Ice Hockey 2015 - 2016 Discussion Thread

[phelps 7,664]

Just an update about the main European leagues...

Last weekend saw the final regular season action in Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia...

In the Slovak Republic HC Kosice was the expected king of the RS, leading the final table with a 9-point margin over HK Nitra...the play-offs are set to start on march, 11th with the quarterfinal ronud (best-of-7 series)...

But the most notable fact of the year is for sure the sad story of Skalica, thrown off the competition with just few weeks still to go because of heavy financial troubles...

 

Meanwhile, in Germany it was the EHC Red Bull Munich to win the regular season of the local DEL ahead of the usual suspects Eisbären Berlin...

the main surprise is maybe the elimination from the play-offs of the Hamburg Freezers, while Adler Mannheim at least could make it into the top 10 despite an underperforming season...

the preliminary round of the PO in the DEL is going to start on Wednesday, with the best 6 teams from the RS already waiting for their opponents in the quarterfinal round, set to start next week...

the end of the RS also designated 4 of the 6 Champions League qualifiers (Berlin, Krefeld, Ingoldstadt and Mannheim), with the last 2 spots up for grabs in the upcoming play-offs...

 

finally, in the Czech Republic Bily Tigry Liberec and Sparta Prague had a run on their own in the Extraliga 2015/2016 regular season (3rd ranked Mountfield Hradec Kralove ended up 30 points behind Liberec in the final standings)...

today start the prelimnary round of the play-offs...and if we don't get to a Liberec vs Sparta showdown in the final series is definitely going to be a huge surprise...

but the outstanding upset of the year is for sure the forelast place in the standings achieved by the current champions Verva Litvinov, which now have to play in a very dangerous relegation tournament to avoid the unbelievable descent to the Hell of the second division...

 

last quick news:

- PSK Narva won the Estonian title 2016

- Ritten Sport won the regular season of the Italian league

- KHL Conference Semifinals start today with the Western Conference match-ups (CSKA Moscow vs Torpedo Nizhni Novgorod and Dynamo Moscow vs SKA St.Petersburg), meanwhile the Eastern Conference Semis will start tomorrow (Avangard Omsk vs Salavat Yulaev Ufa and  Metallurg Magnitogorsk vs Sibir Novosibirsk are the match-ups)

Edited March 7, 2016 by phelps

[hckošice 14,799]

57 minutes ago, phelps said:

Just an update about the main European leagues...

Last weekend saw the final regular season action in Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia...

In the Slovak Republic HC Kosice was the expected king of the RS, leading the final table with a 9-point margin over HK Nitra...the play-offs are set to start on march, 11th with the quarterfinal ronud (best-of-7 series)...

But the most notable fact of the year is for sure the sad story of Skalica, thrown off the competition with just few weeks still to go because of heavy financial troubles...

 

Meanwhile, in Germany it was the EHC Red Bull Munich to win the regular season of the local DEL ahead of the usual suspects Eisbären Berlin...

the main surprise is maybe the elimination from the play-offs of the Hamburg Freezers, while Adler Mannheim at least could make it into the top 10 despite an underperforming season...

the preliminary round of the PO in the DEL is going to start on Wednesday, with the best 6 teams from the RS already waiting for their opponents in the quarterfinal round, set to start next week...

the end of the RS also designated 4 of the 6 Champions League qualifiers (Berlin, Krefeld, Ingoldstadt and Mannheim), with the last 2 spots up for grabs in the upcoming play-offs...

 

finally, in the Czech Republic Bily Tigry Liberec and Sparta Prague had a run on their own in the Extraliga 2015/2016 regular season (3rd ranked Mountfield Hradec Kralove ended up 30 points behind Liberec in the final standings)...

today start the prelimnary round of the play-offs...and if we don't get to a Liberec vs Sparta showdown in the final series is definitely going to be a huge surprise...

but the outstanding upset of the year is for sure the forelast place in the standings achieved by the current champions Verva Litvinov, which now have to play in a very dangerous relegation tournament to avoid the unbelievable descent to the Hell of the second division...

 

last quick news:

- PSK Narva won the Estonian title 2016

- Ritten Sport won the regular season of the Italian league

- KHL Conference Semifinals start today with the Western Conference match-ups (CSKA Moscow vs Torpedo Nizhni Novgorod and Dynamo Moscow vs SKA St.Petersburg), meanwhile the Eastern Conference Semis will start tomorrow (Avangard Omsk vs Salavat Yulaev Ufa and  Metallurg Magnitogorsk vs Sibir Novosibirsk are the match-ups)

True, The situation of Skalica is disastrous and sad it´s absolutely not understandable for me that a club with such lets tell decent history and results in our championships and known thanks producing  one of the best player of world hockey "Žiggy" Palffy bankrupted this way.

 

btw thanks for your help and updates from the local hockey world. I have not so many times to care about everything, so I´m extremely thankful for your help.

Thanks a lot phelps

[cornwall0001 5]

Most recently here in Great Britain the Nottingham Panthers won the Elite Ice Hockey League Challenge Cup 1-0 in Overtime against the Cardiff Devils

[Finnator123 292]

13 hours ago, Agger said:

You would be more than welcome!  (and why not Eller and Ehlers? )

I was thinking the great danes from my favourite KHL team   :  Philip Larsen and Peter Regin

[Finnator123 292]

Have guys heard already about the case Kovalchuk? He got kicked from the CKA St.petersburg roster in the first round of KHL playoffs. Now he's back though

[Agger 1,660]

12 minutes ago, Finnator123 said:

I was thinking the great danes from my favourite KHL team   :  Philip Larsen and Peter Regin

I guessed so!

[phelps 7,664]

11 hours ago, Finnator123 said:

Have guys heard already about the case Kovalchuk? He got kicked from the CKA St.petersburg roster in the first round of KHL playoffs. Now he's back though

yeah, but knowing a bit about Russian habits, I think that things are just not as they stated in the official version of this story...

http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/ilya-kovalchuk-stripped-of-ska-captaincy-benched-for-two-more-games/

by the way, I saw yesterday's game against Dynamo Moscow and he didn't play bad at all (though the SKA's daily hero was for sure the Finnish goalie Koskinen)...

Edited March 8, 2016 by phelps

[opruh 129]

Russia's jersey looks good as usual.

[hckošice 14,799]

Australia rising

Tournament scoring leader Alivia del Basso with a scoring chance for Australia on Spanish goaltender Alba Gonzalo.

Women’s team wins Division II Group B

Australia barely avoided relegation one year ago, but on Sunday the team with the kangaroo on the jersey won the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division II Group B that was held in Jaca in northern Spain.

Thanks to the win the Australians will be back in the Division II Group A with the nations ranked 21st-26th, the range the ladies from Down Under have been playing from their first participation in 2001 until 2014 when they were relegated.

The Australians took over first place from Spain on Day 4 after winning 4-1 against the host nation. This after a bad start into the tournament with a 2-1 loss in shootout against Mexico despite a 46-13 shot-on-goal advantage. Australia continued with a 12-0 blanking of Turkey and a 12-1 against New Zealand. At the tournament Australia was ranked better than their neighbouring country for the first time in since 2013.

In front of 1,600 spectators Spain had the better start in the game that eventually decided the tournament as Ainhoa Merino opened the scoring against Australia after six minutes of play but goals from Kate Tihema nine minutes later and from Shona Powell with 42 seconds left gave Australia the lead before the first intermission.

Australia dominated the game and had 38-16 shots on goal. After a scoreless middle frame Alivia del Basso made it 3-1 early in the third period and Tihema scored her second goal into the empty net with 106 seconds left in regulation time.

The Australians still needed another win on the last day again Iceland to defend first place. Although goals from del Basso and Sari Lehmann built a two-goal cushion, the game remained tight. Flosrun Johannesdottir cut the lead one minute later and when in the third period Sharna Godfrey scored Australia’s third goal, Johannesdottir reacted with her second marker with 110 seconds left in the game. Iceland pulled the goalie but Australia’s 3-2 lead remained.

Spain had a flawless tournament until the loss to Australia and had to settle for silver with 12 points, one less than the team from Down Under. With the silver medal the Spaniards tied their best-ever placing they also reached in 2012 and 2013.

Iceland suffered two 3-2 losses to both Australia and Spain but won the other three games to earn the bronze medals ahead of Mexico and New Zealand.

Turkey, which was promoted to the Division II Group B after winning the qualification tournament last year, lost all games and will be relegated. New Zealand had its only win against the Turks, a 7-4 decision with hat tricks by Anjali Thakker for the New Zealanders and by Seda Demir for Turkey.

Australia’s Alivia del Basso led the tournament in goal scoring with eight markers and in scoring with 19 points ahead of New Zealand’s Anjali Thakker (7+3=10) and Iceland’s Flosrun Johannesdottir (6+3=9) and was named Best Forward of the tournament. Two other individual awards went to players from the host country as Alba Gonzalo was named Best Goaltender and Vanesa Abrisqueta Best Defenceman.

[hckošice 14,799]

Abu Dhabi awaiting

Chinese Taipei and the United Arab Emirates played for the tournament win at last year’s Challenge Cup of Asia.

Challenge Cup of Asia begins on Saturday

Three tournaments of the IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia will be played in the upcoming weeks. The 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, will make the start and will be played from 12 to 18 March.

The Challenge Cup of Asia was created eight years ago to give Asian countries that are not in the World Championship program, or that play in the lowest division, a chance to compete amongst each other and help develop ice hockey in more Asian countries.

One year ago Chinese Taipei won the tournament on home ice thanks to a tight 5-4 victory against the United Arab Emirates. This year the Emirati are looking for revenge on home ice against the defending champion. The other teams in the round-robin tournament are Mongolia, Thailand and Singapore.

Thanks to the growing number of participants, the Challenge Cup of Asia will again be played with two tiers with the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia Division I taking place in Bishkek from 9 to 14 April. Macau, host country Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, India and for the first time Qatar will play for promotion in the five-team tournament.

Also the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia Division I will be played for the third time with the aim at giving women’s national teams from countries not already competing in the Women’s World Championship program a chance to play.

The event will take place in Taipei City from 21 to 26 March with host Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and India. For Malaysia and India it will be the first time a women’s hockey national team will compete internationally.

 

 

here the schedule http://www.iihf.com/channels1516/ccoa/statistics/  the tournament start on Saturday

 

Schedule for the Bishkek Tournament Division I (9-14 April) http://www.iihf.com/channels1516/ccoai/statistics/

 

and for the womens Division I tournament in Taipei City (21-26 March) http://www.iihf.com/channels1516/wccoai/statistics/