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Professional Hockey League

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Professional Hockey League
"Professional Hockey League of Ukraine"
FormerlyUkrainian Major League
SportIce hockey
FoundedJuly 25, 2011, in Kiev, Ukraine
First season2011–12
CEOYuriy Zahorodniy
DirectorDmitri Khristich
No. of teams7
Country Ukraine
ContinentEurope
Most recent
champion(s)		 Donbas-2 (1st title)
TV partner(s)Hockey (Ukraine)
First National (Ukraine)
Official website[1]

The Professional Hockey League (PHL) (Template:Lang-ua, tr: Profesional'na khokeina liga) is an ice hockey league in Ukraine, founded in 2011. The country's national title, the Ukrainian Championship, is awarded annually to the league champion following an 4-team, 2-round playoff[1] at the end of the 41-game regular season.[2] Runners-up receive silver and bronze medals. The winner of the Ukrainian Championship is also guaranteed qualification into the Champions Hockey League season. The PHL is shown on the First National TV channel and the Hockey channel[3] to broadcast regular season and playoff games. Many of the PHL's games are also broadcast online.[4]

The league was formed on July 25, 2011, in Kiev, Ukraine, to reflect its fully professional status,[5] apart from its predecessor organization, the Major League (Template:Lang-uk, Vyscha Liha), which was controlled and operated by the Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine (FHU) as part of the Ukrainian Hockey Championship, inaugurated in 1992. In obtaining the rights to the Championship, the FHU maintains a supervisory role,[4] and reserves the right to intervene in league matters.[2]

Naturally, Ukrainians constitute a large majority of the players in the PHL. Expatriates account for 25% of the league's players, most of which come from Russia and Belarus, but also Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and the United States.[2]

History

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Championship League, and Ukrainian independence, the Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine established the country's first national league, the Ukrainian Hockey Championship, in 1992. The league was known as the Major League (Template:Lang-uk, Vyscha Liha) until 2009-10, when it reverted back to its original role as a division of the Ukrainian Championship.[2] Following the 2010-11 season, the league dissolved. The top division, Division A (also known as the Central Division), became the PHL; Division B (the Western Division) became the Western Ukrainian Amateur Hockey League.

Uniforms

League uniforms consist of a jersey, short pants, socks, gloves, and a helmet. Most PHL jerseys display the team's primary logo in the centre of the chest, while some also display secondary logos on the shoulders. Each player in a team's lineup for a game must have a different number displayed on the back of their jersey, as well as the player's surname above their number on the back of their jersey, which according to league regulations must be written in the Ukrainian language.[6] Bilyi Bars and Kompanion-Naftogaz drew criticism during the 2011-12 season for violating this rule and using the Russian language instead.[6] While not required, teams typically place their numbers on each upper arm as well. Team captains and alternate captains wear the letters "C" or "K" (Template:Lang-ua), and "A" respectively on the front of their jerseys.

Teams

History

The PHL was founded with 8 professional teams from across Ukraine. Prior to its inaugural season, the league was initially slated to ice 9 teams, while considering 11 applicants,[7] and could increase to 12 teams in the future.[5] The league has stated intent to expand to Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Kalush, Severodonetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kryvyi Rih, and Zakarpattia.[4][8] Of the league's original 8 teams, 4 are based within the Kiev region. Sokil Kyiv is the only team in the PHL to have iced a team in every prior Ukrainian league season since its beginnings in 1992. Five of the league's original 8 teams competed in the final Major League season.

Following the inaugural season, the league contracted to 7 teams, as Vinnitsia lacked the funding and proper infrastructure to continue.[8] Kharkiv's team, Akuly, withdrew as well to make way for Dynamo Kharkiv. Bilyi Bars relocated from Brovary to Bila Tserkva, another city still within Kiev Oblast.

Future

The league has a preliminary agreement in place to expand to Sevastopol for 2013-14. The league has also been in discussions to create a junior affiliate league.[8]

Names

PHL team names reflect the general culture of European ice hockey naming conventions. Club names may reflect historical, geographical, cultural, or political affiliations — or simply be the brand name of a club's primary sponsor. Because of the prevalence of the Russian language in Ukraine, some teams present their club name and logo solely in the Russian language (specifically, Donbass and Kharkovskiye Akuly).

A club's name is usually composed of the prefix "Hockey Club" to describe the team's organizational status and its associated sport. The suffix is generally a proper name or mascot in either in the singular or plural form ("White Leopard" or "Lions"), a geographical indicator (Donbas), or team sponsor ("Companion", "Naftogaz"). Team names have also taken on the North American form of following the city name with a mascot ("Kharkiv Sharks")

In both Ukrainian and Russian leagues, misconceptions about the official name of a club are often present following English translation, whereby the "HC" prefix is dropped and the city name is added as a suffix (i.e. HC Sokil is often written as Sokil Kyiv).

Division Team City/Area Arena Capacity Founded Joined[3] Team Captain
Professional League Sokil Brovary Ice Palace TEC Terminal 1,500 1963 2011
Berkut Kyiv Kiev / Brovary Ice Palace TEC Terminal 1,500 2004 2011 Kyiv Serhiy Klymentiev
Kompanion-Naftogaz Kyiv Kiev SK ATEK 600 2006 2011
Bilyi Bars Bila Tserkva 2007 2011 Vitali Litvinenko
Dynamo Kharkiv Kharkiv Saltivskiy Lid 2011 2012
Levy Novoyavorivsk Novoyavorivsk Ice Palace 600 2011 Dmytro Hnitko
Donbas-2 Donetsk Leader Arena 500 2011 Russia Vitaly Anikeyev

Таблиця призерів

Сезон Чемпіон Срібний призер Бронзовий призер
2011—12 Донбас-2 Донецьк Сокіл Київ Беркут Київ


See also

References

  1. ^ "Изменен формат проведения плей-офф". iSport.ua. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  2. ^ a b c "15 вересня матчем "Донбас" – "Сокіл" розпочнеться перший чемпіонат Професіональної хокейної ліги". FHU. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  3. ^ "Про канал". Хокей. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  4. ^ a b c "ПХЛ выходит на старт". ПХЛ выходит на старт. HCDonbass.com. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  5. ^ a b Merk, Martin (5 August 2011). "Ukraine launches new league". Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  6. ^ a b Hapshenko, Serhiy (25 September 2011). "Итоги недели". iSport.ua. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  7. ^ "Відбулося чергове засідання Наглядової ради ПХЛ". Press Services of the PHL. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  8. ^ a b c "ЭКСКЛЮЗИВ. Загородний: "Работаем над расширением Лиги"". iSport.ua. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
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