The Sokol team was created on the initiative of the working people in 1974 at the Novocheboksarsky Chemical Association Khimprom. It would be fit to call her “Chemist”, but hockey chemists called her “Youth”, and then changed their “callsign” to “Falcon” in honor of the fellow countryman, astronaut-Chuvash Andriyan Nikolaev, who flew into space under that callsign.
"Falcon" in orbit
The team began with the championship of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, where it did not immediately become a leader. Only with time did it become the flagship of the entire Chuvash ice hockey.
The fight for the second league
The debut in class “B” (an analogue of the current first league) of the USSR championship in the 1979-1980 season turned out to be excellent. The team immediately got to the final of class “B” and fought for a place in class “A”. However, unsuccessfully. After a season, the situation repeated. However, the reform in Soviet hockey in 1982 eliminated classes (including “B”) and organized leagues. The number of teams was reduced, and the hockey club Sokol (Novocheboksarsk) lost the status of a team of masters. I had to get the right to play. Only in 1984 did the Novocheboksarsky team take to the ice in a third-tier match (second league) of Soviet hockey.
League One for the season
Speaking at this level, HC Sokol has established itself as a tough nut. Only in the first season the club fought for survival, then it always took places in the upper half of the tournament table. The support of the chiefs (a large chemical enterprise), city and republican authorities made it possible to attract hockey players decent in terms of game level to the team. “Falcon” was gradually improved, periodically claimed to enter the first league. And one day she nevertheless came out.
Alas, just for the season. The blame for this, however, was not the Sokol hockey club (Novocheboksarsk), but the political changes in the USSR. The Soviet Union simply ceased to exist, and with it the first Allied League.
Change is not for the better
Unfortunately, political changes for most of Russia have turned into economic problems. This problem was not bypassed by Novocheboksarsk and its city-forming chemical enterprise Khimprom, and with it, of course, Sokol Holding Company. However, ice hockey took such deep roots in the city (in the Soviet years, a youth hockey school was organized, in which hundreds of teenagers took part, the Sokol ice palace was built in several stages, which for a long time remained the only one in Chuvashia during matches almost always filled to capacity) that it was impossible to snatch them overnight. "Falcon" kept on the fly, thanks to local enthusiasm and pupils of the local youth sports school.
I must say that although the pupils of Novocheboksarsk hockey did not reach the level of the national teams of the USSR and Russia, they played in the teams of the Higher League. I remember such names as Albert Fatkulin, Alexey Zavyalov, Konstantin Obrezh and others. Most often, the Falcons were replenished with the compositions of the Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) Torpedo, Togliatti Lada and Omsk Avangard.
However, youthful enthusiasm and patriotism will never replace experience and skill. The result was therefore appropriate. Nevertheless, the Falcon managed to soar among the winners of the First League Volga zone. In the 1999-2000 season, the team experienced a "clinical death": due to lack of funding, the Falcon was forced to spend the season as an amateur in the open championship of Chuvashia.
Dossier
Hockey club "Falcon" (Novocheboksarsk, Russia) was founded in 1974. Old name: 1974 - "Youth"; 2000-01 - "CSK Air Force - Falcon". Colors: red, white, black. Stadium: Ice Palace "Falcon".
Highest achievements: second place in the Volga region of the First League of the Russian Championship (season 2001-02), third places in the Second League of the USSR Championship (2nd zone, 1988-1989 season and Zapad zone, 1989-1990 season) and Russian championships in the Volga region (seasons 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2008-2009).
Hockey club "Falcon" (Novocheboksarsk), famous players: Mikhail Dvornichenko, Ivan Kotov, Sergey Novikov, Alexander Zavyalov, Victor Bobrov, Roman Malov, Oleg Saltykov, Konstantin Obrezha.
Famous trainers: Vladimir Laschenov (1974-1977), Vladimir Babushkin (1978-1981), Boris Toplyannikov (1981-1984, 1994-1996), Gennady Khaletsky (1985-1988), Alexander Frolov (1988), Yuri Savtsillo (1988- 1989), Nikolai Soloviev (1989-1993), Sergey Potaychuk (1997-1999), Valery Dodaev (2000-2001), Oleg Saltykov (2001-2009), Alexander Protapovich (2009-2010).
Hockey club "Falcon" (Novocheboksarsk). The composition of the last season (2015-16)
| No. | Player | Year of birth | Height Weight | Games | Goals | Gears | Fine |
| Goalkeepers |
| 12 | Mikhail Fofanov | 1991 | 184, 83 | 25 | (-73) | - | - |
| 48 | Alexey Trofimov | 1987 | 178, 82 | 13 | (-47) | - | 6 |
| 1 | Artem Gvozdik | 1988 | 190, 100 | 13 | (-60) | - | 2 |
| Defenders |
| 7 | Roman Aksenov | 1994 | 180, 75 | 44 | 7 | fourteen | 31 |
| 2 | Dmitry Lukin | 1991 | 190, 88 | 44 | - | fourteen | fourteen |
| 27 | Nikolay Ivanov | 1994 | 185, 81 | 24 | 2 | 7 | 22 |
| 68 | Lenar Halimov | 1992 | 178, 85 | 20 | 2 | 7 | 20 |
| 44 | Alexander Golubev | 1993 | 179, 83 | 20 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 89 | Mikhail-Maxim Yadlovsky | 1996 | 183, 85 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 16 |
| 13 | Egor Zherebkin | 1995 | 190.86 | 44 | - | 4 | eight |
| 53 | Ayrat Valiakhmetov | 1995 | 184, 79 | 24 | 2 | 1 | ten |
| 23 | Nikita Suvorov | 1994 | 187, 95 | 27 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 94 | Ilnar Shaidullin | 1991 | 172, 68 | 28 | - | 3 | 20 |
| 90 | Nikita Karaulov | 1994 | 186, 92 | 6 | 1 | - | 4 |
| eleven | Nikita Kozhevnikov | 1994 | 186, 74 | 6 | - | - | 6 |
| 87 | Egor Sevryugin | 1997 | 190, 78 | 5 | - | - | - |
| 4 | Maxim Plyuko | 1993 | 183, 77 | 4 | - | - | - |
| Forwards |
| 22 | Anton Gorbenko | 1992 | 186, 91 | 37 | 18 | 27 | 48 |
| 76 | Maxim Pristupluk | 1991 | 181, 91 | thirty | 16 | 18 | 12 |
| 49 | Igor Kokunko | 1994 | 194, 96 | 42 | nine | 21 | 26 |
| 76 | Andrey Kopylov | 1994 | 183, 74 | 42 | eleven | 16 | 32 |
| 74 | Sergey Ivanov | 1994 | 168, 70 | 28 | 12 | eleven | 36 |
| 70 | Arseny Starkov | 1994 | 180, 80 | 44 | ten | eleven | 18 |
| 71 | Arthur Mansurov | 1994 | 179, 76 | 44 | 5 | 16 | 16 |
| 19 | Denis Sisteykin | 1992 | 174, 85 | 26 | 5 | fourteen | 12 |
| 28 | Ilya Ilyushkin | 1993 | 178, 82 | 32 | nine | 7 | 55 |
| 88 | Vasily Lokotkov | 1993 | 182, 82 | 39 | 5 | 7 | 52 |
| 24 | Alexey Elovskikh | 1992 | 177, 76 | 42 | 5 | 5 | 22 |
| 26 | Alexander Komisarchuk | 1992 | 197, 97 | eight | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 13 | Igor Makarov | 1994 | 177, 77 | 7 | 4 | 4 | eight |
| fifteen | Denis Belov | 1994 | 172, 72 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| 77 | Boris Kochkin | 1995 | 175, 81 | 23 | 2 | 2 | ten |
| 29th | Alexander Gurov | 1994 | 176, 73 | 17 | - | 2 | - |
| 73 | Nikita Kokovin | 1990 | 184, 88 | 16 | - | 2 | ten |
| nine | Dmitry Kravets | 1993 | 178, 78 | eight | 1 | - | - |
| eight | Peter Shlykov | 1994 | 183, 93 | 4 | 1 | - | - |
| 45 | Ilya Yakovlev | 1994 | 174, 73 | eight | - | 1 | - |
| ten | Dinar Adiyatullin | 1993 | 173, 76 | 5 | - | - | - |
| fourteen | Ruslan Valiev | 1994 | 176, 78 | 4 | - | - | - |
| 66 | Nikita Levanov | 1991 | 180, 82 | 3 | - | - | 2 |
Flew away and did not promise to return
The situation in Russia (including in Chuvashia) has improved, which affected hockey. The Falcon even went to the reorganized Russian Hockey League, and then “by inheritance” to the Higher Hockey League. Although the financial problem was not fundamentally resolved, which often did not prevent the team from winning, it was a tradition to celebrate victories on its ice in the form of a show for fans.
07/16/2016 President of the Republic of Chuvashia Mikhail Ignatiev decided to create a municipal hockey team in the capital of the Republic of Cheboksary. Therefore, the best Chuvash hockey club Sokol actually flew to the capital. Most of the composition and coaching staff of the team entered the new Cheboksary HC. The fact of the move is also confirmed legally: the new club inherited the place of the Falcon in the Higher Hockey League.
Now in Novocheboksarsk there is only an excellent ice palace, a children's hockey school and its Sokol team playing in the Youth Hockey League, and, of course, the hope that everything will return to square one.