SKA Saint Petersburg) 2022–23 68 21 6 27 14 68 175 201 5th, Tarasov Ryan Spooner (47 points: 19 G, 28 A; 64 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2-4 (SKA Saint Petersburg) 2023–24 68 26 6 31 5 69 180 178 5th, Tarasov Sam Anas (46 points: 21 G, 25 A; 60 GP) Lost in Last 16, 2-4 (Dynamo Moscow) 2024–25 68 36 3 21 8 86 206 161 3rd, Tarasov Vadim Shipachyov (57 points: 15 G, 42 A; 66 GP) Lost in Quarterfinals, 1-4 (Traktor Chelyabinsk) 2025–26 68 33 6 19 10 88 247 173 2nd, Tarasov Sam Anas (89 points: 32 G, 57 A; 67 GP) Lost in Quarterfinals, 0-4 (Ak Bars Kazan)
Players
Current roster
Franchise records and scoring leaders
KHL scoring leaders
These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history while being a KHL club. Figures are updated after each completed KHL regular season.
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; = current Dinamo Minsk player
Points Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G Sam Anas C 193 72 109 181 0.94 Geoff Platt LW/C 260 87 83 170 0.65 Matt Ellison RW 166 66 95 161 0.97 Vitali Pinchuk C 252 73 72 145 0.57 Andrei Stas C 481 54 87 141 0.29 Ryan Spooner C 151 35 97 132 0.87 Charles Linglet LW 221 45 80 125 0.57 Roman Gorbunov RW 261 59 65 124 0.47 Alexander Kulakov LW/RW 376 51 62 113 0.30 Vadim Moroz LW 222 56 53 109 0.49
GoalsPlayer Pos G Geoff Platt LW/C 87 Vitali Pinchuk C 73 Sam Anas C 72 Matt Ellison RW 66 Roman Gorbunov RW 59 Vadim Moroz LW 56 Andrei Stas C 54 Olexander Materukhin RW 53 Dmitry Meleshko RW 51 Alexander Kulakov LW 51
Assists Player Pos A Sam Anas C 109 Ryan Spooner C 97 Matt Ellison RW 95 Andrei Stas C 87 Geoff Platt LW/C 83 Charles Linglet LW 80 Marc-André Gragnani D 80 Vitali Pinchuk C 72 Vadim Shipachyov C 69 Roman Gorbunov RW 65
Franchise records
Regular season Player Highs Most goals in a season: Sam Anas, 32 (2025–26) Most assists in a season: Sam Anas, 57 (2025–26) Most points in a season: Sam Anas, 89 (2025–26) Most penalty minutes in a season: Duvie Westcott, 146 (2009–10) Most points in a season, defenseman: Ty Smith, 46 (2025–26) Most points in a game: Jonathan Cheechoo, 5 (vs. Jokerit, September 4, 2014, 3 goals and 2 assists) Most powerplay goals in a season: Geoff Platt, (2009–10), Jonathan Cheechoo, (2014-15) - tied with 10 Most shorthanded goals in a season: Ilya Dokshin (2008–09), Geoff Platt (2009–10), Alexander Kulakov (2010–11), Zbyněk Irgl (2011–12), Andrei Stas (2011–12), Zbyněk Irgl (2013–14), Matt Ellison (2014–15), Jonathan Cheechoo (2014–15) - all tied with 2 Most wins in a season, Goaltender: Zach Fucale, 22 (2025–26) Most shutouts in a season: Vasily Demchenko (2024–25), Zach Fucale (2025-26) - tied with 5 Highest plus-minus in a season: Robert Hamilton - +35 (2025–26)
Playoffs Most goals in a playoff season: Yegor Borikov, 7 (2024–25) Most assists in a playoff season: Vitali Pinchuk, 6 (2024–25) Most points in a playoff season: Vitali Pinchuk, 11 (2024–25) Most penalty minutes in a playoff season: Jordan Henry, 33 (2010–11) Most points in a playoff season, defenseman: Peter Podhradský, 8 (2010–11) Most points in a game, playoff: 3, shared by 5 players
Hat-tricks Dmitry Meleshko, 11-21-2010 at Metallurg Magnitogorsk - needed 43.26 to complete the feat Zbyněk Irgl, 11-22-2011 at Barys Astana - needed 31.48 to complete the feat Jonathan Cheechoo, 09-04-2014 at Jokerit - needed 42.54 to complete the feat Jonathan Cheechoo, 10-24-2014 at Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk - needed 26.09 to complete the feat Matt Ellison, 10-03-2015 at Avangard Omsk - needed 17.05 to complete the feat Matt Ellison, 10-05-2015 at Barys Astana - needed 21.45 to complete the feat Rob Klinkhammer, 10-23-2016 at Sochi - needed 39.52 to complete the feat Quinton Howden, 10-02-2017 at Dinamo Moscow - needed 43.45 to complete the feat
Honours
Champions Belarus Belarusian Extraleague (5): 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1999–2000, 2006–07 Belarus Cup (3): 2005, 2006, 2009
BSSR BSSR League (2): 1967–68, 1969–70
Europe Spengler Cup (1): 2009
Belarus Memorial Salei: (1): 2014
Runners-up Belarusian Extraleague (3): 1996, 1996–97, 2005–06 BSSR League (1): 1968–69 Nadezhda Cup (KHL) (1): 2013–14
References
External links