Gagarin Cup

Gagarin Cup

Sport	Ice hockey
Competition	KHL playoffs
Awarded for	Playoff champion of the Kontinental Hockey League
History
First award	2008
First winner	Ak Bars Kazan
Most wins	Ak Bars Kazan, CSKA Moscow, Metallurg Magnitogorsk (3)
Most recent	Metallurg Magnitogorsk (3)

The Gagarin Cup (Russian: Кубок Гагарина, Kubok Gagarina) is the trophy presented to the winner of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. The Cup was supposedly named after Gagarin because the last possible game of the inaugural KHL season took place on April 12, the anniversary date of Gagarin's flight.^[1]

After the end of the KHL's regular season, sixteen teams participate in the playoffs. The round of 16 and quarter-finals were a best-of-five series during the first season, and the semi-finals and finals were a best-of-seven series during the first season. Conferences were established for the second season. Conference quarter-finals are a best-of-five series while the conference semi-finals, conference finals and Gagarin Cup finals are a best-of-seven series. The winner of the final best-of-seven series receives the Gagarin Cup.^[2] It has been reported that the Cup weighs 18 kg (40 lbs), making it heavier than the NHL's Stanley Cup.^[3]