Today, a number of Latvian media released materials with bright headlines, the meaning of which boiled down to the fact that Dynamo Riga ceased to exist. Behind the big news is the usual story. The club has not applied for participation in the Latvian Open Championship. The secretary general of the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation Roberts Plaveis told Sportacentrs about this. Thus, Dynamo will not play in any tournament in the upcoming season.

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However, the chairman of the board of directors of the Riga club, Juris Savickis, whose words are quoted by TASS, issued a refutation. “Information about the demise of Dynamo is not true,” the functionary said. – The club continues to exist, although we have problems, and we are currently discussing whether we will play in the Latvian championship next season or skip it. Everything will be known in a couple of weeks

The very news of the closure of Dynamo did not come as a shock within the country, since after leaving the KHL in February 2022, the club found itself in a state of clinical death. In the new realities, it was clear that it would not last long in its previous form. Previously, financing for Dynamo was largely provided by partners from Russia – Gazprom and Itera. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict led to the rupture of not only economic ties, but also sports ones.

For the past five years, the project has eked out a miserable existence in the KHL compared to what it was at the dawn of the league. However, once outside the large sports space, the team has become completely unnecessary in the domestic market. Last season, Dynamo existed as if by inertia, playing in the Latvian Open Championship. There was hope that in a year the foreign policy situation could change for the better. Then it was realistic to think about returning to the big stage. This did not happen, and in the foreseeable future, the Riga club does not have to wait for anything good.

Nine teams participate i

Photo photo.khl.ru

n the tournament, including representatives from Lithuania and Estonia. However, only representatives of the current winner, Zemgale, can be called pure professionals. This club played in parallel in the second division of the Finnish championship. Due to internal and financial problems, Dynamo ended the last season with three fives, which consisted mainly of youth. It was diluted by several veterans, including Mikelis Redlikhs and Georgy Puyats. The team was knocked out in the playoff semi-finals by Zemgale, losing all four matches with devastating scores (0:7, 1:11, 1:9, 3:10).

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Businessman Savickis, who oversaw the club during his performance in the KHL, is a former KGB officer. This circumstance initially imposed a decent share of negativity on Dynamo, which has always existed on the money of Russian partners. In Latvia, a significant part of the fans did not accept the club, revived specifically for the KHL. In addition, for Savickis, hockey has never been a lifelong love, but primarily served as an excellent tool for solving business and political issues. Now this privilege is gone. It turned out that in Latvia itself, no one is ready to give the last for the continued existence of the legendary club. The Riga Dynamo project has not been thrown into the dustbin of history, as it might seem. Rather, it is mothballed until better times.