Metallurg Magnitogorsk

Metallurg Magnitogorsk is a professional ice hockey team based in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. They also competed in the Champions Hockey League, losing the 2008–09 season championship round to Swiss club, the ZSC Lions. Metallurg Magnitogorsk won the Gagarin Cup in the 2013–14 KHL season and the 2015–16 KHL season. History Metallurg was founded in 1955 by the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works as a Class B team that competed in the Chelyabinsk Oblast and the RSFSR championships. Since the 80s it joined the Second League (third by importance) of the Soviet Class A and won its championships twice, in 1988–89 and 1989–90 seasons. After two more seasons in the second level of the USSR hockey Magnitogorsk club became one of the founders of the International Hockey League, the first Post-Soviet major pro hockey association. Magnitogorsk advanced to the Russian Superleague finals six times becoming a three-time champion of Russia. Victoria Cup On 1 October 2008, Metallurg Magnitogorsk played against NHL's New York Rangers in the inaugural Victoria Cup at the PostFinance-Arena in Bern with an attendance of 13,794. Metallurg Magnitogorsk led most of the game, 3–0 at one point, but ultimately lost 4–3 by the Rangers' Ryan Callahan breakaway goal with 20 seconds remaining in the game. Denis Platonov, Vladimir Malenkikh and Nikolai Zavarukhin scored for Metallurg, and Dan Fritsche scored and Chris Drury scored twice for the Rangers. As a sign of respect, Russian Dmitri Kalinin and Ukrainian Nikolay Zherdev accepted the Victoria Cup trophy on behalf of the New York Rangers.