Asia League Ice Hockey

Asia League Ice Hockey, also called ALIH or AL, is a professional ice hockey league in East Asia. It includes teams from Japan and South Korea, and it used to have teams from China and Russia too. The league started in 2003 because the old Japan Ice Hockey League was losing popularity and the Korean Ice Hockey League stopped working. The goal was to help grow the sport and improve players' skills.

Each year, teams compete in playoffs, and the winner gets the Championship Trophy. The league began with five teams in two countries but grew to have teams in up to four countries and as many as nine teams. In the 2013–14 season, it had eight teams from three countries. Before the 2014–15 season, a team from Russia called HC Sakhalin joined the league for a little while. Most players come from the countries where the teams are based, but teams can also have some players from other places.

History

2003–2008

The Asia League Ice Hockey started after the Korean and Japanese leagues closed. Its goal was to grow hockey in Asia and help countries do better in the Olympics. The first season had only five teams and was short, with four from Japan and one from Korea. Each team played four games against each other. The Nippon Paper Cranes won that first tournament.

The next season, in 2004–05, was the first full season. More teams joined, including ones from Russia and China. There was an all-star game where fans voted for their favorite players. The Nippon Paper Cranes won the regular season but another team, Kokudo, won the playoffs.

Since 2008

Over the years, teams joined and left the league. In 2008–09, Oji Paper changed its name to Oji Eagles. The league made rules changes and balanced the schedule so every team played each other the same number of times.

In 2009–10, a Chinese team changed its name from China Sharks to China Dragon. A Japanese team, the Seibu Prince Rabbits, left because of money problems, but a new team, the Tohoku Free Blades, joined. Anyang Halla won the regular season and also became the first non-Japanese team to win the championship.

In 2010–11, the league kept the same structure. Unfortunately, a big earthquake near the Free Blades' hometown stopped the finals from happening. Both Halla and the Free Blades were named co-champions.

In later years, new teams like Daemyung Sangmu from Seoul and HC Sakhalin from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk joined. In 2020–21, the Yokohama Grits joined, playing in the Greater Tokyo Area for the first time since 2009. In 2022, the league decided to remove the team from Sakhalin because of events in Ukraine.

Records

Since it began in 2004, 18 different clubs have played in the Asia League, and 13 have made the playoffs at least once.

Game

Main article: Ice hockey

Each game in the Asia League Ice Hockey lasts 60 minutes, split into three 20-minute parts with short breaks in between. If the score is tied after 60 minutes, the teams play a short extra period called overtime. If it's still tied after that, they have a shoot-out where players take turns trying to score. Before the 2008–09 season, games that were tied just ended without a shoot-out. In playoff games, they keep playing extra periods until someone scores instead of having a shoot-out.

Imports

The Asia League Ice Hockey was created to help grow ice hockey in Asia. Teams can bring in a few players from other countries to balance the teams and make the games more exciting. At first, China could have more of these players, while Japan had fewer because their teams were already strong.

In the early years, the China Dragon team got players from the San Jose Sharks, and the two Chinese teams had players from the Nordic Vikings. Since the 2018–19 season, each team can have two players from other countries, and players from Russia are no longer counted as outside players.

Many players who used to play in the National Hockey League have joined this league, like Chris Allen, Greg Parks, Esa Tikkanen, and others.

Teams

The Asia League Ice Hockey started with plans to have twelve teams, but money problems made this hard. In the 2025–26 season, the league has six teams. Five of these teams are from Japan, and one team is from South Korea.

Current teams

Former teams

Champions

The Asia League Ice Hockey holds a tournament each year, and the team that wins gets the Championship Trophy.

All-time record

Season structure

The Asia League Ice Hockey season has three parts. It starts with training camps and exhibition games in late summer and early autumn. Then comes the regular season, which lasts several months. Finally, some teams move on to a playoff tournament. In this tournament, teams compete in a "best-of" format, where they play several games to decide who moves forward. The last team remaining is named the champion of the year.

The regular season rules have changed often. Usually, teams play each other many times. They travel to each other's home rinks for games. Points are used to rank the teams. Winning a game in regular time gives three points. If a game is tied, both teams get one point, and the team that wins in overtime or a shoot-out gets an extra point. The team with the most points at the end of the regular season is called the regular season champion. After a break, the playoffs begin, where the top teams compete to become the overall champion.

Awards

The Asia League Ice Hockey gives out several awards each year, in addition to the Championship Trophy. Before the 2008–09 season, these awards were given after the season ended, but starting that season, they were given during a break between the regular season and the playoffs.

The league gives awards for things like the Most Valuable Player, the Best Goaltender, the player with the most goals, and many other impressive achievements. Most of these awards are supported by special organizations or people.