HC Salavat Yulaev starts 8th KHL championship in late summer

UFA, 18 June 2015. /Bashinform News Agency, Dmitry Slezin/. In Moscow, a meeting of the Board of the Kontinental Hockey League was held. A draft structure of the future championship, previously agreed by the Board of Ice Hockey Federation of Russia, the Ministry of Sports and the Russian national team coaching staff, was approved.

The tournament kicks off on August 24 with a match for the Opening Cup between SKA and CSKA and will be finished with a playoff of final series of Gagarin Cup no later than April 19, 2016.

HC Salavat Yulaev (Ufa) traditionally plays in the Eastern Chernyshev Division, with teams "Avangard" (Omsk), "Admiral" (Vladivostok), "Amur" (Khabarovsk), "Barys" (Astana), "Metallurg" (Novokuznetsk), and "Sibir" (Novosibirsk).

The championship will take place in two stages. During the first stage (regular season), each team will play one home and one away match with all other teams (54 matches, 27 – at home and 27 – away matches). In addition, all teams will play within their conference 6 games (3 – at home and 3 – away matches). Thus, each team will play total 60 games. The second stage - the playoffs - will be held according to the traditional pattern.