Spanish national ice hockey team

This article is about the Spanish men's national ice hockey team . For the women's team, see Spanish Women's Ice Hockey Team .

Spain
Association	Federación Española de Deportes de Hielo
IIHF member	since 1923
World ranking	31st place
Trainer	Luciano Basile
Assistant coach	Maurizio Mansi , Timo Tuomi
Most games	Salvador Barnola (88 games)
Most of the points	Iñaki Salegui (88 points)
Homepage	fedhielo.com
statistics
First international match Spain 6-4 Belgium Luchon , France ; December 21, 1923
Biggest win Spain 38-0 Turkey Johannesburg , South Africa ; March 27, 1992
Biggest defeat Spain 0:19 Netherlands Las Palmas , Spain ; March 13, 1978
World Championship
Participation	34 (first 1977 )
best result	22nd place in 1977
(As of October 30, 2017)

The Spanish national ice hockey team represents Spain on an international level in the sport of ice hockey . Spain currently ranks 31st in the IIHF world rankings (October 30, 2017) and will take part in the 2018 Ice Hockey World Championship in Group B of Division II. The team has been subject to the newly founded Federación Española de Deportes de Hielo (German: Spanish Ice Sports Association ) since 2006 , until this year it was under the organization of the Real Federación Española de Deportes de Invierno (German: Royal Spanish Winter Sports Association ).

history

Spain has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) since March 10, 1923 . The first international match took place on December 21, 1923 in Bagnères-de-Luchon, France, the Spanish selection defeated Belgium 6: 4. Spain took part twice in the now discontinued European ice hockey championship . In Italy in 1924 , the team lost their first game against Switzerland 12-0 and then waived the second game against Sweden . In 1926 in Switzerland the team was there again, after defeats in the preliminary round against Belgium and Czechoslovakia , the first point win was achieved in the placement games with a 2-2 draw against Italy . Nevertheless, the tournament ended in ninth and last place.

The first participation in an ice hockey world championship took place in 1977 , in which the Spaniards took 22nd place overall. Since then, with the exception of 1981 , 1987 and 1991 , the selection has always been represented, mostly in the third division. Spain celebrated its greatest success at the 2010 World Cup in Mexico City , when group victory was achieved in Division II, which made it possible for the first time in history to move up to the second division, Division I. In the 2010/11 season, Spain took part in the Euro Ice Hockey Challenge for the first time in preparation for the World Cup; from November 12th to 14th in Brașov , after defeats against Romania and Croatia and a win against Serbia , third place was taken. On their debut in the second division, the Iberians finished fifth after defeats against Italy, the Netherlands and Hungary and an overtime win against South Korea , which meant relegation to Division II.

Spain has never been represented at the Olympic Games in ice hockey. The national team took part in a qualifying tournament for the first time in 2008, prevailed in the pre-qualification group for the 2010 Winter Olympics against the teams from Bulgaria , Mexico and the tournament host Turkey and thus reached the first qualifying round, where the Spaniards were eliminated. Also in the qualifying tournaments for the Olympic Winter Games 2014 and 2018, the Iberians were eliminated early.

Placements at European ice hockey championships

year	venue	placement
1924	Milan	5.
1926	Davos	9.

Placements at ice hockey world championships

Total placement in brackets

year	venue	division	placement
1977	Copenhagen	C world championship	05. (22.)
1978	Las Palmas	C world championship	07. (23.)
1979	Barcelona	C world championship	06. (24.)
1982	Jaca	C world championship	07. (23.)
1983	Budapest	C world championship	07. (23.)
1985	Megève , Chamonix , Saint Gervais	C world championship	08. (24.)
1986	Puigcerdà	C world championship	08. (24.)
1989	Geel , heist	D world championship	04. (28.)
1990	Cardiff	D world championship	03rd (28th)
1992	Johannesburg	C2 world championship	01. (27.)
1993	Ljubljana	C world championship	10. (30.)
1994	Barcelona	C2 world championship	02. (30.)
1995	Johannesburg	C2 world championship	03rd (32nd)
1996	Kaunas , Elektrėnai	D world championship	03rd (31st)
1997	Canillo	D world championship	03rd (31st)
1998	Budapest, Székesfehérvár , Dunaújváros	C world championship	8. (32.)
1999	Krugersdorp	D world championship	1. (32nd)
2000	Beijing	C world championship	7. (31.)
2001	Majadahonda	Division II (Gr. A)	2. (31.)

year	venue	division	placement
2002	Novi Sad	Division II (Gr. B)	3. (33.)
2003	Seoul	Division II (Gr. A)	3. (33.)
2004	Jaca	Division II (Gr. A)	4. (35.)
2005	Belgrade	Division II (Gr. B)	5. (37.)
2006	Sofia	Division II (Gr. A)	5. (37.)
2007	Zagreb	Division II (Gr. A)	3. (33.)
2008	Newcastle	Division II (Gr. B)	3. (34.)
2009	Sofia	Division II (Gr. B)	3. (33.)
2010	Mexico city	Division II (Gr. A)	1. (30.)
2011	Budapest	Division I (Gr. A)	5. (26.)
2012	Reykjavík	Division II A	2. (30.)
2013	Zagreb	Division II A	6. (34.)
2014	Jaca	Division II B	1. (35.)
2015	Reykjavík	Division II A	4th (32nd)
2016	Jaca	Division II A	2. (30.)
2017	Galați	Division II A	6. (34.)
2018	Granada	Division II B	1. (35.)
2019	Belgrade	Division II A	4th (32nd)

Legend:

Second division

Third division

Fourth division

Web links

• Official website of the Spanish Ice Sports Federation (Spanish and English)
• Spain on the side of the IIHF (English)
• All games on nationalteamsoficehockey.com (English; PDF; 191 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ History of Ice Hockey in Spain. (PDF) In: fedhielo.es . P. 5 , accessed on April 13, 2010 (English, Spanish). 
2. ^ History of Ice Hockey in Spain. (PDF) In: fedhielo.es . P. 10 , accessed on April 13, 2010 (English, Spanish). 
3. ↑ ¡Hola España! Spain climbs to Division I for the first time. In: IIHF . April 19, 2010, accessed December 25, 2010 . 
4. ↑ Sixteen tourneys lead the way to 2011 Worlds. In: IIHF . August 30, 2010, accessed September 25, 2010 .