Molodechno

The Sports and Entertainment Center in Molodechno, known to everyone locally as Olympic-2011, holds 2,200 spectators.

Dinamo-Molodechno grew out of the Dinamo Minsk system, and for most of its existence it sent players north rather than kept them. That arrangement lasted until 2022, when the farm-team status ended, though the ties to Minsk never really loosened. The white-and-blue colours give the club its nickname, the White-Blues.

The top tier of Belarusian hockey has stayed out of reach — no Extraleague title, no Ruslan Salei Cup. Where Molodechno has made its mark is one level down: three straight Extraliga B championships across 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21. Kulakov the coach is one of those: a former player who came back to run the bench, part of a pipeline that has sent the likes of Nikita Feoktistov and Timofey Kovgorenya on to Dinamo Minsk and the national team.

Games against Shakhter Soligorsk carry an extra edge as the regional derby, both clubs drawing from the same Minsk oblast.

Andrei Stepanov wears the captain's armband.