Asia League Ice Hockey

Asia League Ice Hockey

Current season	2017/18
sport	ice Hockey
abbreviation	ALIH
League foundation	2003
Teams	8th
Country countries	Japan 4 teams South Korea 3 teams Russia 1 team
Title holder	Anyang Halla
Record champions	Anyang Halla (5)
Website	Asia League Ice Hockey

The Asia League Ice Hockey is a professional East Asian ice hockey league in which teams from Japan , South Korea and Russia as well as formerly China compete. The league, founded in 2003, is now considered to be the strongest ice hockey league in Asia.

history

League game, January 2009

The league initially consisted of the four remaining teams of the disbanded Japan Ice Hockey League and the Anyang Halla from South Korea, who continued to play under the Japan Ice Hockey League for half a season consisting of 16 games .

Due to the success , three more non-Japanese franchises were added to the league in the following season with the two Chinese teams Qiqihar Ice Hockey and Harbin Ice Hockey as well as Golden Amur , a team that played in Khabarovsk , Russia that the name was changed to Asia League Ice Hockey . Although Golden Amur was able to finish the 2004/05 season in third place, the team had to withdraw from the league after only one season due to financial problems.

Before the 2005/06 season, two new teams were added with Kangwon Land from South Korea and the Nordic Vikings from Beijing , so that the ALIH now consisted of nine teams. The Vikings consisted mostly of young Scandinavians who were supposed to gain experience in the new league.

For the 2006/07 season, the franchises from Qiqihar and Harbin moved to Changchun and Beijing, respectively, where they each competed under a new name. The Nordic Vikings left the league after only one year, the defending champion Kokudo Ice Hockey Team also changed his name to Seibu Prince Rabbits . On September 23, 2006, the league started its third official season as ALIH, the play-offs began on February 17, 2007. Play-off champions were the Nippon Paper Cranes for the first time , who played 3-1 in the final prevailed against the Prince Rabbits.

In the 2008/09 season, Anyang Halla was the first team outside of Japan to win the regular season. In the play-offs, however, they lost in the semifinals against the eventual champions Nippon Paper Cranes. In the following season, the South Koreans were able to win the regular season again and this time prevailed in the final against Nippon Paper Cranes and became the first South Korean champion of the ALIH. In the following season 2010/11 the team was able to reach the final. The final series against the Tōhoku Free Blades was canceled due to the destruction caused by the Tōhoku earthquake in 2011 in March 2011 and both teams were named joint champions. Since 2014, another Russian team, HK Sakhalin , has been participating in the league. Since China Dragon withdrew from the league in 2017, however, there has been no Chinese team left.

mode

In the 2020/21 season, eight franchises took part in the league.

Teams 2020/21

country	team	city	Playing times	former name
	Anyang Halla	Anyang	since 2003
	Daemyung Killer Whales	Incheon	since 2016
	Yokohama grits	Yokohama	since 2020
	Nikko IceBucks	Nikko	since 2003	Nikkō Kobe IceBucks (2005-2007)
	East Hokkaido Cranes	Kushiro-shi	since 2003	Nippon Paper Cranes (until 2019)
	Ōji Eagles	Tomakomai	since 2003
	HK Sakhalin	Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk	since 2014
	Tōhoku Free Blades	Hachinohe	since 2009

Former teams

country	team	city	Playing times
	Golden Amur	Khabarovsk	2004/05
	Nordic Vikings	Beijing	2005/06
	Changchun Fuao	Changchun	2006/07
	China Dragon	Shanghai	2007-2017
	Daemyung Sangmu	Seoul	2013-2016
	Hosa	Beijing	2006/07
	Kokudo Ice Hockey Club / Seibu Prince Rabbits	Tokyo	2003-2009
	Kangwon Land / High1	Chuncheon	2005-2019

Previous seasons

The record champion of the ALIH is Anyang Halla, who became champions six times.

The trophies of the Asia League Ice Hockey

season	master	Final opponent	Regular season
2003/04	Nippon Paper Cranes 1	Kokudo Ice Hockey Team 1	-
2004/05	Kokudo Ice Hockey Club	Nippon Paper Cranes	Nippon Paper Cranes
2005/06	Kokudo Ice Hockey Club	Nippon Paper Cranes	Nippon Paper Cranes
2006/07	Nippon Paper Cranes	Seibu Prince Rabbits	Nippon Paper Cranes
2007/08	Ōji Eagles	Nippon Paper Cranes	Seibu Prince Rabbits
2008/09	Nippon Paper Cranes	Seibu Prince Rabbits	Anyang Halla
2009/10	Anyang Halla	Nippon Paper Cranes	Anyang Halla
2010/11 2	Anyang Halla Tōhoku Free Blades		Ōji Eagles
2011/12	Ōji Eagles	Nikko Ice Bucks	Ōji Eagles
2012/13	Tōhoku Free Blades	Ōji Eagles	Ōji Eagles
2013/14	Nippon Paper Cranes	Ōji Eagles	Ōji Eagles
2014/15	Tōhoku Free Blades	Anyang Halla	Anyang Halla
2015/16	Anyang Halla	HK Sakhalin	Anyang Halla
2016/17	Anyang Halla	HK Sakhalin	Anyang Halla
2017/18	Anyang Halla	Ōji Eagles	HK Sakhalin
2018/19	HK Sakhalin	Nippon Paper Cranes	Daemyung Killer Whales
2019/20 3	HK Sakhalin Anyang Halla		HK Sakhalin

¹ In the 2003/04 season there were no play-offs, the championship leader was at the end of the regular season.

²The final was not played because of the Tōhoku earthquake . Both teams were declared joint champions.

³The final was not held because of the Covid-19 pandemic . Both teams were declared joint champions.

Most successful clubs

	master	Runner-up	Preliminary round winner
Anyang Halla	6th	1	5
Nippon Paper Cranes	4th	5	3
Kokudo Ice Hockey Club / Seibu Prince Rabbits	2	3	1
Tōhoku Free Blades	3	-	-
Ōji Eagles	2	3	4th
HK Sakhalin	2	2	2
Daemyung Killer Whales	-	-	1
Nikko Ice Bucks	-	1	-

Web links

Commons : Asia Ice Hockey League  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official homepage of the Asia League Ice Hockey

Individual evidence

1. ^ IIHF - Yokohama gets gritty. Retrieved July 24, 2020 .