Gennady Timchenko Named Chairman of the Board for Prestigious Russian-based KHL

MOSCOW, July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Russian-Finnish businessman Gennady Timchenko has been elected the new chairman of the board of the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League, taking charge of one of the world's most prestigious leagues as it grows to a record number of teams.
 
Timchenko is also chairman of the board of the St. Petersburg hockey team SKA, which plays in the KHL.
 
"I am pleased to participate in Russian hockey through this new position," Timchenko said. "The KHL has achieved great success since it's beginning. Today it unites not only Russian, but international hockey clubs, and the number of international teams is increasing."
 
The KHL is an international professional hockey league founded in 2008. It is considered by many to be the strongest hockey league in Europe and the second-best in the world. It has been without a board chairman since former NHL star Vyacheslav Fetisov stepped down in January citing disagreements with the league's president, Alexander Medvedev.
 
"Our aim is to create effective development programs to increase the attractiveness of the game for hockey fans in Russia and abroad, especially for younger generations," Timchenko said. "I am confident that we will reach these goals and achieve new victories."
 
Timchenko became chairman of the SKA team last fall. In addition to playing hockey himself, Timchenko also sponsored the rebirth of the Geneva Future Hockey Challenge, a hockey tournament involving the most talented European young hockey players. The tournament is an old tradition for hockey scouting which returned after a ten-year hiatus.
 
The KHL will have a record number of 26 teams this year when the season opens on September 4 in a rematch of the 2011 final series between defending champion Dynamo Moscow and Avangard Omsk.
 
The 2012-2013 regular season will have 676 games and end on February 17, 2013. Playoffs are scheduled to begin on February 20, with the conference quarterfinals and the best-of-seven final series between the conference winners set for April 7 to 19, 2013.

The KHL also announced that the All-Star Game will be held January 12 and 13.
 
In addition, on January 19 and 20, 2013, two of the league's top teams – SKA St. Petersburg and Dynamo Moscow – will play two regular-season games in Brooklyn, New York. The venue for these games will be in the new 14,500-seat Barclays Center, which is set to open later this year as the home of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, formerly the New Jersey Nets.

It will be the first time that Russian clubs will play regular-season games in North America. It is also the first time Russian clubs will play in North America since the winter of 1990-1991 when Dynamo Moscow toured through Canada and the U.S. along with CSKA Moscow and Khimik Voskresensk.
 
Timchenko said he is eager to bring his ideas to the league. "I believe that my long-term business experience and professional attitude to hockey will help to take KHL and Russian hockey to the higher level."

SOURCE Kontinental Hockey League