Asian Hockey League

Asian Hockey League

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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.


www.iihf.com

This is great news. It's always nice to see "increased globalization" of the game (if there is such a term!). This can only bode well for improved exposure of the game in Asia, especially with "stars" such as Tikkanen jumping aboard.

Asia is one huge untapped market. Already we're starting to see local stars make it big in two other of the professional leagues (basketball & baseball), and I think it's only a matter of time before hockey follows suit.

It's a long way before Asian countries establish themselves as serious powers in the sport, but I wouldn't underestimate them one bit in the future. Awake the sleeping giant(s)!!!

Freakin' Awesome! Gonna cheer for Harbin afterall it is called the Edmonton of the East...

"Nippon Paper Cranes"

I'd be scared as hell to play this team judging by the name. :help:

Asia is one huge untapped market. Already we're starting to see local stars make it big in two other of the professional leagues (basketball & baseball), and I think it's only a matter of time before hockey follows suit.



I hope you are right here....
I wondered how Japan would have reacted to the sport had Paul Kariya been able to play in both the 2 regular season game the Ducks and Canucks played in Japan to open the 1997-98 NHL season (he missed it because of a contract dispute) and of course the '98 Nagano Olympics (concussion)....

Awesome.
Go Paper Cranes!

Awesome.
Go Paper Cranes!


Dear God.. and to think.. not one team named Ninjas or Samurai

I am still bummed the Kokudo Bunnies are no longer. I dug around and found a little more about the new league. Nice to see Esa Tikkanen still will be causing trouble.

http://sharkspage.com/2004_08_01_archive_history.html#109204399204435838

And the latest report on the league said they are hoping to expand to 12 teams as quickly as possible.

I hope the IIHF and event the NHL and NHLPA kick them some money to make the league work.

Here (http://ohioohana.tripod.com/prpic/id31.html) are some Kokudo Bunnies pictures. Alas, they are the Lions now.

I hate to spoil everyone's fun, but the name of the team is not the Paper Cranes. The team is owned by Nippon Paper and the team name is the Cranes. There's a baseball team in the Pacific League called the Nippon Ham Fighters that follows the same dymamic.

I though Tiki was going to coach?

Here (http://ohioohana.tripod.com/prpic/id31.html) are some Kokudo Bunnies pictures. Alas, they are the Lions now.

I hate to spoil everyone's fun, but the name of the team is not the Paper Cranes. The team is owned by Nippon Paper and the team name is the Cranes. There's a baseball team in the Pacific League called the Nippon Ham Fighters that follows the same dymamic.

Damn, Ham Fighters would be an awesome name for a team.

The Koduko Bunnies are no more???? SHUCKS!!!!!

The Hockey News -- or was it one of those short lived rival rags... anyway, there was a feature on the Japanese Hockey League and it had a picture of the Bunnies' jersey. It was pink and yellow, with a bunny on it. And not a threatening, vicious bunny either, just a cute bucktoothed lil guy. You had to wonder about whether the player briefly hesitates every time it is worn or if you just get used to it!

Anyone know when this league is starting? or anyont got a link to the website?

The Russian team will be full of "developmental" players, which may mean relatively younger players with future prospects in better pro leagues.

Five-time Stanley Cup winner Esa Tikanen has signed on to play for the Korean team Halla Winia.
That's the only benefit this hockey fan can have living in South Korea. (Maybe there'll be some television coverage of hockey in Korea after all!)

Here's the league schedule linked via another site:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=26499

scroll down to jurassic5's post and open the schedule.

I hope you are right here....
I wondered how Japan would have reacted to the sport had Paul Kariya been able to play in both the 2 regular season game the Ducks and Canucks played in Japan to open the 1997-98 NHL season (he missed it because of a contract dispute) and of course the '98 Nagano Olympics (concussion)....

Imagine the wonders it might do if Kariya or other NHL players decided to play in this Asian league during the current CBA impasse. I'm not sure how the money would compare to other leagues, and it's likely that the level of play will be lower, but for a player to keep in shape and increase exposure of the sport - it would undoubtedly be a great move.

I posted this in a different thread, but I thought I'd post here, too. This is the link for the Asian League's website. http://www.alhockey.com

Here's an article on the first games....


http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3036764

I'm going to see Esa Tikkanen's Halla Winia in Anyang, Korea tomorrow. :toothless Hockey!

VanIslander:

I'm in Bundang. Been following the games on the website...

Wondering if you could describe the quality of hockey. I was guessing somewhere between a quality beer league and senior A. As a big Oil fan (ESA...!), I'll be pulling myself away from work to see a few games soon enough...How much are tickets? Where exactly in Anyang is the arena? For a first year league i'm impressed with what appears to be a great venue, a decent website and solid attendance.

As I once lived in Tochigi Prefecture (Japan), I'm going to try to catch the Halla Winia/ Icebucks games on the 30th and 31st.

Many thanks...

Bring a digital camera. Ill host the photos if you need space.

Kim seems to be a very popular name in Korea, I counted 9 guys with that name on the Anyang Halla Winia team! :amazed:

I though Tiki was going to coach?
So did he. There was a misunderstanding (language?) in the negotiations, and Tiki thought he'd be the head coach, and Halla Winia thought they just signed one of the best agitators for their roster. Now Tiki plays, and is an assistant coach. Atleast that's what he says.

So did he. There was a misunderstanding (language?) in the negotiations, and Tiki thought he'd be the head coach, and Halla Winia thought they just signed one of the best agitators for their roster. Now Tiki plays, and is an assistant coach. Atleast that's what he says.
Tiki talk both ways? :D

I heard that about Tik myself.

Does anyone know any good websites or newspapers that will cover this league in English? The only guy I knew that sent me updates about the JIHL moved back to California.

I want to preview the new league for fans of the NHL that might want to follow it during the lockout. I also wanted to write a couple of paragraphs about the JIHL now that it is gone, who the champions were, who were some of the star players, etc.

If anyone has any ideas or thoughts, drop me an email. I might have to do some first hand reporting and plan a layover in Japan on my way to Nepal.

I would appreciate pictures, sound, stories or whatever following Tiks return!

Yeah any videos clips would be great as well thanks

Today´s Finnish tabloid Iltalehti has a small article about the league but mostly about Tikkanen. I almost crapped my pants when he said:"First I had problems with the language but after I came here the boys have learned to speak English" :lol

Tiki has now collected 12 points in 12 games and leads the team in penalty minutes. Tikkanen also mentions that there are players in his team that could do well in FEL but I doubt that.

I've made it to a few games so far this season. Esa is looking better with each game. In the second game I saw he got a hat trick, unfortunately it wasn't enough to bring Halla Winia a victory. There aren't many home games left this season, so if you're interested in going you better make it out to a game this weekend or next.

If you do make it to a game the best part is you can meet all the players after the game by hanging out downstairs by the dressing room. I've met Tikkes, Poulsen, Ponto and a few other Korean players. Pretty nice guys and they have no problem signing an autograph. It's pretty good hockey considering we're in Asia. I usually go to the games with about 15-20 other foreigners, so if do end up going come join us.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. It's not easy finding a beer at the game, so make sure you bring a few to keep you going.

Here are the details for this weekend.

Tickets are super cheap, they'll only set you back 5,000 WON.

Halla Winia vs Kukodo Saturday, November 20, 1:00 PM (game time has been changed, check out www.alhockey.com under new releases for October 25, for more information)

They also play on Sunday at 5:00 PM.

If you need any more information on Esa or Halla Winia, send me an email.

It was a disappointing weekend in Anyang. Halla Winia picked up only 1 point in 2 games against the best team in the league. They should have won on Saturday but some sloppy defensive zone coverage cost them the extra point. Sunday was much of the same but this time penalties cost them.

Unfortunately, no Tikkanen news. He was on vacation this week in Thailand. Needless to say we were pretty pissed off that he wasn't playing. We talked to some Korean players and they weren't too happy either. Apparently Tikks had the vacation written into his contract. Regardless, he should have been there. But have no fear we've been assured that he'll be in the line up December 4 and 5 against the last place team in the league.

Does this league do any scouting? Or when are the tryouts?

The Asian Ice Hockey League was created to advance the national programs of Japan, Korea, and China. Each team is limited to the number of import players they can have. The Korean team has 3 Finnish players. So if you're looking to play in Asia you should apply for your Japanese/Korean or Chinese citizenship now. That's what quite a few players have done, that way they aren't considered import players.

Crap. How long does it usually take to get your citizenship?

Halla Winia play again this weekend. They play the worst team in the league from China. The Chinese team hasn't won a game yet this season and it looks to be a blow out. The Canadian contingent will be out in full force on Saturday/Sunday to cheer on Esa and the boys. Halla needs to pick up some points, they've dropped to 5th place in the league, 4 points out of the playoffs.