Hockey Club Salavat Yulaev (Russian: Хоккейный клуб «Салават Юлаев», romanized: Hokkejnyj klub «Salavat Julajev»; Bashkir: «Салауат Юлаев» хоккей клубы, romanized: «Salawat Yulayev» xokkey klubı), commonly referred as Salavat Yulaev Ufa, is a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Ufa. They are members of the Chernyshev Division of the Kontinental Hockey League.
Established in 1957, Salavat Yulaev spent the Soviet era mainly in the lower divisions, only appearing in the top league for five seasons, though since the dissolution of the Soviet Union they have been in the top league in Russia.
They have won the Gagarin Cup as the KHL champion once, in 2011, and have won the regular season championship twice, in 2009 and 2010, winning the inaugural Continental Cup for the latter. They also won the final Russian Superleague title, in 2008.
History
Soviet era
Founded in 1957, the club was named SK Gastello Ufa during the 1958 Soviet Championship season. then, the club changed its name to Salavat Yulaev Ufa in 1961. the club is named after Salavat Yulaev, a national hero of Bashkortostan. After years of competing in the low-level divisions the team was invited to the second level of the Soviet League "Class A" in 1964, subsequently getting promotion to the elite group for the 1978-1979, 1980-81, 1982-83, 1985-1986 and 1986-1987 seasons.[citation needed]
Post-Soviet era
Salavat Yulaev was one of the founding clubs of the International Hockey League and later the Russian Superleague, and normally advanced to the playoffs at that time. The club reached its first Russian championship semifinals in 1996-97 and eventually won its first Championship title in 2007-08, beating Lokomotiv Yaroslavl by three matches to two.
KHL era
On July 11, 2008, Salavat signed NHL rising star Alexander Radulov.
On June 9, 2009, a press release was issued, stating that Viktor Kozlov had signed a three-year contract to return to Russia.[2] The club has also signed Norwegian forward Patrick Thoresen for the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons.
Salavat Yulaev marked its first year in the KHL by winning its first two regular season titles and becoming the first club to be awarded the Continental Cup. The following season, the team advanced to the final against Atlant and won their first Gagarin Cup as champions. They remained a powerful club in the KHL over the following seasons, reaching the playoffs each year, though did not advance past the conference finals in any year.
