Post by icing101 on Jul 27, 2004 10:20:36 GMT -5
Asian Hockey League set to start and will include four nations:
A new multi-national ice hockey league in Asia is ready to begin its inaugural season. The groundbreaking Asian Hockey League, which was unveiled at a press conference in Beijing, China, on Tuesday, will include teams from Japan, Korea, China and Russia.
Overall there will be eight teams in the new league, which will play 42 games each. The teams will play a round robin schedule, facing each other six times throughout the season, three times at home and three on the road. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams will qualify for the playoffs.
Already, the league is attracting media attention and big names. Five-time Stanley Cup winner Esa Tikanen has signed on to play for the Korean team Halla Winia.
The seeds for the league were planted last year on a smaller scale, as teams from Japan and Korea were the forerunners forming a five-team league. Korean champion Halla Winia joined the Asian League together with Japanese teams Nikko Ice Bucks, Nippon Paper Cranes, Oji Paper and the Japanese champion Kokudo Tokyo.
"In the beginning, the Korean teams had problems competing with the teams from Japan," said Shoichi Tomita, the IIHF Vice President from Japan and the main force behind the Asian League. "But by the end of last season, they had at least one win against each team. Their improvement was a great thing to see."
This season, the league will be made up of four teams from Japan (Nikko Ice Bucks, Nippon Paper Cranes, Oji Paper and Japanese champion Kokudo Tokyo), two teams from China (Harbin and Qiqihar) and one each from Korea (Halla Winia) and Russia. The Russian team will be Amur, from Khabarovsk, which is in the same time zone as Tokyo. Their developmental team will represent Amur, which plays in the Russian Professional Hockey League.
The primary goal of the new Asian League is make the Asian teams more competitive on the international stage.
"The success of this league would mean a great deal to the development of ice hockey in far-east Asia," said Tomita. "We would like to see all of these nations play at least the Division I level at the IIHF World Championships."
Tomita says that the 2004-05 Asian League has plans to expand in the future to include more than eight teams and hopes to find a major sponsor to help alleviate some of the costs of travel.
A new multi-national ice hockey league in Asia is ready to begin its inaugural season. The groundbreaking Asian Hockey League, which was unveiled at a press conference in Beijing, China, on Tuesday, will include teams from Japan, Korea, China and Russia.
Overall there will be eight teams in the new league, which will play 42 games each. The teams will play a round robin schedule, facing each other six times throughout the season, three times at home and three on the road. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams will qualify for the playoffs.
Already, the league is attracting media attention and big names. Five-time Stanley Cup winner Esa Tikanen has signed on to play for the Korean team Halla Winia.
The seeds for the league were planted last year on a smaller scale, as teams from Japan and Korea were the forerunners forming a five-team league. Korean champion Halla Winia joined the Asian League together with Japanese teams Nikko Ice Bucks, Nippon Paper Cranes, Oji Paper and the Japanese champion Kokudo Tokyo.
"In the beginning, the Korean teams had problems competing with the teams from Japan," said Shoichi Tomita, the IIHF Vice President from Japan and the main force behind the Asian League. "But by the end of last season, they had at least one win against each team. Their improvement was a great thing to see."
This season, the league will be made up of four teams from Japan (Nikko Ice Bucks, Nippon Paper Cranes, Oji Paper and Japanese champion Kokudo Tokyo), two teams from China (Harbin and Qiqihar) and one each from Korea (Halla Winia) and Russia. The Russian team will be Amur, from Khabarovsk, which is in the same time zone as Tokyo. Their developmental team will represent Amur, which plays in the Russian Professional Hockey League.
The primary goal of the new Asian League is make the Asian teams more competitive on the international stage.
"The success of this league would mean a great deal to the development of ice hockey in far-east Asia," said Tomita. "We would like to see all of these nations play at least the Division I level at the IIHF World Championships."
Tomita says that the 2004-05 Asian League has plans to expand in the future to include more than eight teams and hopes to find a major sponsor to help alleviate some of the costs of travel.
