Supreme Hockey League

Supreme Hockey League
2021–22 Supreme Hockey League season
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	[[2010]]
No. of teams	34 (2019–2020 season)
Most recent champion(s)	Saryarka Karagandy (2)
Most championship(s)	Toros Neftekamsk (3)
Official website	vhlru.ru
Related competitions	Kontinental Hockey League VHL-B Junior Hockey League National Junior Hockey League

The Supreme Hockey League (SHL) (Russian: Высшая хоккейная лига (ВХЛ), Vysshaya hokkeinaya liga (VHL)), also known as the Major Hockey League or Higher Hockey League (HHL), is a professional ice hockey league in Eurasia, and the second highest level of Russian hockey. There will be 34 teams from 4 nations (Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Uzbekistan) participating in the 2019–20 season.

Though currently acting independently, plans were in place to convert it to a farm system for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)'s 2010–11 season. It was preceded by the Major League of the Russian Championship (Vysshaya Liga) that formerly held a relegation role for the Russian Superleague, and was governed by the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia. As of the 2017–18 season, some VHL teams are affiliated with a KHL team (e.g. HC Sarov is affiliated with KHL's Torpedo), while other teams of the VHL are not affiliated with a KHL team.

Russian Classic

The Russian Classic (Russian: Русская классика, Russkaya klassika) is an outdoor ice hockey game that is played during the Supreme Hockey League regular season. So far, the visiting team has won every edition of the game.

Date	Venue	Sport	Location	Home Team	Visiting Team	Score	Attendance
February 17, 2012	Central Stadium	Football, Rugby	Krasnoyarsk	Sokol Krasnoyarsk	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	2–3	16,100
January 19, 2014	Central Stadium	Football	Chelyabinsk	Chelmet Chelyabinsk	Lada Togliatti	2–5	9,200
February 14, 2015	Sputnik Stadium	Football	Nizhny Tagil	Sputnik Nizhny Tagil	Yuzhny Ural Orsk	0–4	8,350
February 7, 2016	Khimik Stadium	Football	Tver	THK Tver	Buran Voronezh	1–2 (OT)	6,350
January 14, 2017	Park Legend		Moscow	Dynamo Balashikha	Khimik Voskresensk	1–3	1,831
January 28, 2018	Central Stadium	Football	Kurgan	Zauralie Kurgan	Rubin Tyumen	0–4	3,000

• Bolded teams denote winners

Seasons overview

Season	Petrov Cup winner	Finalist	Final score	Regular season winner
2010–11	Rubin Tyumen	Neftyanik Almetyevsk	4–0	Rubin Tyumen
2011–12	Toros Neftekamsk	Rubin Tyumen	4–1	Rubin Tyumen
2012–13	Toros Neftekamsk	Saryarka Karagandy	4–3	Saryarka Karagandy
2013–14	Saryarka Karagandy	Rubin Tyumen	4–2	Toros Neftekamsk
2014–15	Toros Neftekamsk	HC Izhstal	4–2	Saryarka Karagandy
2015–16	Neftyanik Almetyevsk	HC Izhstal	4–1	THK Tver
2016–17	Dynamo Balashikha	Kazzinc-Torpedo	4–0	Kazzinc-Torpedo
2017–18	Dinamo Saint Petersburg	SKA-Neva	4–2	Dinamo Saint Petersburg
2018–19	Saryarka Karagandy	Rubin Tyumen	4–1	SKA-Neva
2019–20	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic			Zvezda Moscow

Teams in 2019–20

Team City Arena Capacity KHL Affiliate Team(s) MHL/NMHL Affiliate Team(s) Founded Joined league Bars Kazan Sports Palace Kazan 3,845 Ak Bars Kazan Irbis 2009 2014 Buran Voronezh LDS Jubileiny 3,200 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Loko Loko-Junior Rossosh Voronezh 1949 2012 Chelmet Chelyabinsk Yunost Sport Palace 3,500 Traktor Chelyabinsk Belye Medvedi 1948 2010 CSK VVS Samara Samara CSK VVS Sport Palace 3,500 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk Independent 1950 2017 Dinamo Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg Yubileyny Sports Palace 7,000 Vityaz Podolsk Russkie Vityazi JHC Dinamo Saint Petersburg 2013 2016 Dizel Penza Dizel Arena 5,500 Independent Dizelist Penza 1956 2010 Dynamo Tver Tver Sports Complex Yubileiny 2,000 Dynamo Moscow MHC Dynamo Moscow 2019 2019 Ermak Angarsk Arena Ermak 6,900 Sibir Novosibirsk Sibirskie Snaipery 1959 2010 Gornyak Uchaly LDS Jubileiny 1,500 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg Avto 2013 2017 HC Izhstal Izhevsk Sports Palace Izhstal 3,268 Severstal Cherepovets Almaz Progress 1958 2010 HC Rostov Rostov-on-Don Ice Arena 600 Independent Independent 2004 2019 HC Ryazan Ryazan Ryazan Olympic Sports Palace 3,000 HC Sochi Kapitan Stupino 1999 2010 HC Tambov Tambov Crystal Ice Palace 1,200 Independent Independent 1981 2018 Humo Tashkent Humo Ice Dome 12,500 Independent Independent 2019 2019 Khimik Voskresensk Podmoskovie Ice Palace 4,000 Spartak Moscow JHC Spartak Atlanty 2005 2015 KRS Heilongjiang Harbin Harbin Sport University Gymnasium 2,500 HC Kunlun Red Star KRS Junior 2017 2017 Lada Togliatti Tolyatti Lada Arena 6,000 Independent Ladya 2004 2018 Metallurg Novokuznetsk Novokuznetsk Kuznetsk Metallurgists Sports Palace 7,533 Sibir Novosibirsk Kuznetskie Medvedi 1949 2017 Molot-Prikamye Perm Universal Sports Palace Molot 6,000 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk Reaktor 1948 2010 Neftyanik Almetyevsk Yubileyny Sports Palace 2,000 Independent Sputnik Almetyevsk 1965 2010 Nomad Nur-Sultan Kazakhstan Sports Palace 4,070 Barys Snezhnye Barsy 2007 2019 ORG Beijing Shougang Ice Rink 2,000 HC Kunlun Red Star KRS Junior 2019 2019 Rubin Tyumen Sports Palace Tyumen 3,300 Independent Tyumensky Legion 1959 2010 Saryarka Karagandy Karagandy Arena 5,500 Independent HC Temirtau (KHC) 2006 2012 SKA-Neva Saint Petersburg Yubileyny Sports Palace 7,000 SKA Saint Petersburg SKA-1946 SKA-Serebryanye Lvy SKA-Varyagi 2008 2010 Sokol Krasnoyarsk Arena Sever 2,600 Independent Krasnoyarskie Rysi 1977 2011 Toros Neftekamsk Ice Palace Neftekamsk 1,900 Salavat Yulaev Ufa Tolpar Batyr 1988 2010 Torpedo-Gorky Nizhny Novgorod Konovalenko Sports Palace 4,300 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod Chaika 2019 2019 Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk Ust-Kamenogorsk Boris Alexandrov Sports Palace 4,400 Barys Snezhnye Barsy Altay 1955 2010 Tsen Tou Jilin City Jilin Jilin Arena 8,000 Independent Independent 2017 2017 Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk Arena Ugra 5,500 Avangard Omsk Mamonty Yugry 2006 2018 Yuzhny Ural Orsk Ice Palace Yubileyny 4,500 Admiral Vladivostok Taifun Sarmaty Yuzhny Ural-Metallurg Orsk 1958 2010 Zauralie Kurgan Ice Sports Palace Mostovik 2,500 Metallurg Magnitogorsk Stalnye Lisy 1962 2010 Zvezda Moscow Moscow CSKA Ice Palace 5,600 CSKA Moscow Krasnaya Armiya 2015 2015

All-time team records

Since its foundation in 2010, 40 different clubs have played in the VHL, and 34 of them have at least once qualified for the playoffs. Only one club (Toros Neftekamsk) has made the playoffs in all nine championships of the VHL, reaching the semi-final stage six times. The table gives the final regular-season ranks for all teams, with the playoff performance encoded in colors. The teams are ordered by their best championship results.

Club 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Toros Neftekamsk 2 2 3 1 8 3 5 10 3 Rubin Tyumen 1 1 2 3 11 19 10 17 4 Saryarka Karagandy 1 4 1 8 3 4 10 Neftyanik Almetyevsk 3 7 4 10 19 4 11 3 2 Dynamo Balashikha 19 20 11 13 17 12 6 Dinamo Saint Petersburg 12 1 14 HC Izhstal 16 19 26 19 2 10 16 21 26 Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk 9 8 14 11 15 9 1 7 18 SKA-Neva 11 11 18 25 21 7 2 2 1 Dizel Penza 7 5 16 6 10 20 19 19 21 THK Tver 19 8 3 1 7 Molot-Prikamye Perm 4 12 13 2 4 15 17 16 27 Buran Voronezh 7 9 7 5 25 25 22 Zauralie Kurgan 10 16 25 26 9 11 8 5 8 Ariada Volzhsk 18 9 12 14 20 22 24 Donbass Donetsk 3 Ermak Angarsk 8 6 8 17 12 6 13 6 28 Sputnik Nizhny Tagil 12 14 6 24 13 14 4 26 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 22 10 Ryazan 15 21 27 21 6 2 15 22 13 Lada Togliatti 20 13 9 12 5 Yuzhny Ural 6 4 5 7 18 17 21 11 16 Zvezda Moscow 21 14 12 6 Chelmet Chelyabinsk 13 10 20 18 16 16 18 20 20 Sokol Krasnoyarsk 18 24 16 22 18 9 8 12 Kuban 17 5 14 Kristall Saratov 17 23 21 22 25 26 Metallurg Novokuznetsk 13 11 Sarov 5 17 15 20 23 13 20 9 25 Titan Klin 15 22 15 Lipetsk 23 5 Krylya Sovetov 14 Khimik Voskresensk 24 23 15 9 Tsen Tou 14 15 Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk 7 Bars 24 23 22 18 17 CSK VVS Samara 27 19 Gornyak Uchaly 23 24 HC Tambov 23 KRS-ORG Beijing 24 29 Yunost Minsk 23 Zvezda-VDV Dmitrov 26 Dynamo Tver Humo Nomad ORG HC Rostov Torpedo-Gorky

Color Result Red Bratina Cup Winner Yellow Runner-up Green Semifinalist Light Blue Quarterfinalist Blue Qualified for playoffs Light Gray Not qualified for playoffs Gray Did not play in the season

See also

• Kontinental Hockey League
• VHL-B
• Junior Hockey League
• National Junior Hockey League

External links

• VHL Official (in Russian)
• VHL Official (in Chinese)
• VHL Official
• AllHockey.Ru
• Euro Hockey