Czechs to join KHL?
On April the 24th, Hockey Club Lev of Prague (as a different entity to the HC Lev of Poprad which took part in the KHL 2011-12 season) submitted an official application to become a participating club in the Kontinental Hockey League Championship. The Prague club accompanied its application with all the required documentation, including the necessary financial guarantees.
The KHL has confirmed that Lev’s application meets all the demands set out in the League’s regulations. Next week a Kontinental Hockey League commission will head to Prague to carry out an inspection of the existing infrastructure and to verify that the club meets all the relevant criteria for joining the League.
Stricter testing to continue
The Kontinental Hockey League has issued an official announcement confirming that the strengthening of its anti-doping measures during the Gagarin Cup play-off final will continue until the end of the series.
On the 25th of April, following the seventh and decisive game of the series between Avangard and Dynamo Moscow, the players of both teams will be tested for banned substances. The KHL will announce the results of these tests in due course.
Vitawin and Infront join forces
The Russian sporting nutrition and accessories company VITAWIN, co-founded by the Kontinental Hockey League, and the Swedish merchandising company NeH, a part of INFRONT - the leader in sports marketing holdings, have signed an agreement to work together at the forthcoming 2012 hockey world championship in Finland and Sweden.
INFRONT has clinched a three-year deal with The International Ice Hockey Federation, granting the company exclusive world-wide rights for sales of World Championship products, mascots and team merchandise, including goods bearing the symbols, logos and badges of the national teams competing in the World Championships.
As part of its agreement, VITAWIN gains the right to sell its products, in particular the energy bracelet which will be worn by the national teams of Russia, Sweden and Finland, at the IIHF world championship, which gets underway on May 4 in Helsinki and Stockholm.
INFRONT Executive Director Winter Sport, Bruno Marty, had this to say: “In recent years, licensed merchandising has become significant business for the IIHF World Championship. More than 500,000 spectators on site and millions of followers worldwide provide a ready-made market for stylish, high quality merchandise.”
VITAWIN General Director Roman Rotenberg stated that “signing this agreement with INFRONT is a new and important step in the activities of the VITAWIN Company and the advancement of its products into the international arena and new markets. Our modern products deserve the widest and most expertly-targeted audiences found in the most diverse sporting disciplines. This includes hockey, of course, both in Russia and around the world. The VITAWIN Company is now the official supplier of sporting nutrition to the Kontinental Hockey League. The VITAWIN Company together with RUSADA is now part of the KHL’s Clean Ice program. Our joint motto is “Clean Ice and Doping-free Sport.” We are already preparing for the future, including the new hockey season, and in our factories in the USA and Germany we are producing the latest line of sporting nutrition products in full accordance with advanced international standards of quality. The new product line has already passed several medical-biological and doping control tests, is multi-functional, and will satisfy the most demanding of tastes. This is especially important for sportsmen hoping to reach the highest levels of physical fitness in time for the forthcoming national and international competitions, and also in the run-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.”
