Gazprom Neft Cup – official children’s tournament of Kontinental Hockey League
Gazprom neft and the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) are cooperating to promote children’s hockey and train a pool of young sportsmen. In this context, the annual Gazprom Neft Cup children’s hockey tournament was assigned the status of an official KHL tournament. Since November 2010 this competition has been called the KHL tournament among children’s hockey teams, Gazprom Neft Cup.
The tournament is sponsored by Gazprom neft. The Kontinental Hockey League provides managerial and training support. Such a partnership will enhance the popularity and raise the status of the tournament through participation of children’s hockey teams from KHL clubs.
The Gazprom Neft Cup hockey tournament has taken place since 2007. In 2010 this competition was first held under the auspices of KHL. Over the years of the tournament, hockey teams from Saint Petersburg, the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs, the Tyumen, Omsk and Tomsk Oblasts took part in it. Besides the official competitions, the tournament also includes master classes for young hockey players, meetings with sports stars from professional clubs, competitions for the best physically fit or the best trained team, friendly matches with the USSR Hockey Legends team.
“By joining the conduct of the tournament the KHL will simultaneously meet two important objectives: on the one hand this will enable us to evaluate the development of hockey in Russian regions, on the other hand, it is an efficient instrument to promote this kind of sports. Development of children’s hockey is a crucial task. Its implementation will determine the future of this kind of sports in Russia. Socialization among ten-year boys and the KHL stars, Jaromir Jagr and Alexey Yashin, at the fourth Gazprom Neft Cup in April vividly demonstrated the cross-generational continuity in our hockey,” noted KHL President Alexander Medvedev.
Concerning the agreement with the KHL, Alexander Dyukov, President of Gazprom neft said, “This is a significant step in developing children’s sports, a unique chance for young hockey players to test their skills and fulfill themselves competing with the teams representing the best KHL clubs. My personal opinion is that KHL professionals will benefit a lot from taking part in this tournament as they create a system for young hockey players training in Russia and promote this kind of sports.”