HYS The Hague (Dutch: "Hijs Hockij Den Haag") is the

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

club in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Founded in 1933, the club's top team plays in the Dutch/Belgian

BeNe League The BeNe League was the highest women's football league in Belgium and the Netherlands. To increase competitiveness in their national leagues, the BeNe League was a joint cooperation between the Royal Belgian Football Association and the Royal Du ...

and competes annually in the Dutch National Championships and the

Dutch Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

tournament. The most successful hockey team in the Netherlands during the 1960s, it broke a 40-year national championship drought by winning the National championship in 2009. It has since repeated as champion in 2011, 2013 and 2018. Home games are held at de Uithof, a winter sports recreational facility in the west of the city. It has 2,050 regular seats, 160 VIP-box seats and 400 standing room spaces.

Name

"HYS" is pronounced "hice" and stands for "Haagsche IJshockey Stichting" ("Ice Hockey Club of the Hague"; when using capital letters, "Y" sometimes replaces the Dutch letter " ij"). Variations of the name have included "H.H.IJ.C. Den Haag" (Hague Hockey and Ice hockey Club) and "H.IJ.S. Hoky Den Haag". When competing from 2007-2015, its name was anglicized as "HYS The Hague". For the 2006-2007 season, the team was known as the "Calco Wolves".

History

The team was founded on April 16, 1933 as part of a three-team league (together with Tilburg and Amsterdam) called the Nederlandse IJshockey Bond. This league began play in 1934. In 1937-38 The Hague won the championship for the first time, repeating in 1938-39 and winning the Western Europe Cup. The team played all of its 1940 season in Tilburg and Amsterdam because of a lack of home arena. Dutch hockey was interrupted during the German occupation from 1941–1944, but resumed in 1945 when an arena was rebuilt in The Hague. Nederlandse IJshockey Bond set up the Eeredivisie, the top Dutch ice hockey division, in 1946. HHIJC was once again competitive, winning the Eredivise championship in 1946 and 1948. In 1947, HHIJC merged with the Penguins, another Hague team. The team was most dominant during the relaunch of the Eeredivie in the 1960s, repeating five times as champions from 1964 to 1969. The team then entered into a period of almost 40 years of decline, winning no championships and only intermittently playing in the Eredivisie from the 1980s to the early 2000s. In 1996, HHIJS merged with another Hague team, HOKY, to become the HHIJS HOKY Wolves. In 2004, the team permanently re-entered the Eredivisie, finishing in last place (1-0-3-16 in 2005-06; 3-1-0-16 in 2006-2007). In 2007-08, it dropped the "Wolves" nickname and played as "HYS The Hague", a name reminiscent of successful teams of the past. That year, it had its first winning season in the Eredivisie since 1979, with a record of 14 wins, 2 overtime wins, 2 overtime losses and 6 regular season losses, good enough for third place. In 2008-09, the team improved to second place overall with a record of 14-3-2-5, and won its first National Championship in 40 years by defeating Tilburg in the playoff finals. This would have qualified the team to participate in the 2009-2010

Champions Hockey League The Champions Hockey League is a European first-level ice hockey tournament. Launched in the 2014–15 season by 26 clubs, 6 leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament features top teams across Europe. Backgrou ...

, but the tournament was cancelled for financial reasons. Instead, the team participated in the 2009–10 IIHF Continental Cup, making it to the third stage. Since then, it has remained one of the top teams in the Netherlands, winning two additional national championships in 2011 and 2013 and winning its first Dutch Cup in the post-war era in 2011. It also won both

North Sea Cup The ''North Sea Cup'' was a short-lived hockey league that temporarily succeeded the Dutch Eredivisie from 2010-2012. It was the only professional ice hockey league in the Netherlands and the highest level of competition sanctioned by the Nederla ...

tournaments that were played, in 2011 and 2012.

Season results

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, OTW = Overtime Wins, OTL = Overtime Losses, L = Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points''

Roster

Updated February 14, 2019.

Rivals

The Eredivise currently has seven teams. Apart from HYS, there are the

Tilburg Trappers The Tilburg Trappers are a professional ice hockey club based in Tilburg, The Netherlands. They previously played in the highest level ice hockey league in the country, but have been playing in the German Oberliga Nord since the 2015-16 seaso ...

, Friesland Flyers,

Eindhoven Kemphanen Eindhoven Kemphanen is an ice hockey club in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. They played in the Dutch Cup and the Eredivisie) until season 2017-2018, the highest-level hockey division in the Netherlands. Home games are played at the IJssportcentrum Ei ...

, Herentals HYC and

Geleen Eaters Eaters Limburg (formerly known as the Geleen Smoke Eaters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Geleen, The Netherlands. They play in the BeNe League, the highest-level hockey league in the Netherlands and Belgium. Home games are played at ...

and

Dordrecht Lions The Dordrecht Lions are an ice hockey team in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top level of Dutch ice hockey. History The club was founded in 1977. They played four seasons in the Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"H ...

. Although HYS struggled throughout the early 1970s to the early 2000s, the team has consistently been a league contender since 2008, along with Tilburg Trappers and Geleen Eaters. In the 2009-2010 season, HYS came in second place in the regular season; Nijmegen was first. HYS was released into the quarter finals, but lost in the semi finals of Tilburg in 5 games (2-3). In the finals, Tilburg lost in 3 games of Nijmegen (3-0 to Nijmegen). In the 2009-2010 season, HYS lost the national Cup (an annual pre-season tournament) to Nijmegen. During

Championships

* National Championships 10 times: 1945-46; 1947–48; 1964–65; 1965–66; 1966–67; 1967–68; 1968–69; 2008–09, 2010-2011, 2012-2013, 2017-2018. * Dutch National Champions (during years that a top league did not operate) 5 times: 1937-38; 1938–39; 1952–53; 1953–54; 1954–55 * Dutch Cups Twice: 1938; 2011; 2018 * North Sea Cups Twice: 2011; 2012 * Western Europe Cup/International Cup 5 times: 1938; 1949; 1950; 1951; 1952; 1963 *Barbanson Cup once: 1949 *BeNeLeague Championship once: 2018