KHL Releases 2013-2014 schedule

The 2013-2014 KHL season schedule was released today during a press conference from Moscow.  The complete schedule can be seen at the following link.  KHL officials worked with each team to accommodate as many of their requests as possible and also leaving dates open for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Here are next season’s highlights:

·  The season begins on 4 September with a rematch of last season’s finals with Gagarin Cup winners Dynamo Moscow receiving Traktor Chelybinsk.

·  KHL Medvescak Zagreb was assigned to the Bobrov Division in Conference West with other recent expansion teams Lev Prague and Slovan Bratislavia. The Medvescak inaugural home opener will occur on 6 September versus Russian team CSKA Moscow that dominated hockey in Europe during the Cold War era .

·  Admiral Vladivostok selected 19 players for their team at today’s press conference via an Expansion Draft.  They were officially assigned to the Chernyshev Division in Conference East.They will open at home against Amur Khabarovsk on 6 September. 

No games will be played on the following dates:

·  Karjala Cup:  7 – 10 November

·  First Channel Cup:  19-22 December

·  KHL All-Star Game 2014:  11 January

·  Winter Olympics:  6-23 February

The season ends on 3 March, after each team plays every other team once at home and once on the road.  Eight teams will make the playoffs from each conference, which will begin on 7 March.  Higher seeded teams will play games 1, 2, 5 and 7 at home.  The KHL finals will begin on 18 April.

Tim Bourcier is a writer for Eurohockey.com and The Hockey Writers following the KHL and hockey in Croatia.  Follow him on Twitter @bourciertm and read his blog Sport Exec in Training.

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