1990-91 Sokol Kiev Vasily Bobrovnikov Jersey

July by the Numbers crosses the Atlantic for jersey #13.

Sokol Kiev (Kiev Falcons) are the oldest and most successful team in Ukrainian hockey history.

The club was founded as Dynamo Kiev in 1963 and began play in the second division in the Soviet Union, of which Ukraine was then a member. After a sixth place finish during their first season, Kiev won the second division in 1964-65, earning promotion to the top level, the Soviet Championship.

The 1964-65 Dynamo Kiev team, which won promotion to the Soviet Championship

Kiev would remain in the top division through the 1969-70 season when a last place finish doomed them to relegation back to the second division.

Three seasons later on the occasion of the club's tenth anniversary, the team would change it's name to Sokol Kiev. It would take until 1978, when a second place finish would elevate Kiev back up to the top level. They would not only avoid relegation, but achieve the highest finish in team history with a third place in 1984-85 aided by Nikolai Narimanov's league leading 26 goals.

In 1986 the club became the first and only team from Ukraine invited to compete for the Spengler Cup, where they would reach the finals. It was also during this time period that the club would add future NHL players Dimitri Khristich, Ruslan Fedotenko and Alexander Godynyuk to their roster. Further international recognition would come with their victory in the 1989 Tampere Cup in Finland.

Dimitri Khristich

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Los Angeles Kings would select defenseman Alexi Zhitnik 81st in the fourth round of the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, making him the highest drafted player from Sokol in team history.

Alexi Zhitnik

Ramil Yuldashev led the league in goals in 1990 and points in 1991 while Valery Shiryaev would be named Best Defenseman both seasons. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, it threw the organization of hockey in the region into a state of flux, with the league changing names to the CIS Championship and then the International Hockey League from 1992-93 to 1995-96 while Kiev remained a member throughout all the changes.

When the Russian Superleague was formed in 1996-97, the only member clubs were Russian and the Ukrainian Kiev team joined the Eastern European Hockey League, which was comprised of teams from Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine, allowing Kiev to not only escape competing against the powerful clubs of Russia, but to become "a big fish in a small pond" themselves.

In the league's eight seasons, Kiev would finish with the best record four times and become champions twice, in both 1998 and 1999. The EEHL lasted until the 2003-04 season, and following it's demise, three clubs, two from Latvia and Sokol Kiev, joined the Belarusian Extraliga.

They competed in the Extraliga for three seasons and then once again changed leagues, this time joining the Vysshaya Liga, the second highest level of Russian hockey, for the 2007-08 season. Due to the higher costs of playing in the Russian league, including higher participation fees for non-Russian teams and travel costs they must cover for the visiting teams, which included not only travel, but lodgings and meals as well, Kiev returned to the Belarus Extraliga again in 2009-10, where they played as the only Ukrainian team through 2010-11.

For the just completed 2011-12 season, Kiev was once again on the move, joining the newly created Professional Hockey League of Ukraine where the grandfather of Ukrainian hockey teams struggles to survive amidst reports of financial difficulties.

To date the club has retired numbers for five players in it's 50 years, #13 for Zhitnik, #8 for Khristich, #14 for Shyriaiev #11 for both Anatoly Stepanischev and #22 Yuri Sundrov.

Sokol Kiev's retired jerseys hang from their arena's rafters

Today's featured jersey is a 1990-91 Sokol Kiev Vasily Bobrovnikov jersey.

The white sections of this jersey are a type of material much like ultrafil, while the blue parts are lighter weight mesh. All the graphics are screened on, including the incredible player name on the back, which doesn't get any better than this for a classic example of the Cyrillic alphabet.

1990-91 Sokol Kiev Vasily Bobrovnikov Jersey

July by the Numbers crosses the Atlantic for jersey #13.

Sokol Kiev (Kiev Falcons) are the oldest and most successful team in Ukrainian hockey history.

The club was founded as Dynamo Kiev in 1963 and began play in the second division of Soviet Union, of which Ukraine was then a member. After a sixth place finish during their first season, Kiev won the second division in 1964-65, earning promotion to the top level, the Soviet Championship. They would remain in the top division through the 1969-70 season when a last place finish doomed them to relegation back to the second division.

Three seasons later on the occasion of the club's tenth anniversary, the team would change it's name to Sokol Kiev. It would take until 1978, when a second place finish would elevate Kiev back up to the top level. They would not only avoid relegation, but achieve the highest finish in team history with a third place in 1984-85 aided by Nikolai Narimanov's league leading 26 goals.

The club was then invited to become the first and only team to compete for the Spengler Cup 1985-86, where they would reach the finals. It was during this time period that the club would add future NHL players Dimitri Khristich, Ruslan Fedotenko and Alexander Godynyuk to their roster. Further international recognition would come with their victory in the 1989 Tampere Cup in Finland.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Los Angeles Kings would select defenseman Alexi Zhitnik 81st in the fourth round of the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, making him the highest drafted player from Sokol in team history.

Ramil Yuldashev led the league in goals in 1990 and points in 1991 while Valery Shiryaev would be named Best Defenseman both seasons. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, it threw the organization of hockey in the region into a state of flux, with the league changing names to the CIS Championship and then the International Hockey League from 1992-93 to 1995-96 as Kiev remained a member club.

When the Russian Superleague was formed in 1996-97, the only member clubs were Russian and the Ukrainian Kiev team joined the Eastern European Hockey League, which was comprised of teams from Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine, allowing Kiev to not only escape competing against the powerful clubs of Russia, but to become "a big fish in a small pond" themselves.

In the league's eight seasons, Kiev would finish with the best record four times and become champions twice, in both 1998 and 1999. The EEHL lasted until the 2003-04 season, and following it's demise, three clubs, two from Latvia and Sokol Kiev, joined the Belarusian Extraliga.

They competed in the Extraliga for three seasons and then once again changed leagues, this time joining the Vysshaya Liga, the second highest level of Russian hockey, for the 2007-08 season. Due to the higher costs of playing in the Russian league, including higher participation fees for non-Russian teams and travel costs they must cover for the visiting teams, which included not only travel, but lodgings and meals as well, Kiev returned to the Belarus Extraliga again in 2009-10, where they remain the lone Ukrainian club, along with one from Latvia, along with 10 Belarusian clubs.

Today's featured jersey is a 1990-91 Sokol Kiev Vasily Bobrovnikov jersey.

The white sections of this jersey are a type of material much like ultrafil, while the blue parts are lighter weight mesh. All the graphics are screened on, including the incredible name on the back, which doesn't get any better than this for a classic example of a Cyrillic name on the back.

1990-91 Sokol Kiev Vasily Bobrovnikov Jersey

July by the Numbers entry #13 takes us across the Atlantic to Ukraine.

Vasily (or Vasili or Vasyl) Bobrovnikov was born in Ukraine on November 8th, 1971 in Kiev and was a regular member of the Ukranian National Team for over a decade. He retired in 2008.

He first appeared for Ukraine five times in the World Championships C Pool before Ukraine was able to win and move up to the B Pool, which they won on their first try to reach the top level. They remained at the top level from 1999 until being relegated in 2007, Bobrovnikov's last appearance for the National Team. Ukraine have competed in the B Pool for the past two years and are hoping to reclaim their position among the World's elite.

Ukraine made their Olympic debut in Salt Lake City in 2002. One of the difficulties for Ukraine in it's first Olympics was that several Ukranian-born players, such as Alexei Zhitnik and Oleg Tverdovsky, had already played for Russia in international competitions when Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union, making them ineligible to appear for another county.

Bobrovnikov played for Sokol Kiev (or Sokil Kyiv) 18 seasons in a variety of leagues, as the organization of hockey evolved throughout the breakup of the Soviet Union. He started playing for Sokol Kiev in the Soviet Hockey League and it's various Russian successor leagues, then the Eastern European Hockey League beginning in 1997, a league made up of teams from Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. Sokol Kiev then found themselves in the Belarus Extraliga in 2004, after the dissolution of the EEHL, and then the Vysshaya Liga, the second highest level of Russian hockey, beginning in 2007 for two seasons.

He would finish his career with 841 league games played, 206 goals and 281 assists for 487 points.

Due to the higher costs involved in playing in the Russian league, including higher participation fees for non-Russian teams and travel costs they must cover for the visiting teams, Sokol Kiev will return to the Belarus Extraliga and compete closer to home in a now 15-team league against 11 teams from Belarus, three from Latvia plus themselves, as the lone Ukranian representative, in a 56-game season.

Sokol Kiev was founded in 1963 and adopted their current name, which translates to "Kiev Falcons", in 1973. They are the first and only Ukranian team to compete in the Spengler Cup as well as the first Ukranian team to win a professional league championship, by winning the Eastern European Hockey League title in 1998 and 1999.

They are the oldest and most successful Ukranian hockey team, winning 11 out of 16 Ukranian Championships since 1992. I must confess to being unclear of the format to determine the Ukranian Championship concurrently with Sokol Kiev also competing in various other leagues during the same time period. It appears to be a case of a season within a season, not unlike how an English soccer club can compete in the Premier League at home and the Champions League in Europe at the same time. Perhaps someone can confirm or enlighten me as to how this correctly works.

Other notable players who have appeared for Sokol Kiev include Ruslan Fedotenko, Alexander Godynyuk, Dmitri Khristich, Mikhail Tatarinov and Alexi Zhitnik, the highest player taken in the NHL draft in franchise history at #81 overall.

Today's featured jersey is a 1990-91 Sokol Kiev Vasily Bobrovnikov jersey.

While most Soviet/Russian game worn jerseys have that unmistakable "funk", this is by far the smelliest jersey I've ever owned. It's one of those types that you believe would stand up on it's own if you tried and not one to let anywhere near your spouse. Or your other jerseys for that matter - as anything hung immediately next to it will become "funkified" on contact. It's a bit of a shame to have to wash a jersey like this in order to remove the stench, as it feels like you are taking away some of the game used "aura", but a necessary step that must be taken if one is to live with such a garment and a true testament to the marvels of modern detergents to not only take on, but defeat the best the old Soviet Union had to offer.

The white sections of this jersey are a type of material much like ultrafil, while the blue parts are lighter weight mesh. All the graphics are screened on, including the incredible example of the name on the back in Cyrillic. It doesn't get any better than this one for a classic Cyrillic name on the back.