Belye Medveditsy Chelyabinsk () are an ice hockey team in the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL). They play in Chelyabinsk, Russia at the Yunost Sport Palace. The team has previously been known as Metelitsa Chelyabinsk, Nika Chelyabinsk, Kazak-Uralsky Chelyabinsk, and Fakel Chelyabinsk.
The team is a part of the Traktor Chelyabinsk hockey organization, which also operates Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Chelmet Chelyabinsk of the VHL, Belye Medvedi Chelyabinsk of the MHL, and a number of youth and junior teams.
History Founded in Chelyabinsk in 1997 as Metelitsa (), the club made its debut in the second round of the 1997–98 Russian Women's Hockey League (RWHL) season. Yelena Tyushnyakova, an ice hockey defenceman better known as an Olympic speed skater, was the first captain of Metelitsa. The team struggled in their inaugural season, recording a -165 goal differential and finishing at the bottom of the league.
Prior to the 1998–99 season, the team was renamed as Nika (). In 2000, the name was changed to Kazak-Uralsky (). During 2002 to 2014, the team was called Fakel ().
On 5 March 2014, the team joined the HC Tractor organization and their name was changed to Belye Medveditsy. On 8 March 2015, the team was dissolved for financial reasons.
Season-by-season results This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by Belye Medveditsy, known as Fakel Chelyabinsk during 2002 to 2014.
Note: Finish = Rank at end of regular season; GP = Games played, W = Wins (3 points), OTW = Overtime wins (2 points), OTL = Overtime losses (1 point), L = Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points, Top scorer: Points (Goals+Assists)
SeasonLeagueRegular seasonFinishGPWOTWOTLLGFGAPtsTop scorer2010–11RWHL301620121168252 A. Vafina 50 (25+25)2011–12RWHL4th301111177414936 O. Afonina 31 (14+17)2012–13RWHL4th4826112015613981 O. Afonina 50 (27+23)2013–14RWHL5th4020002016811460 A. Huszak 72 (41+31)2014–15RWHL8th329102210613329 F. Gasparics 46 (28+18)
Players and personnel 2021–22 roster
Coaching staff and team personnel Head coach: Igor Znarok Assistant coach: Pyotr Pankov Assistant coach: Pavel Shiryayev Conditioning coach: Yelena Tyushnyakova
Team captaincy history
Yelena Tyushnyakova, 1997–98 Viktoria Tavakova, 1998–2004 Yekaterina Vainberger, 2004–05 Alexandra Vafina, 2008–2011 Anastasia Vedernikova, 2011–2013 Alexandra Vafina, 2013–14 Anastasia Vedernikova, 2014–15
Head coaches
Alexander Degtyaryov, 1997–98 Vladimir Borodulin, 1998–2005 Arkadi Belousov, 2008–2015 Igor Znarok, 2021–
Team honours Russian Championship Third Place (1): 2010–11
All-time scoring leaders The top-ten point-scorers in club history.
Note: Nat = Nationality; Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; = 2021–22 Belye Medveditsy player
Scoring leadersNatPlayerPosGPGAPtsP/GF13862821441.043F7876631391.782F14668701380.945F7265451101.528F7256541101.528F1234847950.772F1213955940.777D1732370930.538F1904148890.468F2023745820.406 Source(s):
Notable alumni Years active with Belye Medveditsy listed alongside player name.
Yekaterina Lebedeva, 2010–2014 Yekaterina Ananina, 2011–2014 Yelena Tyushnyakova, 1997–98 Alexandra Vafina, 2008–2011 & 2013–14
International players Fanni Gasparics, 2013–2015 Alexandra Huszak, 2013–2015 Franciska Kiss-Simon, 2013–2015 Varvara Piskunova, 2008–2014 O'Hara Shipe, 2012–13 Lyubov Vafina, 2008–2015
References
External links Team information and statistics from EliteProspects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or HockeyArchives.info