CSK VVS

The first Russian championship after the Soviet collapse belonged to the club then known as CSK VVS-Mayak, which beat Dynamo Moscow 3–0 in the final to take the 1991/92 Open Championship of Russia. Two more titles followed in quick succession, the Higher League crowns of 1992/93 and 1993/94.

The name traces back to 1950, when the team was formed as Krylya Sovetov-1 on the strength of the Stalin Plant workforce in what was then Kuybyshev, passing through Trud and Mayak before the Air Forces sports club took it over in 1992 and gave it the identity, and the nickname, it carries now: the Military Aviators. The dark blue and white colours and the air-force lineage still shape how the club is spoken about in the city.

Nothing has matched that early-1990s peak since, though there have been reminders of what the club can do lower down the ladder: a runners-up finish in the Russian Hockey League in 2014/15, and a double in 2022/23, the VHL-B championship paired with the Cup of the Federation. Home games are played at the Vladimir Vysotsky Sports Palace, a 5,000-seat rink.

For now CSK VVS sits in the third tier.