Anyang Halla

The Anyang Halla are a professional ice hockey team based in Anyang City in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. They are one of the founding and current members of the Asia League Ice Hockey (AL). Formed in 1994, they are the oldest professional ice hockey team, and one of only two professional teams, in South Korea. The Halla Group contributes three billion won annually to run the club.

At its inception the team was based out of Mok-dong, Seoul and named the Mando Winia. In 1998 the team took the name of Mando's parent company, Halla. After the collapse of the Korean Ice Hockey League in 2003 they were the only team to survive. They joined four Japanese teams to create the new Asia League Ice Hockey. In 2005 the team relocated and took the name of their new hometown as their own, playing all current home games out of the Anyang Sports Complex Arena. After two years of finishing in 5th place, they became the first non-Japanese team to finish first in the regular season in 2008–2009. However, they failed to defeat the Nippon Paper Cranes in the semi-finals. In the following season Halla again finished in first and managed to win the semi-final and final series giving them their first play-off series win and first Asia League Championship.

The city of Anyang was named 'The Best Hockeytown' twice, in 2006 & 2010.

1994–2003: pre-Asia League Ice Hockey
The team was originally founded in 1994 by the Halla Group to help promote hockey in Korea. The Halla Group also felt that by creating an ice hockey team, it would help them to fulfill their role as a responsible corporation by providing something to the community. The team was originally named "Mando Winia". It was so named because Mando is a subsidiary company of Halla and Winia is a brand of air conditioner sold by the company.

As a member of the Korean Ice Hockey League the team won the championship five times. During this time, the team also changed their name from "Mando Winia" to "Halla Winia". The team first looked at adding foreign players to their roster in late 2001 with other members of the Korean League. In 2003, the team was one of the founding members of Asia League Ice Hockey.

2003–Present: Asia League Ice Hockey
While the team participates primarily in the Asia League, they also play in tournaments like the All Korea Ice Hockey Championship each year. In the inaugural year of Asia League Ice Hockey, Halla played a shortened seasons of only 16 games, and failed to break .500. In the following year they brought Esa Tikkanen, a veteran player of 20 NHL seasons, on board. He was brought on primarily to coach the players but he also played during the team's games. Tikkanen felt that as the players played against more skilled teams their own skill level showed greater improvement. He also felt that they should play more games and that the season was too short. That year the team was also noted for showing great improvement over the first year's effort. Halla finished the season winning 18 games out of 42 with 5 ties. Their top offensive player, Marco Poulsen, finished 5th in the overall points race, however they didn't reach their goal that year of making the playoffs, finishing in 5th place one spot out of the playoffs. In the off-season the team changed their name from Anyang Halla Winia to Anyang Halla with the expiration of the sponsorship contract. As well they hired Otakar Vejvoda to be the team's new coach. Vejvoda was considered a legend in the Czech Extraliga both for his skill as a player and a coach.

In the 2005–2006 season Halla improved on the previous year's performance finishing in second place. The league saw a reduced season of only 38 games. Song Dong-Hwan was the leader in goals for the league with 31 and Patrik Martinec ranked 2nd in assists with 44. Martinec ranked number 2 on the total points list while Song finished in fourth place. Halla also scored the most short handed goals of any team in the league with 11. The city of Anyang won an award for being "The best Hockey Town in Asia". The team made the play-offs for the first time since the league's formation. They received a bye in the first round and played Kokudo, the winner of the 3rd place and 6th place match-up. Anyang managed to win only a single game out of the first three which were played on home ice. They were eliminated in the 4th game which was played in Kokudo's home rink by a score of 5–1. Kokudo went on to be the league champions for the second year in a row.

After the conclusion of the '05–'06 season there were some roster changes. Two of the team's top players, Song Dong-Hwan and Jang Jong-Moon, had to report for compulsory military service. Starting goaltender, Kim Sung-Bae, retired after the previous season. Even though they were missing these players they were noted for having more players with more than 10 goals and 10 assists than in the previous season. With the departure of Song offensive output dropped slightly, the team's top offensive player finished 7th overall in goals with 21. However Martinec won the assists race with 53 and the overall points total with 71. The team shared top spot in the short handed goals with 2 other teams scoring 10 over the course of the season. With a further shortened season of only 34 games the team finished in 5th place and faced the other Korean team, Kangwon Land in the quarter finals. During the regular season Kangwon won 6 of 7 meetings, and the quarter finals were no different. Kangwon swept Halla in 3 games, the final game ending in 3–2 with a last minute desperate bid by Halla to tie the game.

The next season saw the AL further reduce the amount of games played to just 30. In the pre-season Halla won the Anyang Cup, which is a pre-season tournament held in Anyang. The team's record in the regular season remained relatively the same and they finished again in 5th place. Lee Yu-Won was the top offensive player with 16 goals and was tied for 4th place with 3 other players. Martinec continued to contribute many assists to the team and finished in second place with 29, one point off first. He finished in 4th place in the overall point totals. Halla did not have another player in the top 10. The team once again lead the league in short handed goals and gave up the fewest short handed goals against along with the Oji Eagles. In the playoffs the Halla faced the Nippon Paper Cranes in the first round. During the regular season the two teams split their series each winning 2 games. The playoffs told a different story and Nippon swept Halla in 3 games. Halla lost each game by a single goal. Vejvoda praised Nippon's goalie for his excellent play and commended his players for their effort.

Following the defeat in the post-season Halla replaced Vejvoda as head coach with Shim Eui-Sik. Shim had spent his entire professional career playing for Halla and during the 2007–2008 season he was the coach of Little Halla. As a player Shim had 30 points in 80 games. He vowed to reorganize the team and set his sights on a league championship. The team's general manager also hired Samuel H. Kim, then an analyst for SBS Sports and previously an NHL reporter from Vancouver, as a scout for the organization. Halla moved away from the heavy Czech influence which had previously dominated the team and filled 3 of the 4 spots for foreign players on the team with players from North America. Brock Radunske, Brad Fast and Jon Awe became the first three players from North America to play for the team. They also arranged for Eric Thurston, the head coach of University of Alberta's team, to spend the first 3 weeks of the training camp assisting the new coach and new North American players. Martinec was the only Czech player to remain on the team. In addition to the new foreigner players Song Dong-Hwan and Jang Jong-Moon returned from military service. In the 2008 pre-season Anyang Cup, Halla finished 4th out of 5 teams. The AL increased the number of regular season games for the 2008–2009 season to 36. In September head coach Shim was suspended for 5 games for refusal to play. The incident stemmed from a goal that was scored as the final buzzer sounded during a September 21 game against High1. Halla entered the dressing room and refused to return to the ice. The league considered the game a forfeit. Anyang Halla finished the season in first place with a total of 76 points. Their defeat of their rivals High1 in the final game of the season marks the first time a non-Japanese team had finished first place in the Asia League. Brock Radunske captured the titles for both the most goals scored with 29 and most points on the season with 57. Martinec finished in second place for the second year in a row in the assists category with 47. Overall the team finished with 5 players in the top 10 in the overall points tally. For the first time the team ended the season with the number one powerplay scoring 54 goals. In contrast to earlier seasons the team did not lead the league in short handed goals, ranking in the middle of the pack both in goals for and against. They were the only team not shutout during the regular season. After receiving a bye in the first round of the play-offs Halla had to face the Nippon Paper Cranes in the semi-final. They returned to Anyang for game 6 of the series leading 3–2. They were expected to win the series but Nippon's Ilmura scored two game winning goals and the Japanese club defeated Anyang in 7 games.

Halla opened the 2009–10 season with a loss on home ice, but at the mid-point of the season they were tied for first place with the Oji Eagles. The league maintained the number of games at 36. The first half of the season saw Halla plagued with injuries. Particularly hard hit were the team's foreign imports. After the third game of the season John Awe was diagnosed with a sports hernia that required surgery and was scheduled to miss 8–12 weeks. On November 29, Brad Fast received a knee injury that will sideline him for 4–6 months, ending his season. Brock Radunske was also on the injury list with a concussion, while Patrik Martinec was day to day with a lower-body injury. Halla replaced Awe quickly with Dustin Wood, who has played in both the American Hockey League and Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Fast was replaced by Lee Don-ku from Yonsei University. Halla also had several other regular players injured including Kim Won-jun, Kim Kyu-hun, and Lee Seung-yup. After 18 games Halla led the league with 94 goals. On January 31, 2010 Halla defeated the Oji Eagles in overtime by a score of 4-3 clinching first place for the second year in a row. The win also set-up a semi-final match-up against Korean rivals High1, guaranteeing that a Korean team would appear in the final for the first time in league history. Halla won all of their series against opposing teams, except against their rival High1. Of 18 possible points available in their six games series, Halla took only eight. They were the only team to win a series against the Nippon Paper Cranes. The team led the league in goals scored with 180. Individually, Kim Ki-sung led the team in goals scored with 22, while Patrik Martinec again led with 40 assists and 51 points. Halla finished with five players in the top ten point list. The team also led in both powerplay goals for, with 57, powerplay percentage, with 34.97%, and shorthanded goals for, with 10. In the annual end of season Awards, Patrik Martinec took the award for Most Valuable Player and Best Playmaking. Cho Min-ho took the award for Young Guy of the Year. Anyang city won the award for Best Hockey Town for the second time for their spirit and sell-out crowds. Anyang Halla defeated High1 by a score of 5-2 to win the semi-finals three games to one winning their first play-off series and becoming the first Korean team to play for the Championship Cup. Halla faced the Cranes, who had knocked them out of the playoffs twice, in the final. The series went to the full five games and four of the games went to overtime. Brock Radunske scored two overtime winners and assisted Kim Woo-Jae in scoring the overtime winner in game five making Halla the first non-Japanese team to win the Asia League Championship. Radunske was named MVP while head coach Shim was named "Coach of the Year". After retiring as a player, Martinec signed a 1-year deal to work as an assistant coach on the team.

Community contributions
As a team and organization the Halla have engaged in charitable work. In 2008 they had two charity games on December 27 and 28. The admission fee was waved and instead fans were asked to make donations. The proceeds were donated to the poor children of Anyang city as well as the sick children's hospital. From mid-November 2008 to mid-January 2009 the team gave free tickets to any students who took the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) to promote rest and comfort after the difficult exam. In 2009 Halla repeated the offer to students who took the CSAT and offered free admission from early December 2009 to early February 2010. On December 19, 2009 The Anyang Halla organization donated 20,000 won for each goal that had been scored in the season to charity, totaling just over 2 million won.

Media
The Anyang Halla Hockey Club launched a new radio broadcast deal in 2007 with Afreeca.com. Former Halla forward Bae Sang-wun calls the play-by-play, and he is joined with colour commentary by Samuel H. Kim. Former hockey player Oh Sol-gil is currently the main TV commentator for the Anyang Halla. On May 11, 2009, SBSsports acquired a 5 year broadcast contract with the club.

Arena
The Anyang Sports Complex Arena was opened November 24, 2000. It seats 1284 in the hockey arena. The Arena also contains a basketball court and is home to the Anyang KT&G Kites professional team. It has seating for 6690. The ice rink is also used for short track and figure skating among other sports. The team previously used the Mok-dong Ice Rink.

Logo
The Anyang Halla logo features a black triangle in the background surrounded by a white and black border. A growling polar bear is shown protruding from the top half of the triangle and underneath the team name "Halla" is shown in stylized gold letters. Below the team name is a semicircular shape which contains the city name "Anyang" in white letters on a blue background.

Jerseys
As the team changed its name from the Winia to the Halla the uniforms had minor changes made to them. The logo changed names and the uniforms had colored shoulders removed from them. The current home jerseys feature a solid blue background with yellow stripes on the cuffs and bottom of the body as well as a number of blue rough shapes behind the gold trim as well as sponsor logos on the shoulders. The away jerseys feature a solid white background with dark blue striped borders on the cuffs and bottom of the body, it also contains the same rough blue shapes behind the trim. The Halla put the first name of Korean players on the jerseys to avoid confusion as several players share the same family name.

Mascots
The teams mascots are a male and female polar bear. The male polar bear wears the Halla home jersey and the female polar bear wears the away jersey. She also wears a white skirt and has red eyes. No name has been released for either of the polar bears.

Honours

 * Korean Hockey League:
 * Winners (5): 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003
 * Korea Domestic Champion:
 * Winners (2): 2005, 2009


 * Asia League:
 * Winners (1): 2010


 * The Best Hockeytown:
 * Winners (2): 2006, 2010

Current roster
Updated July 5, 20010

Team captains

 * Lee Dong-ho 1994–98
 * Rho Jung-won 1998–00
 * Shim Eui-sik 2000–02
 * Kim Chang-bum 2002–04
 * Park Sung-min 2004–06
 * Kim Woo-jae 2006–present

Head coaches

 * Kim Sae-il, 1994–04
 * Byun Sun-wook, 2004–05
 * Vejvoda Otakar, 2005–08
 * Shim Eui-sik,  2008–present

Anyang Halla (AL Hockey 2003–2010)
complete records for previous seasons *prior to the 2008–2009 season, there were no shoot-outs and games ended in a tie

Past import players
Prior to the 2008–2009 season Halla drew most of their imports from the Czech Republic, including their head coach of 3 seasons.
 * 🇨🇿 Michal Madl 2003–04, D
 * 🇸🇰 Miroslav Stefanka 2003–04, C
 * 🇨🇿 Ales Zima 2003–04, F
 * 🇫🇮 Vesa Ponto 2004–05, D
 * 🇫🇮 Marco Poulsen 2004–05, W
 * 🇫🇮 Esa Tikkanen 2004–05, W/Head Coach (Former Oilers/Rangers/Blues/Devils/Canucks/Panthers/Capitals)
 * 🇨🇿 Daniel Seman 2005–06, D
 * 🇨🇿 Jaroslav Nedvěd 2005–07, D (Brother of Petr Nedvěd)
 * 🇨🇿 Zdeněk Nedvěd 2005–07, C/W (Former Maple Leafs)
 * 🇨🇿 Pavel Falta 2006–07, G
 * 🇨🇿 Tomas Hruby 2007–08, F
 * 🇨🇿 Patrik Hucko 2007–08, D
 * 🇨🇿 Milan Kopecky 2007–08, F
 * 🇨🇿 Filip Stefanka 2007–08, D
 * 🇨🇿 Patrik Martinec 2005-2010, F

Retired numbers

 * 91 Shim Eui-sik (1994–2006) was the Korean League MVP 5 times and held the record for most career goals and career points. He spent his entire professional career with Halla. He said after his retirement that he hoped to have the chance to coach Halla in the future.