The Croatian Ice Hockey League is the top

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 ...

league in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

. The league is operated by the

Croatian Ice Hockey Federation The Croatian Ice Hockey Federation ( hr, Hrvatski savez hokeja na ledu, HSHL) is the governing body of ice hockey in Croatia. The Croatian Ice Hockey Federation was established on November 9, 1935 in Zagreb. It has been a member of IIHF since May ...

History

The league was formed in 1991 with the dissolution of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

. Until then, Croatian teams played in the

Yugoslav Ice Hockey League The Yugoslav Ice Hockey League was the top ice hockey league in the old Yugoslavia. In 1939, Yugoslavia became a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. That year also, the country held its first national championship, with Ilirija e ...

. The hockey teams Mladost and Medveščak were playing in the first division, while

Sisak Sisak (; hu, Sziszek ; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavin ...

and

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

were playing in the second division of the Yugoslav league. The former two were much stronger, but as financing went away their best players did not stay with the clubs. This resulted in a more balanced competition, in which KHL Zagreb went on to win three times in a row. Medveščak however managed to remerge as the country's dominant team, as it won the competition for eleven straight seasons. Due to the very short duration of the season, Croatian teams often play in other leagues, such as the Slohokej League,

Erste Bank Eishockey Liga The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria, it currently f ...

and the now defunct

Interliga The InterLiga was a football competition from 2004 to 2010 between Mexican clubs to determine qualifying spots for that country in South America's premier club competition, the Copa Libertadores. Prior to the 2004 Copa Libertadores, Mexican cl ...

and

Panonian League The Panonian League ( Croatian and Serbian: Panonska Liga, Панонска Лига) was one of the multinational ice hockey leagues in Europe. The league was established in 2002 and originally comprised teams from Hungary, Romania and Croatia. ...

. Recently, the league expanded to five teams with the addition of KHL Munje from Zagreb.

Teams

Champions

External links

* {{Ice hockey in Croatia

Croatian Ice Hockey League The Croatian Ice Hockey League is the top ice hockey league in Croatia. The league is operated by the Croatian Ice Hockey Federation. History The league was formed in 1991 with the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Until then, Croatian teams played in ...

Top tier ice hockey leagues in Europe 1