Ice hockey in Austria

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AustriaAustria Ice hockey in Austria
Association: Austrian Ice Hockey Association
Founding: 1912
IIHF member since: 1912
Remarks: Excluded from 1920–1924, deleted from 1939–1946
1st  EM participation: 1913
(participation in 1912 was canceled)
1st  World Cup participation: 1928
1st  OL participation: 1928
Medals won:
EM : 2 × gold, 3 × silver, 4 × bronze

WM : 2 × bronze

1st  championship : 1922/23
1st  state champion : Vienna Ice Skating Club
Record champions : EC KAC (31 championship titles)

After soccer, ice hockey isthe most popular team sport in Austria . The Austrian Ice Hockey Association (ÖEHV) was founded in 1912, and the Austrian ice hockey champions have been determinedin a national league since 1923. Today the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga is the highest division, but there isanother national championshipwith the Alps Hockey League . The ÖEHV also organizes the national ice hockey team , which has beenparticipating in international tournamentssince 1913 (back then as Austria-Hungary ) and is currently (as of June 2015) ranked 16th in the world .

history

Ice hockey during the Austro-Hungarian Empire

After ice hockey was first reported in 1897, only three years later the Training Ice Club and the Vienna Athletic Sports Club played the first official game. At that time, the game was still played with the ball and with seven players; In addition to the known positions, there was also a so-called rover , which, as the best ice skater on the field, represented a kind of all-round player. In 1909, the opening of the first artificial ice rink created better training conditions, and the new sport experienced an unexpected boom in Austria, which at that time was still part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy .

The Austrian Ice Hockey Association was founded in 1912 and in the same year was accepted as a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation LIHG. Even before admission, Austria had taken part in the 1912 European Ice Hockey Championship , which was subsequently canceled. Austria was represented by the German Ice Hockey Society Prague , while Bohemia was represented by Slavia Prague . Bohemia, which also belonged to Austria-Hungary, had been a member of the LIHG since 1908. Only a year later did Austria officially take part in the tournament, but finished last among the four participants.

DEHG Prague organized the Ringhoffer Cup , which was considered the (international) Austrian championship, as early as 1911 . From 1913 ice hockey was also played with the disc. From 1912/13 the ÖEHV held its own championship for ice hockey with the ball, which the Wiener Sport-Club won and was able to defend the following year. Also in 1913, the Ringhoffer Cup was first held with the disc.

International successes after the First World War

The First World War interrupted efforts, and after the fall of the monarchy, the Austrian Association had to be re-established in 1919. It was not until the 1921/22 season that Bandy switched to Canadian ice hockey with the now known puck from the association.

After a Bandy Cup was held in 1921/22, the 1922/23 Bandy Championship was canceled after the WBC game against Nicholosen on January 23, 1923. In 1922/23, an Austrian championship was held for the first time, which was won by the Vienna Ice Skating Club . In reality, however, it was a competition restricted to the area around Vienna , with teams from other parts of Austria only gradually joining the competition.

The end of the twenties brought the greatest successes for Austrian hockey. This began in 1927 by winning the European Championship, not a single game was lost. In 1930 the Austrian national team was the first European team to defeat a team from North America: a game against Canada could be won 1-0. In 1931 the European championship was brought to Austria again, and at the ice hockey world championship in 1931 the team was able to achieve third place behind Canada and the United States. In 1932 and 1933 , two silver medals followed at the European Championships.

Worker sport

Before the Second World War , there was ice hockey in Austria for the commoners and the workers. Workers 'sport developed very quickly in the 1920s and in 1928 the first workers' ice hockey clubs were founded. They belonged to the Association of Workers' and Soldiers ' Sports Clubs in Austria (VAS) , which was founded in 1919 and which was renamed ASKÖ (Workers' Association for Sport and Physical Culture in Austria) in 1924 . At the 1931 Workers' Winter Olympics in Mürzzuschlag , the Austrian national team took 1st place and became Olympic champion.

When the Social Democratic Labor Party was banned in Austria on February 12, 1934, all affiliated ice hockey clubs were also banned. As a result, players from the workers' clubs tried to be accepted into other ice hockey clubs or to found new clubs in the bourgeois camp. In December 1934, the Association for Sport and Physical Culture of the Federation of Trade Unions was incorporated. The Sport-Tagblatt reported on December 20, 1934 about a new ice hockey club run by the Hammerbrotwerke. The Arsenal ice hockey section in the trade union federation, which was incorporated in January 1935, also belongs to it, as well as the Meidling ice hockey club .

The bourgeoisie took no notice of the workers' ice hockey. The Sport-Tagblatt reported on January 22nd, 1934 that the Austrian workers 'ice hockey team was taking part in the Latvian workers' winter sports festival on February 17th and 18th, 1931 in Riga. This note is rare. The magazine "Der Eishockeysport" reported only once, in which one was amazed at the rapid growth of ice hockey workers' sport and wished it for their own association.

German championship titles from Viennese clubs

The annexation to Germany followed at the end of the thirties . At that time the ÖEHV no longer existed, instead some Austrian teams took part in the German League, which meant that EK Engelmann and Wiener EV each also won a German championship title in their club's history. During the Second World War , gaming operations came to a complete standstill. The association was not re-established until 1945, and in 1947 the team was able to win the bronze medal again at a world championship.

Relegation to the second class

What followed, however, was a sporting crash, which led to Austria being relegated to the C group in 1962 , where, however, undefeated, managed to immediately return to the second class. It was not until 1992 that the national team made it back among the best nations in the world. Since that time, however, there has been a constant ups and downs between A and B groups.

Todays situation

Problems with offspring and finances

The global economic crisis has left its mark on Austrian ice hockey. If there were already indications in the last few seasons that the limit of the budget that could be obtained from sponsors had been reached, this was particularly evident when HC Innsbruck left the Bundesliga at the end of the 2008/09 season . The two Slovenian teams also reported massive financial problems after this season. Other associations, such as the EC VSV , have been working with smaller budgets for a long time in order to avoid the threat of bankruptcy.

An important aspect here is the number of available Austrian players. In particular, Red Bull's entry as a sponsor of the Salzburg EBEL participant brought difficulties, as the team signed a large number of the better athletic local players with extremely generous offers and thus drove the salaries of the Austrian players up disproportionately. However, since many teams, such as the Vienna Capitals , have hardly any offspring of their own, they were unable to compensate for this by bringing in younger players. As a result, the legionnaires' regulation was relaxed and replaced by a points system, so that the missing Austrian players were replaced by a large number of transfer card players. This in turn was criticized above all by the clubs from Carinthia, which have been one of the most important cadre schools in Austria for decades. The hoped-for reduction in the budget only occurred to a limited extent, as the example of Innsbruck showed. A long-term solution can currently only bring about an improvement in training work for young players. Serious efforts in this direction have been apparent since around 2009 and culminated in the 2010/11 season in the establishment of a number of farm teams from all Bundesliga teams and increased cooperation with the clubs in the second and third division. Some youth players were also able to establish themselves in better foreign youth leagues.

The next step in 2012 was the establishment of the Junior EBEL , a youth league whose participation is mandatory for all Bundesliga teams. In addition, a few other teams joined in the premiere year.

The gap between the national and national leagues

In recent years, a not inconsiderable problem has developed between the two top leagues: the budgets of the Bundesliga clubs have increased so much within a few years that they are now many times the financial resources of a second division club. For this reason, no national league champion made use of his right to advance to the top division for a long time. Most of the time, the main argument is the financial risk of disproportionately higher investments. This is a very important aspect, especially after the interim exit of HC Innsbruck , which has not remained without influence on the design of the second division. While there are no longer any effective legionnaires restrictions in the Bundesliga, the national league clubs stuck to their restriction to three transfer card players and tried harder to force their own offspring.

In addition, there was a separation between East and West in Austria. While there were four national league teams in Vorarlberg alone (and five national league teams with the newly added HC Innsbruck from neighboring Tyrol), the east was dominated primarily by the Bundesliga clubs. In their financial planning, the four Vorarlberg teams relied primarily on the numerous well-attended derbies that would not be available for a team if it were promoted to the Bundesliga. In addition, these teams argued with the long journeys for away games in the east. However, this led to the fact that the second highest division was played almost exclusively in the West for years, while the Bundesliga and Oberliga only took place in the East. This problem was exacerbated with the growth of the league to Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia and could only be broken in 2012, when two clubs from the west rose to the EBEL with EC Dornbirn and returnee HC Innsbruck . However, this went hand in hand with an existential crisis in the national league, which had to be realigned within a short time in summer 2012.

Current league structure

ICE Hockey League

The top division of Austrian ice hockey has existed in its current form since the 1965/66 season . However, the Austrian champions have been played intermittently since 1923. The record champions and at the same time the oldest club in the current field of participants is the EC KAC from Klagenfurt with 30 championship titles.

The Erste Bank Ice Hockey League has developed into an international league over the past few years, with four of the twelve participating teams coming from neighboring countries. In the course of time, problems also arose with the legionnaires' regulation, which was modified several times and made more liberal, primarily on the initiative of the Vienna Capitals . This led to a greatly increased number of transfer card players in the league. The fact that this did not only serve to reduce the high salaries for the comparatively small pool of Austrian players and thus reduce the budget was proven by the voluntary relegation of the EBEL participant from Innsbruck. Several other teams also repeatedly had financial problems, but a long-term solution is currently not in sight due to the incompatibility of the demands made by the various teams.

Nevertheless, the league is constantly developing and has now established itself among the better European leagues. In the 2009/10 season , the one million viewers mark was exceeded for the first time, with which the EBEL overtook the Slovak Slovnaft Extraliga and was in seventh place in Europe in this ranking. In addition, the league was accepted as a full member of the European league association Hockey Europe .

National League and its successor

For a long time, the National League was seen as a stable and financially balanced league in which the clubs trained a significant proportion of Austrian youth players. This changed in the summer of 2009 when several clubs had to file for bankruptcy. After it was unclear for a few months whether the National League could even be played in the 2009/10 season , a solution emerged in the end, which, however, brought the development of the last few years to an unsatisfactory end point. The two Styrian representatives KSV Eishockeyklub and EV Zeltweg switched to the upper league , which led to the fact that with the newly founded Zeller Eisbären (successor club of the insolvent EK Zell am See ) the easternmost team in the second division was based in Salzburg. The field of participants has meanwhile shrunk to only seven clubs, which means that the league has de facto lost its status as the Austrian second division and shared this status with the upper league. With the rise of ATSE Graz , however, a new Styrian club was added in 2010. A year later, a number of farm teams from the Bundesliga teams followed, but the quality of these teams fell sharply compared to the established clubs.

In summer 2012, EC Dornbirn and HC Innsbruck decided to move up to the Bundesliga, while the EBEL clubs withdrew their farm teams in favor of a Junior EBEL . This development turned out to be fatal for the second division. While the Austrian ice hockey association was working on expanding the national league to include neighboring countries, the Styrian association was developing the alternative model of a purely Austrian elite league. In the end, the National League was re-established as the Inter-National League and now also includes Slovenian clubs. In the 2013/14 season, the field of participants expanded when five teams from the Italian second division and four other Slovenian teams took part. For the 2014/15 season , the Italian association initially prevented its clubs from participating again. A year later, the three ice hockey associations from Austria, Slovenia and Italy founded the supranational Alps Hockey League as the successor to the INL.

Oberliga

After the league had struggled for a long time with more and more teams migrating to the respective national leagues, the problems in the national league resulted in an unexpected upturn in summer 2009. The league, which had always acted as a link between professional and amateur hockey in Austria, was greatly upgraded by the participation of the former national league clubs KSV Eishockeyklub and EV Zeltweg and was officially still the third highest division, but formed together with the National league the second highest performance level. This was based primarily on the strict east-west separation of the two leagues. But while the National League is sticking to the maximum number of three transfer card players per team, the Oberliga reduced the limit to one and wanted to get along as a purely Austrian league without legionaries from the 2010/11 season. When some teams left the league again after the 2009/10 season , more farm teams were brought into being by the Bundesliga teams, giving the league the status of a training league. However, the farm teams moved to the national league after just one year, and the league had to be discontinued.

In 2018 , the Austrian Amateur Hockey League (ÖAHL) introduced a new nationwide third division, but was discontinued a year later.

National leagues

There are six top national leagues in the 2018/19 season, but their playing levels fluctuate widely. All leagues are in the amateur field. The following table lists the regional associations:

league state Number of
clubs		 Champion 2019
Elite league Tyrol, Vorarlberg 8th WSG Swarovski Wattens
1. UPPER EHL Upper Austria 5 ASKÖ Linz oldies
Lower Austria State League 1 Lower Austria 4th EHC Tulln Hummels
Elite League Vienna 5
SEC Division 1 Salzburg 8th
AHC Division 1 Carinthia 6th ESC Steindorf
Styrian elite league Styria 5 ATSE Graz

Women's ice hockey

Women's ice hockey is still an amateur sport for a long time in Austria. The best teams compete each year in the international Elite Women's Hockey League (EWHL). Among them there is the highest purely Austrian league, the women's ice hockey Bundesliga (DEBL), below which there is also the 2nd division . The national championship title is played out in a mode that varies from year to year, but the field of participants is usually limited to teams from the EWHL, which are occasionally supplemented by the strongest DEBL teams.

In the ÖEHV, the women's ice hockey division provides independent support for women, which also takes care of the composition and organization of the women's national team. Thanks to close cooperation with various foreign associations, a strong increase in quality has been achieved in recent years, although women's ice hockey is still classified as a marginal sport. For this reason, it is sometimes extremely difficult to obtain the necessary sponsorship money, and there are comparatively large fluctuations among the existing teams. It is becoming apparent, however, that this development should stabilize in the long term.

National teams

Can after the national team of the men for a few years in the lower regions of the top Division had assert beginning of the 21st century began a constant up and down between the best 16 nations and the Division I. Finally, the team rose in ice hockey World Cup 2009 in Switzerland. Although this only happened because the Germans , who were actually worse placed , were set for the 2010 World Cup in their own country, the consequences were drawn, even though the association and the Bundesliga were initially unable to agree on responsibilities. Lars Bergström was replaced as coach of the team by Bill Gilligan , who for the first time was not given the requirement to rise again as soon as possible. Instead, attempts should be made to build up a new team over the next few years through the increased involvement of the youth players and to move with them into the 21st century. The latter in particular had not yet succeeded due to outdated structures. The return to the A group was nevertheless successful, with Austria returning to the top group at the 2011 World Cup .

It is similar with the men's junior teams. The U-20 national team made it to the top division at the Division I World Cup in 2009 in Aalborg (Denmark) with four wins and only one defeat in overtime, but was relegated the following year after an inferior performance. The same is true of the U18 national team, which even had to relegate to Division II in 2010.

The women's national team performed well at the Division I World Cup in Graz, but clearly missed promotion. The U-18 team ended up in the penultimate place at the Division I tournament in France.

Overall, the Austrian Ice Hockey Association assesses the performance as rather mixed. The men's senior team in particular recently demonstrated that decisive changes need to be made in the training methods and the selection of players. However, the fans and the media in particular criticize the fact that Bill Gilligan is another coach whose main focus is on a club team, the EC Graz 99ers , instead of looking for a coach who focuses on the development of the national team can.

With women, the latest developments show that the path taken is bearing fruit, although the fundamental problem still exists that women’s ice hockey is a purely amateur sport in Austria. However, this problem is shared with many European nations.

Austrian players abroad

Seniors

player position team league
Michael Raffl striker Philadelphia Flyers NHL , North America
Michael Grabner striker Arizona Coyotes NHL , North America
Konstantin Komarek striker Luleå HF SHL , Sweden
André Lakos defender HC Kladno Extraliga , Czech Republic
Dominic Zwerger striker HC Ambrì-Piotta National League , Switzerland
Peter Schneider striker EHC Biel National League , Switzerland
Stefan Ulmer defender EHC Biel National League , Switzerland
Fabio Hofer striker HC Ambrì-Piotta National League , Switzerland
Benjamin Baumgartner striker HC Davos National League , Switzerland
Patrick Obrist striker EHC Kloten Swiss League , Switzerland
Benjamin Nissner striker Tingsryd's AIF Allsvenskan , Sweden

Juniors

player position team league
Marco Rossi striker Ottawa 67's OHL , North America
David Maier defender Peterborough Petes OHL , North America
Senna Peeters striker Halifax Mooseheads LHJMQ , North America
Thimo Nickl defender Voltigeurs de Drummondville LHJMQ , North America
Fabian Hochegger striker Voltigeurs de Drummondville LHJMQ , North America

Ladies

player position team league
Denise Altmann Striker Linköpings HC Svenska damhockeyligan , Sweden
Emma pepper Striker Linköpings HC 2 Division 1, Sweden
Janine Weber Striker Connecticut Whale NWHL , North America
Theresa Schafzahl Striker University of Vermont NCAA , North America
Sabrina Kühne Goalkeeper ZSC Lions SWHL A, Switzerland
Anna Hanser Striker Gothenburg HC Svenska damhockeyligan, Sweden
Carlotta Clodi Striker Södertälje SK Division 1, Sweden

See also

literature

  • Margreiter, Haiszan, Kilias: The Great Austrian Ice Hockey Book , Verlag Buch Spezial Dornbirn, ISBN 3-900496-04-4
  • OMR. Dr. Hellmuth Reichel: KAC - ice hockey conquers a city! , Publisher: Klagenfurter Athletiksport Club, Klagenfurt, 1995
  • Club brochure: 75 years of KAC, 1909-1984 , publisher: Klagenfurter Athletiksport Club, Klagenfurt, 1984

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Three anniversaries. In:  The ice hockey sport , special edition, February 15, 1932, p. 2ff (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / eis
  2. ↑ Arbeiterzeitung from February 9, 1931, p. 1
  3. ↑ Federal Law Gazette for the Republic of Austria, No. 24 of February 13, 1934, p. 159, 78. Ordinance: Prohibition of any activity by the Social Democratic Workers' Party in Austria
  4. ^ History of ice hockey in Austria. In: eishockey.at. Archived from the original on November 5, 2009 ; accessed on May 13, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Financial reasons force Innsbruck into the 2nd division. In: diepresse.com . March 3, 2009, accessed August 30, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Deep red numbers at HK Jesenice
  7. ^ Die Presse, March 4, 2009 article: We can no longer afford this league
  8. ↑ National league with only seven clubs ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.eishockeynews.com
  9. ↑ The INL is dead, long live the IAHL , report on hockeyfans.at from April 29, 2016
  10. ↑ Major league season is on track
  11. ^ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Yearbook of the ÖEHV 2008/09, foreword by Dr. Dieter Kalt, p. 146 (PDF file, size: 4 MB) @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.eishockey.at
  12. ↑ http://eishockey-vbg.at/eliteliga/
  13. ↑ http://www.ooeehv.at/index.cfm?seite=1landeslage&sprache=DE
  14. ↑ http://www.noeeishockey.at/index.php/noe-landes-liga-1
  15. ↑ http://www.wehv.at/leagues/eisner-auto-elite-league
  16. ↑ http://www.sehv.at/division-1/
  17. ↑ https://www.kehv.at/senioren/ahc-division-1/
  18. ↑ http://www.stehv.at/index.php/eliteliga-1819
  19. ↑ hockeyfans.at, interview with association president Dr. Dieter Kalt
  20. ↑ eishockeynews.at, EBEL does not accept ÖEHV criticism
  21. ↑ Bill Gilligan is the new team trainer. August 14, 2009. Retrieved December 23, 2009 .
  22. ↑ Official IIHF page for the U-20 World Cup in Division IB
  23. ↑ Official IIHF page for the Women's World Cup in Division I
  24. ↑ Official IIHF page for the Women's U-18 World Cup in Division I.