One year after being swept in the Gagarin Cup finals, today Lokomotiv Yaroslavl reversed their fortunes with a Game Five overtime win over Traktor Chelyabinsk, winning the club’s first ever Gagarin Cup title.

After narrowly escaping the second round with a Game Seven overtime win over Avangard Omsk, the Railwaymen steamrolled Salavat Yulaev en route to the finals, facing their 2024 semifinal opponents in Traktor, who they handily swept last season en route to the final. Despite falling in the finals opener 2-1 after giving up a pair of third period goals in just thirteen seconds, Lokomotiv won three straight to bring the series back to Yaroslavl for the fifth game, looking to win their first Gagarin Cup in three attempts (2009, 2024), and fourth Russian league title overall (1997, 2002, 2003).

And on the very ice where Metallurg hoisted the Gagarin Cup a year ago, this time it was Lokomotiv’s chance to delight their home crowd, heading midway into the third with a solid 1-0 lead on a Martin Gernát second period tally. Steven Kampfer evened things up with just six minutes remaining, sending the tilt into overtime, where it was Maxim Shalunov one-timing a behind the net feed from Andrei Sergeyev past Zach Fucale, sealing the victory and sending Arena 2000 into a frenzy.

Our congratulations go out to the players, management and fans of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, with those on the roster that have also held the IHLC highlighted in bold:

Photo Credit: RIA – IIHF – HHOF – IOC