Anyang Halla set team points record

By Nam Hyun-woo

Anyang Halla are about to shatter the points record in the Asia League Ice Hockey (AL).

On Thursday, forwards Kim Ki-sung and Mike Testwuide led the reigning AL regular season champions to beat Tohoku Free Blades 4-2 in Hachinohe, Japan. This gave the team 102 points after 42 games this season. With the win, the Halla shattered their previous team points record of 99 points set last season.

Halla are the second club to record more than 100 points in a single regular season in the AL history since 2003, following Oji Eagles of Japan. The Eagles recorded 102 points in the 2012-13 season and league record 110 points in the 2013-14 season.

With a month left before the regular season ends, league leaders Halla are expected to break the Eagles’ feat. Halla are in a tight race for their fourth AL pennant against Sakhalin of Russia, No. 2 with 99 points, and will face the Free Blades this weekend, wrapping up their 10-day away series in Japan.

As the league gets close to its final phase, the club is also expected to see its players win personal titles _ prolific scorer Testwuide is a strong contender for MVP. Testwuide, who attained Korean citizenship last year, scored 33 goals so far this season to lead the league and is No. 3 in personal points (goals and assists combined) ranking with 60 points.

Cho Min-ho also made 44 assists to follow league assist leader Alexey Eremin of Sakhalin with 45.