| Asia League Ice Hockey | |
| 2009-10 Asia League Ice Hockey season | |
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| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Founded | 2003 |
| No. of teams | 7 |
| Country(ies) |  China Japan South Korea |
| Most recent champion(s) | Anyang Halla (2009-10) |
| Official website | www.alhockey.com |
The Asia League Ice Hockey is an ice hockey league founded in 2003 and based in Asia, with seven teams coming from Japan, China and South Korea. They play a 34 games regular season; the top 6 advance to the playoffs, who are best-of-five series.
History
In 2009-10, for the first time, a non-Japanese team won the league title as Anyang Halla defeated the Nippon Paper Cranes in the Finals, thus crowning a superb season that saw them finish first overall in the standing. To make things better, five Halla players - Patrick Martinec, Brock Radunske, Park Woo-Sang, Cho Min-Ho and Kim Ki-Sung - all finished in the top team in the league in scoring. The Oji Eagles finished second, with 74 points, while defending champions while the Cranes, the defending champions from the previous season, finished third. High1 clinched the fourth place, thus securing the last playoffs spot available. This ensured a Korean duel occurred in the first round, as Halla and High1 met each other in the first series, while Oji met the Cranes in the second.
At the other end of the table, the China Dragons maintained their usual level of mediocrity with a single win in 36 games, finishing dead last with a 64 - 218 goals for/against differential. Mikhail Nemirovsky and Igor Andryushchenko were the lone bright spots on the Dragons' roster, the former with a team-leading 10 goals and the second with 19 assists.
2009-10 teams
The seven teams expected to take part in the 2009-10 Asia League Ice Hockey season are:
From China:
- China Dragons (Shanghai, 2006) - formerly Harbin Ice Hockey Team (2004–06) and Hosa (2006–07). Born of the fusion of both Chinese teams, with some help from the San Jose Sharks organization.
From Japan:
- HC Toshigi Nikkō IceBucks (Nikkō, 2003)
- Nippon Paper Cranes (Kushiro, 2003)
- Oji Eagles (Tomakomai, 2003)
- Tohoku Free Blades (Tohoku region, 2009)
From South Korea:
- Anyang Halla (Anyang, 2003)
- High1 (Chuncheon, joined as Kangwon Land in 2005, renamed in 2007)
Former teams
Those teams took part in the league's activity in past seasons:
- Golden Amur (Khabarovsk, Russia, 2004–05)
- Nordic Vikings (Beijing, China, 2005–06)
- Changchun Fuao (formerly Qiqihar Ice Hockey Team, 2004–07)
- Hosa (formerly Harbin Ice Hockey Team, 2004–07)
- Seibu Prince Rabbits (Nishi-Tokyo, 2006) - formerly Kokudo Ice Hockey Team (2003–06)
Past champions
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| Season | Winner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2003-04 | Nippon Paper Cranes
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| 2004-05 | Kokudo
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| 2005-06 | Kokudo
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| 2006-07 | Nippon Paper Cranes
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| 2007-08 | Oji Eagles
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| 2008-09 | Nippon Paper Cranes
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| 2009-10 | Anyang Halla
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| 2010-11 | Tohoku Free Blades Anyang Halla
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| 2011-12 | Oji Eagles
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| 2012-13 | Tohoku Free Blades
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Template:Asia League seasons
External links
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This article is part of the Japanese hockey portal. |