Supreme Hockey League B

(Redirected from Russian Hockey League)

The All-Russian Hockey League B or VHL-B (Russian: Первенство Всероссийской хоккейной лиги (ВХЛ-Б), Pervenstvo Vserossiyskoy hokkeynoy ligi) is an ice hockey league in Russia. It stands at the third-tier of the Russian ice hockey pyramid, below the second-level VHL and the top-tier KHL.

All-Russian Hockey League B
FormerlyPervaya Liga
SportIce hockey
Founded2011
No. of teams5 (2022–2023 season)
CountriesRussia (5 teams)
Most recent
champion(s)
CSK VVS Samara (1st title)
Most titlesHC Rostov (3)
Related
competitions
KHL
VHL
MHL
NMHL
Official websitevhl.su

History

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Since 1992, it was the First League of the Russian Ice Hockey Championship. During the 2010–11 season, it was known as the Championship of Russia between the club teams of regions (Russian: Первенство России среди клубных команд регионов, Pervenstvo Rossii sredi klubnykh komand regionov), which was considered a feeder league to both the KHL and the VHL. A majority of the teams were simply junior versions of their professional counterparts. During the era of the Soviet Championship League, it was referred to as "Class B"[citation needed]

The league in 2010–11 featured clubs from the 2009–10 season of the Pervaya Liga and also clubs from the 2009–10 season of the Vysshaya Liga that were not accepted into the VHL for 2010–11.[citation needed]

On August 23, 2011, the FHR announced the creation of the Russian Hockey League that replaced the Pervaya Liga. The league had 2 divisions. The West Division featured teams from both the Central and Povolzhie divisions of the Pervaya Liga. The East Division featured teams from the Ural and West Siberia division as well as teams from the Siberian and Far East division. The Russian Hockey League was also the same name of the organization responsible for organizing the top-tier hockey league of Russia at the time that existed from 1996 and 2008, when it was rebranded and reorganized as the Kontinental Hockey League.[citation needed]

Prior to the beginning of the 2014–15 season, there was a big decrease in league members (with seven teams either leaving to join a different league or disbanding altogether). In connection with this number of losses, FHR officials who ran the league were forced to combine the two territorial divisions into one league table.[citation needed]

After the 2014–15 season and prior to the 2015–16 season, the FHR transferred the organization of the RHL (which had seen its membership numbers plummet from 24 teams in 2011/12 to nine in 2014/15) to the Supreme Hockey League, with the hope of developing a better third-tier competition with an eventual promotion/relegation system with the second-level league thus creating the Supreme Hockey League Championship.[citation needed]

Prospects for expansion

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It was planned to replenish the league from the following sources:

  • VHL teams, for financial reasons, leaving the league.
  • Foreign clubs. For example, interest to the league has been shown by representatives of Latvia.
  • Teams from different cities of Russia.
  • Independent teams of the MHL and/or the NMHL who left due to reorganization.[1]

Teams for 2022–2023

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Team City Arena Capacity Founded Joined league
Dinamo-Altay   Barnaul Titov Sports Palace 3,800 2006 2011
CSK VVS Samara   Samara Vladimir Vysotsky Sport Palace 5,000 1993 2022
Feniks   Kazan Sport Palace 3,345 2022 2022
HC Chelny   Naberezhnye Chelny Ice Palace Naberezhny Chelny 1,500 2004 2016
Kristall   Saratov Ice Sports Palace Saratov 5,000 1946 2017

Former teams

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Team City Arena Capacity Fate of the team
Angel Sibiri   Tobolsk Crystal Sports Complex Unknown Unknown
Avangard-Yugra   Kogalym Iceberg Sports Complex Unknown Originally joined, but ultimately did not participate; possibly disbanded
Buran Voronezh   Voronezh LDS Jubileiny 3,200 Joined the VHL in 2012
Burevestnik Yekaterinburg   Yekaterinburg KRK Uralets 5,570 Withdrew during 2013–14 season; later disbanded due to connection with financial problems
Burevestnik-1976   Tomsk Crystal Sport Palace Unknown Currently, the club performs in the Siberian Student Hockey League
HC Belgorod   Belgorod Oranzevjy led 1,200 Joined the NMHL (then MHL-B) in 2012 due to financial issues
HC Bryansk   Bryansk Desna Stadium 1,000 Joined the NMHL (then MHL-B) in 2014
HC Cheboksary   Cheboksary Cheboksary-Arena 7,500 Disbanded
HC Lipetsk   Lipetsk Zvezdny Sports Complex 2,000 Joined the VHL in 2013; later withdrew in 2015
HC Rostov   Rostov-on-Don Ice Arena 600 Joined the VHL in 2019
HC Tambov   Tambov Crystal Ice Palace 1,200 Joined the VHL in 2018
Junior-Sputnik   Nizhny Tagil Sotnikov Ice Sports Palace 4,200 Club skips season due to financial problems
Kedr Novouralsk   Novouralsk Novouralsk Ice Palace 1,200 Disbanded
Krasnoyarskie Rysi   Krasnoyarsk Arena Sever 2,600 Joined the JHL in 2022
Kristall Elektrostal   Elektrostal Kristall Sport Palace 3,500 Disbanded
Kristall-Yugra Beloyarsky   Beloyarsky Palace of Sports 450 Possibly disbanded
Krylya Sovetov Novosibirsk   Novosibirsk Unknown - Disbanded
Neftyanik Almetyevsk-2   Almetyevsk Yubileyny Sports Palace 2,000 Changed name to Sputnik; joined the MHL in 2012 as farm club of Neftyanik (Almetyevsk) (VHL)
Progress Glazov   Glazov Progress Sports Palace 4,300 Joined the NMHL (then MHL-B) in 2014; became farm club of Izhstal (Izhevsk) (VHL)
Rubin Tyumen-2   Tyumen Sports Palace Tyumen 3,300 Unknown
Shakhtyor Prokopyevsk   Prokopyevsk Snowflake Sports Complex 3,150 Due to financial problems, the club decided to go to the Siberian Student Hockey League in 2013
Slavutych Smolensk   Smolensk Ice Palace SGAFKST 1,080 Left league in 2017 due to financial problems
Sokol Novocheboksarsk   Novocheboksarsk LD Sokol 3,000 Disbanded
Soyuz   Zarechny Sports Palace Soyuz Unknown Possibly disbanded
THK Tver   Tver Ice Palace Yubileyny 1,980 Joined the VHL in 2012; later declared bankruptcy and ceased in 2017
Yamal Sterkhi   Noyabrsk KSK Fakel Unknown Disbanded
Yantar Seversk   Seversk SK North Unknown Withdrew from league after 2011–12 season; later disbanded due to financial issues in 2013-14
Yuzhny Ural-Metallurg Orsk   Orsk Unknown - Disbanded
Zauralje Kurgan-2   Kurgan Ice Sports Palace Mostovik 2,500 Changed name to Junior and became a youth team joining the MHL and then the NMHL (then MHL-B) in 2012; currently still member of the league

Champions

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Season   Champion   Finalist Series
Result
  Bronze Medalist Regular season winner
2011–12   Slavutych Smolensk   Buran Voronezh RR   THK Tver   Buran Voronezh
2012–13   Mordovia Saransk   Yamal Sterkhi 3–2   Slavutych Smolensk   Slavutych Smolensk
2013–14   Slavutych Smolensk   Mordovia Saransk [NK]   Altai Barnaul &
  Yamal Sterkhi[*]
  Slavutych Smolensk
2014–15   HC Rostov   CSK VVS Samara 3–0   Mordovia Saransk &
  Slavutych Smolensk[*]
  Slavutych Smolensk
2015–16   HC Tambov   HC Rostov 4–1   Mordovia Saransk   HC Rostov
2016–17   HC Rostov   Slavutych Smolensk 4–1   Mordovia Saransk   HC Rostov
2017-18   HC Tambov   HC Cheboksary 4–0   Mordovia Saransk   HC Rostov
2018-19   HC Rostov   Mordovia Saransk 4–0   HC Cheboksary   HC Rostov
  • [*]: Both losing semifinalists received bronze medals
  • [NK]: Result not known

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Оптимизация МХЛ поможет возродить РХЛ". Sports.ru. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
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