Dinamo Riga () was a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It most recently was a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU.
The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a former team (also named "Dinamo Riga"), which was founded in 1946, but ceased to exist in 1995. Since being re-established, Dinamo Riga played their home games at the ArÃÂna Rëga until 2022, which could accommodate 10,300 spectators.
The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 and among the founders of the club were Guntis Ulmanis, Kirovs Lipmans, Maà Ây Snopp, Juris Savickis, Viesturs Koziols and others. However, on 27 May, Latvian Ice Hockey Federation president Kirovs Lipmans stepped out of the project because of a possible clash of interests. After the first season, Viesturs Koziols also left the project.
Július à  upler became the first head coach of the club. For the first two seasons, he was assisted by Miroslav Mikloà ¡oviàand Artis ÃÂbols, but in 2010, Viktors Ignatjevs replaced Mikloà ¡oviÃÂ. On 27 April 2011, the new head coach, Pekka Rautakallio, was announced.
In the first season of the franchise, the team was led by players like Masaüskis, Prusek, Westcott, à  ià ¾ivijs, Hossa and others. After 2008âÂÂ09, forward Aigars Cipruss decided to retire and instantly became the manager of Dinamo Riga's farm club, Dinamo-Juniors Riga. The team finished the regular season in tenth position, higher than anyone would have predicted before the start of the season. However, in the first round of the league playoffs, Dinamo lost 3âÂÂ0 to Dynamo Moscow, which later advanced to the Gagarin Cup semifinals.
Following the first season, Dinamo managed to sign legendary Sandis Ozolià Âà ¡, as well as JÃÂnis Sprukts, MÃÂrtià Âà ¡ Karsums and others. The team finished the regular season in eighth place of the Western Conference, which qualified them for the playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs, Dinamo faced SKA Saint Petersburg with players like Sergei Zubov, Petr ÃÂajánek, Maxim Sushinsky and Alexei Yashin on the roster. Still, Dinamo managed to beat SKA 3âÂÂ1 and advance to the Western Conference semifinals. In the semifinals, Dinamo was defeated 4âÂÂ1 by later Gagarin Cup finalist HC MVD.
After his league-leading performance, Marcel Hossa signed a two-year contract with the then KHL champions Ak Bars Kazan. Martin Kariya signed a two-year contract with Swiss NLA's HC Ambrì-Piotta. New players signed during the off-season included TomÃ¡à ¡ Surový, Brock Trotter, Mikael Tellqvist and the returning Mark Hartigan. Július à  upler resumed his post as the head coach.
The team finished the season in seventh place in the Western Conference and thirteenth in the league, as the team qualified to the playoffs. In the first round, their opponents were Dynamo Moscow. Dinamo won the series 4âÂÂ2, advancing to the next round and facing Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Dinamo lost the series 4âÂÂ1.
As of the end of the third season, head coach Július à  upler left the team to be the coach of CSKA Moscow. On 27 April 2011, Dinamo signed Pekka Rautakallio for the head coach position. Also, all the foreign players with no active contracts left the team to play somewhere else. Brock Trotter also left, using his chance to play in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens.
In February 2022, Dinamo and the Finnish side Jokerit withdrew from the KHL due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On 10 August 2022, it was announced that Dinamo Riga would play in the Latvian Hockey Higher League during the 2022âÂÂ23 season. On 11 July 2023, it was announced that Dinamo Riga would not play in the 2023âÂÂ24 season. The team still exists legally as the akciju sabiedrëba "Dinamo Rëga", but has not entered any competitions since August 2023 and is inactive.
This is a partial list of the last ten seasons completed by Dinamo Riga. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Dinamo Riga seasons.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTW = Overtime/shootout wins, OTL = Overtime/shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
For a list of all Dinamo Riga players with a Wikipedia article, see List of Dinamo Riga players.