The or WJIHL is the premier women's

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league in

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. Officially nicknamed the Smile Japan League, it is also known as the Smile League (). The league was founded in 2012 by the

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and is contested in addition to the All-Japan Women's Ice Hockey Championship tournament. Twelve teams participated in the 2023–24 season, of which eight were based in the northern island-province of

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, two in the

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, and two were

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teams comprising youth players from across Japan. The league’s most successful team, the Seibu Princess Rabbits, won the first eight league titles and have been WJIHL Champions a total of nine times. DK Peregrine claimed second place in seven of the first eight league finals and won the league championship in 2021. Daishin IHC are the only other team to have played in the finals, finishing second in 2014 and winning their first league title in 2023.

History

2012–13 season

The first season of the JWIHL, 2012–13, was played in two stages: a placement tournament and a final tournament. In the first stage, held during 5 to 8 October 2012, the ten participating teams were divided into two groups of five and each group played a

single round-robin A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

of ten games. The top two teams from each group and the third ranked team with the higher point total from the first stage qualified for the top league and the remaining five teams competed in the lower league of the second stage tournament. The second stage was also played as a single round-robin and was held during 22 to 25 November 2012. The first champions of the WJIHL were the Seibu Princess Rabbits.

Teams

2023–24 season

:Sources: JIHF ;Team name history * Bears :→ 1979–1993: Kushiro Bears :→ 1993–2007: Rokkatei Bears :→ 2007–2012: Kamori Kanko Bears :→ 2012–present: Kushiro Bears * Mikage Gretz :→ 1987–2008: Mikage Gretz :→ 2008–2018: Full-time System Mikage Gretz (FTS Mikage Gretz) :→ 2018–present: Takasu Clinic Mikage Gretz (TC Mikage Gretz) * Obihiro Ladies *→ 2003–2019: Obihiro Ladies :→ 2019–2023: Obihiro Cranes Ladies :→ 2023–present: Tokachi Obihiro Ladies * Peregrine :→ 1977–1991: Tomakomai Peregrine :→ 1991–2010: Iwakura Peregrine :→ 2010–2015: Mitsuboshi Daito Peregrine (MD Peregrine) :→ 2015–present: Douro Kensetsu Peregrine (DK Peregrine) * Princess Rabbits :→ 1974–1992: Kokudo Keikaku WIHC :→ 1992–2006: Kokudo Ladies :→ 2006–present: SEIBU Princess Rabbits

Past participants

* Daishin B (Kushiro, Hokkaido) * Daito Kaihatsu Nexus/Tomakomai Nexus (Tomakomai, Hokkaido) * Ganba X Maria Jaspers * (

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Aomori , officially Aomori City (, ), is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 264,945 in 136,781 households, and a population density of 321 people per squa ...

) * Makomanai Ladies Ice Hockey Club (Sapporo, Hokkaido) * Queen Bears (Nishitokyo, Tokyo)

Champions

All-time medal count

References

External links

Official website
of the

* League information and statistics fro
EliteProspects.com
{{Women's Ice Hockey Leagues, state=collapsed Ice hockey competitions in Japan Women's ice hockey leagues in Asia Women's ice hockey in Japan Women's Japan Ice Hockey League Women's sports leagues in Japan