Sport Ice Hockey Inaugural season 2016–17 No. of teams 16 | Founded May 21, 2016 CEO Peter Schramm | |
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Countries Austria
Italy
Slovenia | ||
The Alps Hockey League (AlpsHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in Central Europe. Currently the league is made up of teams representing three nations: Austria, Italy and Slovenia, whilst a team from Croatia is also considering joining. The league formed as a result of a merger between Serie A and the Inter-National League.
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Formation
The Alps Hockey League was founded in the spring of 2016, and is a joint venture between the Austrian Ice Hockey Association, the Federazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio as well as the Ice Hockey Federation of Slovenia. The three national governing bodies have stated that they are keen to ensure that the league is both of a high standard, and financially viable in the long term. The league will consist of a maximum of 10 teams apiece from both Austria and Italy, whilst a maximum of 5 further teams will be based in Slovenia.
In addition, the league has also stated that it is open to teams from other nations, including Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia joining in the future.
Regarding players, each team can sign a maximum for 4 foreign born players. The AlpsHL will operate a points based system similar to that of the EBEL, with each team having 16 points at their disposal. As a result of this, the league aims to focus on the development of young players from the participating countries.
Teams
The AlpsHL consists of 16 teams, eight of which are based in Italy, seven in Austria, and one team representing Slovenia. Two of the teams in the league acts as developmental teams for senior teams within the EBEL.
Austria
Italy
Slovenia