Zhenskaya Hockey League
The Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL; Russian: Женская хоккейная лига, romanized: Zhenskaya khokkeynaya liga, lit. 'Women's Hockey League'), officially called the Women's Hockey League (WHL),[1][2][3][4] is a professional ice hockey league in Eurasia, currently comprising nine teams: eight from Russia and one from China.[5] The league is also known as the PariMatch Women's Hockey League for sponsorship reasons.[6]
| Most recent season or competition: 2022–23 ZhHL season | |
 | |
| Formerly | Russian Women's Hockey League, 1995–2015 |
|---|---|
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Founded | 19 June 2015 |
| Founder | KHL & FHR |
| Director | Alexei Morozov |
| Motto | Красивая Лига (The Beautiful League) |
| No. of teams | 9 |
| Countries | Russia (8 teams) China (1 team) |
| Most recent champion(s) | Agidel Ufa (2022–23) |
| Most titles | Agidel Ufa (4 titles) |
| Domestic cup(s) | Dmitry Solunsky Cup |
| Official website | whl |
The league was founded via a joint partnership of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia (FHR) on 19 June 2015. It replaced the Russian Women's Hockey League (RWHL), which had been founded in 1995 and was operated by the FHR alone.
History
The creation of the Zhenskaya Hockey League was announced on 12 September 2014 at a meeting of Alexander Medvedev, president of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia (FHR), and Vladislav Tretiak, president of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The parties expressed their readiness to jointly establish the ZhHL and to achieve the dream of taking women's hockey in Russia to a new level of development. However, the FHR established the Zhenskaya Hockey League independently. There was a meeting with representatives of different Russian women's hockey teams on 2 July 2014. On the same day, the Honored Master of Sports, Alexei Yashin, was elected as president of the league while Yevgeny Chizhmin was appointed as the league's executive director.
However, the process of creating the league stalled because of a disagreement of the KHL with the fact that the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia established the league without reaching an agreement with the KHL, and on 22 December 2014, Alexei Yashin said in an interview with Championat.com: "While all this is a little suspended, what will happen next is hard for me to say. The management has made such a decision about changes in the KHL, which is what it is. I have a very good relationship with Alexander Ivanovich Medvedev. I think he did a lot for our hockey. I have not talked with Dmitry Chernyshenko yet. As for the women's league, when we talked, there was a certain situation that the KHL, FHR and Ruslan Gutnov would participate in the creation and development of this project. Now, while this process has slowed down, it's difficult for me to talk about terms."
The KHL, with the FHR, returned to the subject of the ZhHL in 2015. On 23 April 2015, the FHR Executive Committee voted to transfer the rights to host the women's ice hockey Russian Championship to the KHL. On 19 June 2015, the KHL established the Zhenskaya Hockey League, holding a presentation of a new league in the Ministry of Sport of Russia. On 8 September 2015, after the first matches of the championship of the ZhHL, the Board of Directors of the KHL approved the Rules of the League Championship.
Prior to the 2016–17 season, an eighth team, Dinamo Kursk, was supposed to be added to compete in the league. However, on 5 September 2016, despite the league taking all possible measures to ensure they would take part, Dinamo Kursk ultimately withdrew from the competition due to unresolved organizational and logistical issues.[7] On 25 July 2019, the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays announced it was joining the ZhHL for the 2019–20 season.[8]
Teams
2022–23 season
| Team name | Location | Home venue | Head coach | Captain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agidel |  Ufa |
Ice Palace Salavat Yulaev | Valeri Davletshin | Maria Pechnikova |
| Belye Medveditsy | Chelyabinsk |
Yunost Sport Palace | Igor Znarok | Yekaterina Lebedeva |
| Biryusa | Krasnoyarsk |
Platinum Arena[9] | Alexander Vedernikov | |
| Dinamo-Neva | Saint Petersburg |
Jubilee Sports Complex | Alexander Zybin | |
| KRS |  Shenzhen |
Shenzhen Dayun Arena | Scott Spencer | Baiwei Yu |
| Mytishchi* |
Mytishchi Arena* | |||
| MSMO 7.62 | Voskresensk |
Podmoskovie Ice Palace | Alexander Syrtsov | |
| SKSO | Yekaterinburg |
Ice Arena A. Kozitsyna | Sergei Chistyakov | |
| Tornado | Dmitrov |
Dmitrov Sports Complex | Alexei Chistyakov | |
| Torpedo | Nizhny Novgorod |
KRK Nagorny | Igor Averkin |
*Temporary relocation since 2021–22 season
Russian Champions
- 1996 : Luzhniki Moscow (HC SKIF)
- 1997 : CSK VVS Moscow (HC SKIF)
- 1998 : CSK VVS Moscow (HC SKIF)
- 1999 : Viking Moscow (HC SKIF)
- 2000 : Spartak-Mercury Yekaterinburg
- 2001 : SKIF Moscow (HC SKIF)
- 2002 : SKIF Moscow (HC SKIF)
- 2003 : SKIF Moscow (HC SKIF)
- 2004 : SKIF Moscow (HC SKIF)
- 2005 : SKIF Moscow (HC SKIF)
- 2006 : HC Tornado
- 2007 : HC Tornado
- 2008 : SKIF Nizhny Novgorod (HC SKIF)
- 2009 : HC Tornado
- 2010 : SKIF Nizhny Novgorod (HC SKIF)
- 2011 : HC Tornado
- 2012 : HC Tornado
- 2013 : HC Tornado
- 2014 : SKIF Nizhny Novgorod (HC SKIF)
- 2015 : HC Tornado
- 2016 : HC Tornado
- 2017 : HC Tornado
- 2018 : Agidel Ufa
- 2019 : Agidel Ufa
- 2020 : KRS Vanke Rays
- 2021 : Agidel Ufa
- 2022 : KRS Vanke Rays
- 2023 : Agidel Ufa
Russian Champions by season
All-time Russian Championship titles
| Team | Titles | Years Won |
|---|---|---|
| HC SKIF | 12 |
1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2014 |
| HC Tornado | 9 |
2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 |
| Agidel Ufa | 4 |
2018, 2019, 2021, 2023 |
| KRS Shenzhen | 2 |
2020, 2022 |
| Spartak-Mercury Yekaterinburg | 1 |
2000 |
References
- Kaplan, Emily (29 January 2020). "What the NHL can learn from the KHL's support of women's hockey". ESPN. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "ЖХЛ – Women's Hockey League (@whl_ru)". Twitter. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Potts, Andy (9 September 2021). "All around the world – the WHL makes an international impact". KHL. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "Women's Hockey League details". Eurohockey.com. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Seren Rosso, Alessandro (8 July 2014). "Russia to Launch New Women's Hockey League". The Hockey Writers. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
- "Parimatch стал титульным партнёром чемпионата ЖХЛ". Zhenskaya Hockey League (in Russian). 22 September 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "Курское "Динамо" не примет участие в чемпионате ЖХЛ". Zhenskaya Hockey League (in Russian). KHL. 5 September 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- Jay, Michelle (25 July 2019). "KRS Vanke Rays officially joining the Russian Women's Hockey League". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
- ""Бирюса" переезжает на "Платинум-Арену"". KHL (in Russian). 4 October 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
- ""Белые Медведицы" и "Ледяные Крылья" стали участниками ЖХЛ". Zhenskaya Hockey League (in Russian). 27 July 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "Состав участников чемпионата ЖХЛ 2022/2023. В сезоне сыграют девять клубов". KHL (in Russian). 18 August 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
External links
- Official website (in Russian)
- Women's Hockey League on Facebook (in Russian)
- Women's Hockey League on Twitter (in Russian)
- Zhenskaya Hockey League at EliteProspects.com
- Women's Hockey League at Eurohockey.com