Sport Ice hockey No. of teams 14 | Founded 1993 Country Czech Republic | |
Most recent
champion(s) ČEZ Motor České Budějovice and Piráti Chomutov Official website | ||
The WSM Liga (until 2015 known as the 1st Czech National Hockey League) is the second-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic under the Extraliga. It began in 1993 and is run and administered by Czech Ice Hockey Association.
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Format
In the first phase, every team plays each other four times—twice at home and twice away—which makes for a 52-game regular season.
After the 52-game regular season, the first six teams directly qualify for the quarter-finals, while teams which placed 7 to 10 play a round-robin to determine the final two participants in the quarter-finals.
The First League, unlike other leagues around the world, has two winners. The playoffs end with the semi-finals, with the two winning teams being declared co-champions. The two teams then go on to face the bottom two teams from the Extraliga in a round-robin. The two highest-placed teams at the end of the round robin are promoted to the Extraliga for the following season.
The last team at the end of the regular season is directly relegated to the Second League for the following season. They are replaced by winner of a best-of-seven series between the winners of the East and the West division of the Second League.
Three points are awarded for a win in regulation time and two points for an overtime or shootout victory, while the defeated team in overtime or shootout gets one point.
The level of 1.národní hokejová liga is slightly lower than the Czech Extraliga but there is a lot of players moving between those two leagues every season. Each team in this league is allowed to have five imports. The league has no salary cap, with an average salary of USD 2200 per month, but some of the best players reportedly sign contracts for more than USD 5000 per month, plus most of the teams cover accommodation expenses for their players during the season.