The Gagarin Cup () is the trophy presented to the winner of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

(KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...

, the first human in space. The Cup was supposedly named after Gagarin because the last possible game of the inaugural KHL season took place on April 12, the anniversary date of Gagarin's flight. After the end of the KHL's

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

, sixteen teams participate in the

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

s. The

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

and quarter-finals were a best-of-five series during the first season, and the semi-finals and finals were a best-of-seven series during the first season. Conferences were established for the second season. Conference quarter-finals are a best-of-five series while the conference semi-finals, conference finals and Gagarin Cup finals are a best-of-seven series. The winner of the final best-of-seven series receives the Gagarin Cup. It has been reported that the Cup weighs 18 kg (40 lbs), making it heavier than the NHL's

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

Naming history

According to league president

Alexander Medvedev Alexander Ivanovich Medvedev (, ; born 14 August 1955) is the current Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee of Russian energy company Gazprom and since February 2019 he is the director general and president of the football club FC Zenit Sa ...

, the Cup was named after

because Russian citizens associate his name with the achievement of great accomplishments, and the man himself has been described as a symbol of the nation.

Series results

Appearances

In the table, the teams are sorted by the number of appearances in the Gagarin Cup finals, then by the number of wins. ''Italicized'' marks now non-existent (not playing in the

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

) teams. In the "Years of appearance" column, bold years indicate winning Gagarin Cup Finals appearances.

References

* {{Kontinental Hockey League Monuments and memorials to Yuri Gagarin Kontinental Hockey League trophies and awards Awards established in 2008 Russian ice hockey trophies and awards 2008 establishments in Russia