IIHF – Asia League finally back

The Asia League Ice Hockey is back after a more than two-year long halt due to closed borders in Asia and to the joy of many ice hockey fans in Japan and Korea who have long waited to get ice hockey back to normality after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 2022/2023 season started on 3 September with teams from Japan and Korea and the regular season will continue until 5 March. The playoffs are scheduled for 9-26 March with best-of-three semi-finals and a best-of-five final to determine the best club team in the Far East.

“Five Japanese teams and one Korean team will vie for supremacy in the 2022/2023 season, playing 120 regular-season league games in Japan and Korea. In March, the top teams in the regular league will clash in a dramatic playoff to determine the champion,” said Asia League Ice Hockey Chairman Yoshiaki Takeda, inviting sports fans to watch the ice hockey games in Japan and Korea.

“Ice hockey is a fascinating game to watch with its speedy game development and powerful body checks. The players on each team have prepared for the season and are ready to show a great game.”

The league originally started in 2003/2004 and during that period has involved teams from China, Japan, Korea and from the Russian island of Sakhalin competing for supremacy in East Asia. The league provides the base for the men’s national teams from Japan and Korea at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I.

Only in two seasons that were played was it not possible to hand the trophy. In 2011 the earthquake and tsunami hit the Tohoku region during the playoff final series and the Tohoku Free Blades and Anyang Halla were named co-champions. Similarly, the final series had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic with Anyang Halla and PSK Sakhalin named co-champions.

Rigid travel rules in East Asia made it impossible to play the league for the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 seasons. The Japanese team competed amongst each other for the Asia League Ice Hockey Japan Cup instead.

Now the league is officially back with a return of cross-border rivalries although for now only one of the Korean teams will participate, HL Anyang (formerly competing as Anyang Halla). The five Japanese teams are the Red Eagles Hokkaido, East Hokkaido Cranes, Tohoku Free Blades, Nikko Ice Bucks and Yokohama Grits.

Games in Korea will be played in Anyang, a satellite city of Seoul bordering with the capital city. In Japan games are planned at various venues including Asahikawa, Hachinohe,…