Beijing International Ice Hockey League

Beijing International Ice Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	?
CEO	Gervais Lavoie Ray Plummer
No. of teams	6
Country(ies)	China
Most recent champion(s)	Emperors
Official website	beijinghockey.com

The Beijing International Ice Hockey League (BIIHL) is a non-professional ice hockey league based in Beijing. Most of the players are expatriates and come from all around the world. Since the beginning of the 2008-09 season, the league plays all games at the Beijing Hosa rink (Chaoyang District, Beijing).

The Beijing International Ice Hockey League is managed by the Beijing International Ice Hockey group which also proposes some youth hockey, and other events related to ice hockey in the all Asia. It's a private league which therefore have not official relationship with the Chinese Ice Hockey Association.

The Beijing International Ice Hockey group is a non-profit organization the aim of which is to provide fun and friendship through a common passion: ice hockey.

Teams

The Beijing International Ice Hockey League has 6 teams. In order to face the International Ice Hockey boom in Beijing, the Warriors have just been created at the beginning of the 2009-10 season.

Team	Arena	Joined BIIHL
Bull Dogs	Hosa rink, Chaoyang District, Beijing	?
Dragons	Hosa rink, Chaoyang District, Beijing	?
Emperors	Hosa rink, Chaoyang District, Beijing	2007
Hot wings	Hosa rink, Chaoyang District, Beijing	?
Icehogs	Hosa rink, Chaoyang District, Beijing	?
Warriors	Hosa rink, Chaoyang District, Beijing	2009

History

The beginning

International ice hockey in Beijing started in the early 70's. Canadian and Russian expatriates then battled for national prestige on outdoor lake arena during the winter. Later, weekly games were organized with the international players pooled and mixed with some local Chinese who have taken up the sport. The Chinese economic boom brought in Beijing many more ice hockey players from many different countries. Regular events and a championship could be set.

Season 2007-08

With some good players as Connor Smith, Wil Smith and Tom McCabe in their roster, the Icehogs started a domination on the Beijing International Ice Hockey League winning both regular season and playoffs.

Season 2008-09

The Icehogs won the 2008 Beijing Expat Cup and confirmed their superiority on Beijing International Ice Hockey without any major reinforcement. However, The Emperors' historical captain Benoit Larivière led a suspicious draft, recruiting the two autumn 2008 draft first overall picks (American-Danish brothers Benjamin and Johnatan Sherman), while he should have brought his first choice on a goalie because of the fact that Emperors did not have any goalkeeper in their roster at that time. This changed the done, and led Emperors to win both regular season and playoffs.

The MVP was the Finnish forward Mika Jantunen (Hot Wings). The 'Best goalie' award has been discerned to the young American goalkeeper Ryan Young (Icehogs). Conor Smith (Icehogs) gained the 'best young player' award just ahead of his old brother Wil (Icehogs) and other young gun Konstantin Li (Emperors). Despite trusting both regular season and playoffs titles, none of the Emperors' players have been awarded by any individual trophy.

Other events

In Beijing

The Beijing Expat Cup have been first time organized in 2007. Dalian team won the first edition. Several international teams from all China and Mongolia gathered for the opened 2008 edition which have been won by the Icehogs.

While the Beijing International Ice Hockey League is composed with a significant amount of players from Asian origins, only a few players really holds the Chinese nationality. However, in an effort to see more competitive ice hockey games in Beijing, executive George Smith organized series against some local Chinese players during Spring 2009. The international team was composed with some invited players from the Beijing International Ice Hockey League, and the Chinese team was composed with ex-national Chinese team players living in Beijing and ex-pro players from both defunct Hosa and Nordic Vikings. The international team won the 2009 series.

Outside Beijing

Many tours have been organized all around Asia in Dubai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, etc. More recently (Autumn 2008), the Beijing International Ice Hockey group went on the road to North Korea for playing some games against local players.

The Beijing International Ice Hockey group also supports ice hockey development in Mongolia, and helps to organize an outdoor international tournament in Ulan Bator traditionally standing during the Chinese New Year Festival.

Notable players

• Gervais Lavoie
• Ray Plummer
• Tom McCabe
• Yoko Tormanen
• Scott Depooter
• Konstantin Li
• Guanying Yu
• Lisa Pater
• Conor Smith
• Brent Wilson

Other notable personalities

• Kim Bergen
• George Smith

Beijing International Ice Hockey Champions

Season	Winner
2007-08	Icehogs
2008-09	Emperors

See also

• China Dragon
• Nordic Vikings

References

• "www.beijinghockey.com"
• Article in China Daily