Bosnia and Herzegovina Hockey League

Bosnia and Herzegovina Hockey League

Current season, competition or edition: 2016–17 Bosnia and Herzegovina Hockey League season
Sport	Ice Hockey
Founded	2002
Founder	BH Ice Hockey Federation
Inaugural season	2002–03
No. of teams	4
Country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Venue(s)	Olympic Hall Juan Antonio Samaranch
Most recent champion(s)	HK Stari Grad Vukovi
Most titles	HK Stari Grad Vukovi (3)
Official website	http://www.hsbih.ba

The Bosnia and Herzegovina Hockey League (BHL) is the top league for ice Hockey in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is organized by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Ice Hockey Federation.

History

Hockey developed slowly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, all of it being concentrated in Sarajevo. By the later 1980s, one team, HK Bosna, made it to the Yugoslav Hockey League. With the end of Yugoslavia came the end of hockey in the country, for some time. War and economic difficulties prevented the organization/formation of a league for some time. The first season of the league was held in 2002–03, with four teams. After the season three teams simply were not able to remain active. With their demise, the league went into a hiatus for six years until the 2009–10 season. The league is strictly amateur at this time with a low/developmental level of play with no body checking.

All hockey games in BiH are played out in the country's biggest city and capital Sarajevo at Olympic Hall Zetra. A second rink at Skenderija that fell in disrepair was not ready in time for the 2009 season. Reconstruction started in February 2010.^[1] Currently, no other city has a regulation sized ice-rink. For the start of the 2011–12 season it was announced that HK Bosna and left the league to play in the newly formed Open Championship of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an international league with teams from Bulgaria, Greece, and the Republic of Macedonia.^[2] The league also changed its abbreviation from "BHL" to "BHHL" and HK Ilidža 2010 changed its name to HK Ajkule Ilidža 2010.^[3]

Teams

The 2002–03 season had four teams competing — HK Bosna, HK Ilidža 2010, HK Jahorina, and HK Šampion. However following the end of the season both HK Jahorina and HK Šampion folded and the league went on hiatus.^[4] When the league returned in for the 2009–10 season two new teams, HK Stari Grad and HK Alfa, joined the league with HK Bosna.^[5] The 2010–11 season has four teams competing in Sarajevo with the three teams competing from the previous season and the return of HK Ilidža 2010.^[6] The 2011–12 season was reduced to three teams after HK Bosna left the league.^[2]

Team	City/Area	Home stadium	Founded	Joined	Notes
HK Alfa	Novo Sarajevo	Olympic Hall Zetra	2003	2009	Playing under the name of HK Medvjedi for the 2011–12 season.
HK Ajkule Ilidža 2010	Ilidža	Olympic Hall Zetra	2002		Did not compete in the 2009–10 season. Formally known as HK Ilidža 2010.
HK Stari Grad	Stari Grad, Sarajevo	Olympic Hall Zetra	2002	2009	Playing under the name of HK Vukovi for the 2011–12 season.
U20 Blue Bulls	Sarajevo	Olympic Hall Zetra	2013		Team is made up of players between 16 & 19 who train in the representation stream.

Former teams

Team	City/Area	Founded	Notes
HK Bosna	Center, Sarajevo	1980	Joined in 2002 and competed in all three seasons up until 2011. Left the league before the start of the 2011–12 season to compete in the Open Championship of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
HK Jahorina	Pale	2002	Competed only in the 2002–03 season before folding.
HK Šampion	Sarajevo	2002	Competed only in the 2002–03 season before folding.

Seasons and champions

Logo used during the 2009–10 season

• 2002–03 — HK Bosna finished first in the regular season and won the playoff series 2–0 against HK Ilidža 2010.
• 2009–10 — HK Bosna finished first in the regular season. HK Stari Grad won the playoff series 2–1 against HK Bosna.
• 2010–11 — HK Bosna finished first in the regular season and won the playoff series 2–0 against HK Alfa.
• 2011–12 — HK Ajkule Ilidža 2010 finished first in the regular season and won the single game final 3–2 against HK Alfa.
• 2012–13 — HK Stari Grad Vukovi finished first in the regular season and beat HK Medvjedi Sarajevo in two straight games.
• 2013–14 — HK Stari Grad Vukovi finished first in the regular season and beat HK Ajkule Ilidža in two straight games.

Championships

Club	Titles	Years Won
HK Bosna	2	2003, 2011
HK Ajkule Ilidža 2010	1	2012
HK Stari Grad	3	2010, 2013, 2014

See also

• Yugoslav Ice Hockey League

References

1. HK Bosna forum thread, sportsport.ba (ba)
2. "Otvoreno prvenstvo BiH u hokeju na ledu" (in Bosnian). Bosnia and Herzegovina Ice Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on 2012-01-14. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
3. "BHHL". Eurohockey.com. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
4. "Championnat de Bosnie-Herzégovine 2002/03" (in French). Hockey365. Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2011-02-15.
5. "Championnat de Bosnie-Herzégovine 2009/10" (in French). Hockey365. Archived from the original on 2011-02-14. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
6. "Sezona 2010/2011 Raspored-Schedule" (in Bosnian). Bosnia and Herzegovina Ice Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on 2011-04-03. Retrieved 2011-02-19.