Asia Ice Hockey League Starts
By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
The Asia League Ice Hockey is set to begin its 2009-10 season Saturday as the Anyang Halla faces off with High 1 at the Anyang Ice Arena.
The league, founded in 2003, is a professional league with seven teams ― two from South Korea, four from Japan (the Tohoku Free Blades, Nippon Paper Cranes, Oji Paper and Nikko Ice Bucks) and one from China (China Dragon).
Although the number of teams is unchanged from last season, the league has gone through some changes.
The Seibu Prince Rabbits disbanded due to the world economic crisis and the Tohoku Free Blades has joined the league as a new member, while China Sharks, a former affiliate team of the National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks, has changed their name to the China Dragon and will be operated by the Chinese Ice Hockey Association.
With the defending champion Nippon Paper Cranes seeking their fourth title, the South Korean teams are gunning for their first final appearances, and hopefully, an upset.
"We have set our sights on winning the title," said Kim Hyung-ihl, media officer and scout for Anyang Halla.
"Compared with a strong offensive unit, our defense is relatively weak. So we hope to add college players in December, which will give a boost to the team."
Anyang topped the regular season last year for the first time, but lost to the eventual winner, the Paper Cranes, 4-3 in the semifinals.
However, the team is expected to be strong again this season as reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP) and leading scorer Brock Radunske and solid defenseman John Awe will return.
Korea's other entry, the High 1, which finished fifth last season, underwent a drastic makeover in the offseason. High 1 has kept just one of its four foreign players, 2007-08 MVP and leading scorer Korean-American forward Alex Kim. Each team is limited to four foreign players.
It has landed Trevor Gallant, who had a lengthy professional career in Europe, and center Tim Smith, who rejoins the team after a two-year absence.
"We have concentrated on adding foreign players who can adapt to the Asia League," High 1 head coach Kim Hee-woo, who led the team for five years, said.
"We were not successful in selecting imported players, but it helped local players improve a lot."
Entering the new season, the league has made rule changes. Teams will play a best-of-five format in the playoffs from the best-of-seven and a fourth on-ice official will be added.
Each team will play 36 games until Feb. 7, and the top four teams will advance to the playoffs, scheduled to start on March 6.