HC Dnipro Wolves

This article is about the HC Dnipro Wolves of the Ukrainian Hockey League.

Story of the Team
In early 1970's, when the construction of the Meteor Ice Sport Palace began in Dnepropetrovs'k, Ukraine, rumors started that soon it will become a home to a substantial hockey team. Alas, the management of the rocket plant, Yuzhmash (the owner of the complex) preferred to support and develope figure skating, and it sure did - many known skaters came out of it, including 1994 Olympics Gold Medalist, Oksana Baiul.

Nevertheless, in 2002, thanks to the U.S. businessman, Edward Sartan, ice hockey "tree" was first planted at the Meteor Ice Palace in Dnepropetrovs'k anyway. Originally team debuted under the name "Meteor" in the Ukrainian Championship First League, then in 2003 was promoted to the Ukrainian Championship Major League and changed its name to "Dnipro Wolves" ("Dneprovskie Volki") "Dnipro Wolves".

About the circumstances under which in the Ukraine a second after Sokol professional hockey club appeared and of its objectives, told the correspondent of "2000" Weekly Newspaper in the 2005 interview the President of the club, its first Captain and the President of Dnepropetrovs'k Oblast Ice Hockey Federation, Edward Sartan.

-- I arrived in Dnipropetrovs’k five years ago, when the agency office of Tradepoint was established here and I became its chief -- says Mr. Sartan. About a year later I learned that on a practice rink of the Ice Palace, hockey enthusiasts get together and from 6 to 8 in the morning play their beloved game, but using a ball. Such early practice time was determined by the ice time commitments of the rink, and to play with a puck was forbidden to them out of fear that it can hit someone or break something - many of the boards were missing and there was no plexiglas or netting.

I am in love with hockey from childhood and that is why this information was of interest to me. I soon met the players. We started skating together. Some time later, our amateur group was invited to a tournament in Odessa, organized by the local oil and fats plant that had their own amateur team, Solnechnaya Dolina (Sun Valley). After the matches in Odessa and full of excitement from the experience an idea was born to organize a similar amateur tournament in Dnipropetrovs’k. We met with Meteor Ice Palace management, rented the rink for five days, bought the missing equipment and two and a half years ago held the debut of the Tradepoint Cup. Six teams participated in the competition, and as guests of honor we invited to Dnipropetrovs’k two Soviet hockey legends, participants of the famous USSR vs. Canada series, Vladimir Lutchenko and Viacheslav Anisin.

-- It is not a secret that today Ukrainian Championship leaves much to be desired. Can we say, that in time your club is intending to move to a higher level?

-- If already in this season we win the national competition, in the next season we will try to debut in Belarus Open Championship. But to achieve this, we require a better financial base – just for our company alone to pull the club on such a level is hard. That is why, in the nearest future we will try to get few more sponsors involved in the financing of Dnipro Wolves. If we succeed in implementing our ideas, I am confident, that hockey club in Dnipropetrovs’k will not become a “one-night stand”. We have all the opportunities to become competitive team and play just as well as Kiev’s Sokol.

Home games plays at Meteor Sport Palace (5.500) or at Meteor-2 Ice Rink (300).



Official site: www.hockey.dp.ua