The Maxa liga is the second-highest level of professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, after the Extraliga. It began in 1993 and is run and administered by

Czech Ice Hockey Association The Czech Ice Hockey Association (), also known by the shortened name Czech Ice Hockey (), is the Sport governing body, governing body of ice hockey and sledge hockey in Czechia. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) ...

. Until 2015, the league was known as the 1st Czech National Hockey League. It was then known as the WSM Liga until 2018, and the Chance Liga until 2024.

Format (2023-24)

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 playoffs end with the finals, with the winning team going on to face the bottom team from the Extraliga in a round-robin. The winner of the round-robin is promoted to Extraliga for the following season. The last placed team at the end of the regular season is directly relegated to the Second League for the following season. They are replaced by the winner of a 3 team round-robin group between the winners of the East, the Central and the West divisions 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 team defeated in overtime or shootout gets one point. The level of 1. národní hokejová liga is slightly lower than the

Czech Extraliga The Czech Extraliga () is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. It was created in 1993 following the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia midway through the 1992–93 Czechoslovak Extraliga season (which all Slovak and ...

, but there are 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.

Current teams (2023-24)

Champions

* 1993–94 Vsetínská hokejová and

HC Slavia Praha HC Slavia Praha (eng: HC Slavia Prague) is a Czech professional ice hockey team located in Prague playing in the Czech 1st National Hockey League, the second-highest league in the country. Slavia played in the Czech Extraliga from 1994 until ...

* 1994–95 HC Kometa Brno and TZ Třinec * 1995–96 HC Přerov and HC Opava * 1996–97 HC Becherovka Karlovy Vary and HC Kralupy nad Vltavou * 1997–98 HC Znojemští Orli * 1998–99 HC Znojemští Orli * 1999–2000 HC Dukla Jihlava * 2000–01 KLH Chomutov * 2001–02

HC Bílí Tygři Liberec Bílí Tygři Liberec (English: ''Liberec White Tigers'') are a professional ice hockey club based in Liberec, Czech Republic. The team competes in the Czech Extraliga, the highest level of play in professional Czech ice hockey. History The firs ...

* 2002–03 HC Vagnerplast Kladno * 2003–04 HC Dukla Jihlava * 2004–05 HC České Budějovice * 2005–06

HC Slovan Ústí nad Labem HC, hc or H/C may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Medicine * Health Canada * Hemicrania continua * Hyperelastosis cutis or hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia Chemistry * Hemocyanin, a metalloprotein abbreviated Hc ...

* 2006–07 HC Slovan Ústí nad Labem * 2007–08

BK Mladá Boleslav BK Mladá Boleslav () is a professional ice hockey team which plays in the Czech Extraliga, the country's highest level. They were promoted into the league on 18 April 2014 after a two-year absence. They play their home games at Ško-Energo Aréna ...

* 2008–09 HC Slovan Ústečtí Lvi * 2009–10 KLH Chomutov * 2010–11 HC Slovan Ústečtí Lvi * 2011–12

Piráti Chomutov Piráti Chomutov is a Czech ice hockey team from Chomutov, Czech Republic. Established as ČSK Chomutov in 1945, the team has played in Chomutov through numerous team name changes and elevations/relegations in the Czechoslovak and Czech hockey l ...

* 2012–13

and HC Olomouc * 2013–14 BK Mladá Boleslav and HC Olomouc * 2014–15

and Motor České Budějovice * 2015–16 HC Dukla Jihlava and

* 2016–17 Motor České Budějovice and HC Dukla Jihlava * 2017–18 Energie Karlovy Vary and

Rytíři Kladno Rytíři Kladno (') is a Czech Republic, Czech professional ice hockey team based in the city of Kladno. They are currently a member of the Czech Extraliga. The team president and owner is Jaromír Jágr, a former National Hockey League, NHL pla ...

* 2018–19 Motor České Budějovice and

* 2019–20 Motor České Budějovice * 2020–21

* 2021–22 HC Dukla Jihlava * 2022–23 PSG Berani Zlín * 2023–24 VHK Vsetín

References

External links

Hokej.cz

Hokej iDNES.cz
{{DEFAULTSORT:1. narodni hokejova liga

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

Professional ice hockey leagues in the Czech Republic 1993 establishments in the Czech Republic Sports leagues established in 1993