Danis Zaripov, is a 6'00", 163lb, premier member of the Russian Hockey Team, the Ak Bars Kazan, in the Kontinental Hockey League and plays Left Wing. He began his professional career in the 1998-99 season for the Swift Current Broncos, of the Western Hockey League but returned to Russia after only one season. He spent the next two years (1999-2001) with the Mechel Chelyabinsk, of the Russia Hockey League, before heading to the Ak Bars Kazan.

In 2002, at the age of 21, everything started coming together. He went from a record in 2001-02 of 41 games played, 3 goals, and 6 assists to the 2002-03 record of 48 games played, 16 goals, and 10 assists. He had a slight backslide in the 2003-04 season, but in 2004-05 he came out with a vengeance and he hasn't looked back. That season, he played in 56 games, with 13 goals and 12 assists. In 2005, he was 49-14-25, 2006: 53-32-30, 2007: 57-21-35, 2008: 56-34-31, and 2009 ( regular play) 50-16-26.

In the 2006-07 Season, Zaripov was awarded the World Championship Best Plus Minus Award and the World Hockey Championship Bronze Medal.http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=11045

The KHL replaced the Hockey Federation of Russia. There are four divisions in the League, with 24 clubs from Russia, Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan. Regular Season consists of 56 games. The best 16 teams then go on to the play-offs (8 from the Eastern Conference and 8 from the Western Conference).http://www.thekhl.net/

Prior to the Olympic break, Zaripov played 50 games, with 16 goals and 25 assists.

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Information

On Feb. 16, 2010, in their first qualifying game at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Team Russia easily beat the Latvian team 8-2. Danis Zaripov scored two goals in the game. The Russians had 45 shots on goal, Latvia only 20. The Latvian defense did a fairly good job in penalty killing, as Russia only scored 1 power play goal. The Russians played 15min 18sec of the game with an advantage. Zaripov played 12min 53sec, with 2 goals, and 4 shots on goal and a +/- of +3.

In the second preliminary game on Feb. 18, 2010 Russia lost to the Slovakian team 2-1. The game was decided in the 7th round of a shoot out by a goal from Demitra Pavol (Vancouver Canucks). Zaripov played 14min 23 secs with 3 shots on goal.

On Feb. 21, 2010, Russian defeated the Czech team 4-2. Zaripov had 10min 43sec on the ice, with 2 shots on goal.

Russia was eliminated from medal play by Canada on Feb. 24, 2010 after suffering a sound thrashing from the fired-up Canadian team. At 2:21 into the first period, Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim Ducks) scored the first of the 7 goal romp by the Canadians. The final score was 7-3 Zaripov finished the game with 11min 44sec on the ice, 2 shots on goal, and a +/- of -3.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey-schedule-results/

In regular season play, Zaripov played in 56 games, with 34 goals, 31 assists, and +/- +26. In the World Championship, the Russian Team defended their title successfully against Canada. Zaripov played in 2 games, had 2 goals, 1 assist, and +/- 3. In the round robin game, he injured his arm against team France.

The Russian Team also won the first Gagarin Cup, named after Russia's first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin. They were awarded the trophy, fittingly enough, on April 12, Cosmonautics Day. It is the equivalent of the NHL's Stanley Cup.http://en.khl.ru/official/22007/

In the Award Ceremonies of the first season of the KHL, Danis Zaripov was given the Golden Stick award, after being named the KHL regular season MVP. He also won the Iron Man Award (played most games in the past 3 seasons) that year. He and teammates, Tony Martensson and Alexei Morozov received the Best Line Award having scored 55 goals when playing together. And he was given a Golden Helmet Award marking his inclusion on the All-Star Team.http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=643087

2007-2008 Season

Zaripov played in 57 games for the Ak Bars Kazan, scored 21 goals, had 34 assists, and a +/- of 22. He also played in 8 of the 2008 World Championship Games, with 3 goals, 4 assists, and +/- +4. The Russian team won the World Championship against Canada.