Kokshetau

The nickname Wolves stuck to the side almost as soon as it was put together in Kokshetau in 2009. Within a decade the team had gone from a new entry in domestic hockey to the country's first representative on an international trophy, taking the IIHF Continental Cup in the 2018–19 season after beating GKS Katowice 4–2 and HK Gomel 8–2 in the group stage. The final in Belfast came down to a penalty shootout against the Belfast Giants, after the sides had traded goals to finish 2–2 through overtime; Yevgeni Gasnikov settled it in the shootout, 3–2.

At home, the Kazakhstan Hockey Championship came later and less easily. Arlan lost two finals in the mid-2010s before finally winning the title in 2017–18, then added two more in 2023–24 and 2024–25. The Kazakhstan Cup went their way three times, in 2012, 2013 and 2024. Playoff meetings with Beibarys Atyrau and Yertis Pavlodar have supplied the club's sharpest rivalries, seasons where a single series has decided who carries momentum into the following year.

Andrei Troschinsky spent the 2013–14 season with the club before his path led to a St. Louis Blues draft selection, one of the names Kokshetau point to when the conversation turns to players who moved on to bigger things. A junior side, MHK Arlan, feeds the senior team from the same city.

The Wolves still play in red, white and blue at the Buraibay Sports Palace, a rink that holds barely more than a thousand people for a club that has already won a continental final.