Avangard Omsk

Hockey Club Avangard (ХК Авангард, meaning "Vanguard"), commonly called Avangard Omsk, is a professional ice hockey team from Omsk, Russia. It competes in the Chernyshev Division of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The first amateur hockey teams in Omsk appeared in 1950, started by local bandy players. One of these was a hockey section of the Spartak sports society. Spartak Omsk became the city’s first team in the 1950–51 RSFSR championship. In the 1955–56 season, the team entered the Soviet Championship’s second-level Class B league, recruiting the best local players. Four seasons later, it earned promotion to the top division. Spartak played its first major Soviet championship game on November 29, 1959, against Spartak (later Avtomobilist) Sverdlovsk. Viktor Shevelev scored the first goal for Avangard. In 1962, the team was assigned to the Omsk airport trade union and renamed Aeroflot Omsk. Under this name, it reached 13th place overall, its best result during its first four-season stint in the top level. However, a championship reform for the 1963–64 season moved Aeroflot to the newly formed A2 league. Further realignment in 1966 pushed the team down to the third-level competition. For the 1967–68 season, the team was renamed Kauchuk (Rubber) after being assigned to the Sibirsky Kauchuk combine. In the 1969–70 season, former player Yevgeny Babich finished his coaching career in Omsk. To improve performance, Kauchuk merged with rival Lokomotiv Omsk in 1972 to form Khimik ("Chemist"). This led to immediate promotion in 1973. The next season was the team’s first in the second-level league after a seven-year break, and its first played on artificial ice, though still at an outdoor stadium. In 1975, Khimik was given to the Omsk Tire Factory and renamed Shinnik ("Tiremaker"). In 1981, the team affiliated with Omsktransmash and received its current name, Avangard Omsk. In 1987, the players moved to the Irtysh Sports Complex, the team’s first indoor arena. In 1990, after 27 years of balancing between the second and the third divisions of Soviet hockey, Avangard was finally given the opportunity to play in the qualification tournament for the top league. Though unsuccessful at the time, the team was promoted after the 1991 series and joined the first and only CIS championship.