AKM

Zenit Tula's exit from professional hockey left the city without a senior club, and the B.P. Mikhailov Academy of Hockey, running its junior programme since 2018, filled the gap by fielding its own senior side. That team, AKM, took up a place in the Supreme Hockey League for the 2021/22 season.

The club plays in blue, red and white and is known locally as the Akademiki. Its ground, the Ice Palace in Osinovaya Gora, holds 3,072. With no other professional side left in Tula, AKM has no derby to speak of.

A first quarterfinal appearance came in 2022/23, where AKM beat Lada Togliatti 4–3 before Rubin Tyumen ended the run 4–3 the other way. The following season went further still: AKM reached the Petrov Cup final, only for Neftyanik Almetyevsk to sweep the series 4–0. Forward Ilya Shipov marked that run with a VHL playoff speed record, and the squad has carried the experience of Gagarin Cup winner Vladimir Bryukvin alongside captain Yuri Pautov.

The cup itself has stayed out of reach. The task now is the same one that took it to a final in 2024: turning academy talent into results that hold up over a full playoff run.