Avangard Omsk

Hockey Club Avangard (ХК Авангард, Vanguard), also known as Avangard Omsk Region, are a Russian professional ice hockey team from Siberia, based in the city of Omsk. They are members of the Chernyshev Division of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

Franchise history
The first amateur ice hockey teams in Omsk began to appear in 1950, formed by local bandy players. One of them was a hockey section of the Omsk Spartak sports society. Spartak Omsk was chosen to be the first Omsk hockey team in the 1950–51 RSFSR championship. In the 1955–56 season, the team had a chance to represent the city in the Soviet Championship, joining its then-second level Class B league and recruiting the best hockey players from Omsk. Four seasons later, the team finally won promotion to the top division.

Its first game in the major Soviet championship Spartak played on November 29, 1959, against Spartak (later Avtomobilist) Sverdlovsk. The first goal for Avangard was scored by Viktor Shevelev. In 1962, the team was assigned with a trade union of the Omsk airport and renamed as Aeroflot Omsk. Playing under its new name, the Omsk team reached the 13th place overall, its highest success during the original four-season run in the top level of Soviet hockey. However, it was still not enough to secure their position in the Class A after the subsequent reform of the championship—starting with the 1963–64 season, Aeroflot joined a newly established A2 league.

Further realignment in 1966 drove Aeroflot out to the third level competition (the third group of the Class A). The next season, 1967–68, the team was renamed once again as Kauchuk (Rubber) reflecting the change of the team's assignment to the Sibirsky Kauchuk combine. Shortly after, for the 1969–70 season, the team was taken over by Yevgeny Babich, who finished his coaching career in Omsk.

In order to improve the performance of Omsk in the Soviet championship, Kauchuk, in 1972, was merged with rival Lokomotiv Omsk into a single team called Khimik ("Chemist"). It led to an immediate promotion of the team in 1973. The next season was notable for being the first in the second level league after a seven years break, as well as the first to be played on qrtificial ice, although the games were still held at an outdoor stadium.

In 1975, Khimik Omsk was given to the Omsk Tire Factory and subsequently was renamed Shinnik ("Tiremaker"). In 1981, the team then affiliated with Omsktransmash and received its current name, Avangard Omsk. In 1987, the players moved to the long-awaited Irtysh Sports Complex, the team's first indoor arena.

Champions
Russian Superleague (1): 2004 KHL Continental Cup (1): 2011 IIHF European Champions Cup (1): 2005 Soviet League Class A2 (1): 1990 (East)

Runners-up
Gagarin Cup (1): 2012 Russian Superleague (2): 2001, 2006 Russian Superleague (1): 2007 IIHF Continental Cup (1): 2007 IHL Championship (1): 1996

Season-by-season KHL record
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, OTW = Overtime/Shootout Wins, OTL = Overtime/Shootout Losses, L = Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points