Ak Bars to play against Jokerit for second time in history

Ak Bars (Kazan, Russia) and Jokerit (Helsinki, Finland) will play a regular match of the Continental Hockey League Championship in Tatneft-arena on 11 December. The match will start at 7:30 pm.

Referees will include Vyacheslav Bulanov, Konstantin Olenin, Yevgeniy Streltsov and Denis Tarasov, Ak Bars’s press service reports.

Russian businessmen Gennadiy Timchenko, Arkady and Boris Rotenbergs purchased 49 percent of Hartwall Arenu club’s shares in June, 2013. The agreement on the team’s transition to the Continental Hockey League from the 2014/2015 season was signed in October last year. Jokerit’s acceptance to the KHL was officially announced on April 30, 2014. Jokerit’s managers led by legendary Jari Kurri prepared a completely new team.

The first match of Ak Bars against Jokerit was held in Helsinki on the first day of the winter. The Kazan team won with 4:2.

A total of 11 hockey players played for Jokerit and Ak Bars at different times as well. The first ex-"joker" of the Kazan club became the striker Dmitry Quarterly in 2000. In the future, defenders Robert Kantor and Raymond Giroux, forwards Jan Benda, David Nemirovsky, Michael Nylander, Jukka Hentunen, Hannes Hyuvenen, Janne Lahti,Tim Stapleton played for Ak Bars. Currently, one of the best foreign playera in Ak Bars’ history Niko Kapanen plays for Jokerit now.