The Seibu Princess Rabbits () are an amateur

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 ...

team in the Women's Japan Ice Hockey League and All-Japan Women's Ice Hockey Championship. They are based in Nishitōkyō, a city in the western Tōkyō Metropolis, and play at the Higashi-Fushimi Ice Arena.

History

The team was founded in 1974 as Kokudo Keikaku (). It was one of the first women's ice hockey clubs to be created in Japan, establishing itself less than one year after Isetan, the officially recognized first women's team in Japan. Throughout the mid-1970s, Kokudo Keikaku regularly participated in self-organized matches against Isetan and the Mandai Memorial Club (), the other women's teams in the region. In 1978, an unofficial women's ice hockey national championship was independently created by a small number of teams from

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

and the Tokyo Metropolis. Kokudo Keikaku was one of the founding members of the unofficial championship and participated in every tournament during 1978 to 1982. In 1982, the Japan Ice Hockey Federation sanctioned the tournament for the first time and it has been played as the official All-Japan Women's Ice Hockey Championship ever since. For the following three decades, the All-Japan Championship was the only top level women's ice hockey tournament in Japan. In practice, this meant that Kokudo Keikaku played just three or four games of record during the three day tournament each season and generally played less than ten games total per season, including friendlies organized between other All-Japan Championship team or with teams outside of Japan. The team first claimed the title of Japanese Champion at the third All-Japan Championship, in 1984, and were contenders throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, winning six Championships during 1984 to 1993. In 1993, the team was renamed as the Kokudo Ladies Ice Hockey Club (). The name change inadvertently marked the beginning of a 15-year All-Japan Championship victory drought, which persisted through a second name change in 2006. Kokudo Ladies were renamed as Seibu Princess Rabbits in 2006, when the

Seibu Group is a Japanese multinational holding company that primarily owns Seibu Railway, Prince Hotels, and Seibu Bus and its subsidiaries, which are collectively known as the . In total, fifty-three companies across the world are affiliated with the Sei ...

became the team's primary sponsor. The new name was adapted as the women's counterpart to the Seibu Prince Rabbits, an Asia League team founded in 1972, which were named after Seibu Group and Seibu Group's principal holding,

Prince Hotels The is the name of a hotel chain company headquartered in Toshima-ku, Tokyo, Japan. It is a subsidiary of Seibu Holdings, Inc. Together with Seibu Railway, Prince Hotels is the core company of Seibu Group. Overview During the Allied occupa ...

Season-by-season results

This is a list of all seasons completed by Seibu Princess Rabbits since the creation of the WJIHL in 2012. Note: Finish = Rank at end of regular season; GP =

Games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

, W = Wins (3 points), OTW = Overtime wins (2 points), OTL = Overtime losses (1 point), L = Losses, GF =

Goals for The following are statistics commonly tracked in ice hockey. Team statistics * STK – winning or losing streak * GD – ''Goal Difference'' (used as standings tie breaker) * GP – ''Games played'' – Number of games the team has played * W ...

, GA = Goals against, Pts =

Points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

, Top scorer:

( Goals+ Assists)

Players and personnel

2021–22 roster

Coaching staff and team personnel * Head coach: * Assistant coach: * Assistant coach: * Player-coach: * Player-coach: * Team manager:

Team honours

Japanese Championship

All-Japan Women's Ice Hockey Championship * Champions ''(13)'': 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2024 * Runners-up ''(15)'': 1985, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 * Third Place ''(7)'': 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2014, 2021 Women's Japan Ice Hockey League * Champions ''(9)'': 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2019–20, 2023–24 * Runners-up ''(1)'': 2020–21 * Third Place ''(1)'': 2022–23

References

{{reflist Women's ice hockey in Japan Ice hockey teams in Japan Seibu Princess Rabbits