The KHL's opening match. SKA - CSKA. Game day

Today, SKA will open up the eighth and new KHL season with a home fixture against CSKA Moscow. Traditonally the two Gagarin Cup finalists take part in the opening game of the campaign, however seeing as CSKA became Russian champions by winning the regular season they play instead of HC Ak Bars Kazan.

It has been a non stop pre-season for our team, as a grand total of ten friendly matches were played out in Finland and Russia. The home Nikolai Puchkov tournament was the highlight of the season build-up, and in front of a packed Saint Petersburg Ice Palace SKA defeated HC Sochi 5:2, Severstal 7:3 and Jokerit Helsinki 5:3 to take the trophy. Mikko Koskinen stood between the pipes for two of those games, with Ilya Ezhov playing his part against Sochi.

It was a very succcesful past season for HC CSKA Moscow, and having reached the Western Conference semi-finals they will be looking to build on their progress. They have been very active on the transfer rink too, with goaltender Viktor Fasth, Dmitry Kugryshev, Ivan Ohziganov, Alexander Kutuzov, Artyom Blazhievsky and Geoff Platt all making the move to the Russian capital. They have lost some key figures though, as Igor Grigorenko, Nikolai Prokhorkin, Andrei Stas and Andreas Engqvist taking their leave.

We ask all attending fans to take their seats inside the Ice Palace no later than 19.15. There will be a special pre-match performance, and everyone will have a t-shirt laid out on their seats that we ask you wear. Together we can create an unforgettable atmosphere!

The SKA - CSKA match will begin at 19.30 local time inside the Saint Petersburg Ice Palace. 100 TV, Rossiya 2, KHL TV and KHL TV HD will all broadcast the game live, while you can also keep up to date with events by following our official Twitter account!