I think the Central Hockey League will fall into that third tier.
It doesn't exist anymore, the league was down to too few teams so it folded and the remaining teams joined the ECHL
This is how I view the leagues:
KHL
SHL
AHL
Liiga
Swiss NLA
Czech Extraliga
Germany DEL
Sweden Allsvenskan
VHL
ECHL
Austria EBEL
Slovak Extraliga
Denmark Metal Ligaen
Norway GET Ligaen
France Ligue Magnus
Italy Serie A
UK EIHL
Finland Mestis
Germany DEL 2
Swiss NLB
Kazakhstan
Asia League
Czech 1. Liga
Beneliga
Poland
Hungary MOL Liga
Belarus
Sweden Division 1
Latvia
Slovak 1. Liga
Finland Suomi Sarja
UK EPIHL
Southern Professional Hockey League
Germany Oberliga
Czech 2. Liga
Romania
Don't know enough about any others to rank them
I have no idea why people continue to rank DEL as high as this. It's simply not as good as 5 or 10 years ago. It's perhaps a bit better than EBEL and Slovak Extra, but certainly not better than Allsvenskan. You can't just rank it in one tier with Liiga or NLA, sorry.
KHL, AHL, SHL, Liiga, NLA, the Czech League, Allsvenskan, ECHL, and VHL. Some of the other NA leagues like the SPHL, Federal League and LNAH. Those are the only leagues I know anything about. I have no idea what the hockey is like in the Asian League or in Latvia or Poland or whatever.
I don't really either, I got some friends who have been all over playing and I think its safe to say that the level is pretty low.
I think in general, the strongest hockey nations leagues holds somewhat of a high level in many areas like no matter how deep into the system you go. If you go to top leagues outside the top 8-10 maybe, you get maybe more talent than in lower levels elsewhere but much worse managed players and teams.
In Sweden for example, there is an endless amount of "decent" hockey players by any standards. In the sense that if like Mike Babcock went to coach a tier 4 team in Sweden, he could like say that he want his team to do this and that and he would probably be pretty pleased with how they played. You know, he would find that he coached many smart and well schooled hockey players. Albeit that many in terms of raw talent was very far from being standouts even if you look at much smaller groups, and others might be more talented but much less equipped to do something with that talent. If Babcock went to like a top league outside the big nations, he would get some mercenaries that have issues all over and he would probably find them pretty uncoachable at first at least...
Hence its pretty hard to play in these leagues. You just don't hit the ice in the LNAH or 3rd Tier division in Sweden and score 30 pts in 15 games.
Finland Suomi Sarja
UK EPIHL
Southern Professional Hockey League
Germany Oberliga
Czech 2. Liga
Romania
Don't know enough about any others to rank them
Shesterkin pitching another shut out after 2 periods s far.
Is the NIHL below the UK EPIHL? I was living in London last year and caught an NIHL game, lol. There was this guy Jakub Klima that got like 5 goals for the London team and pretty much embarrassed the other team all night. Looked him up to see where he came from and he couldn't even hack it in Czech 2 Liga, so I'm assuming NIHL would be below any league on your list.
Yes, the EPIHL is significantly better than the NIHL. Last season when a team dropped out of the EPIHL to add extra fixtures they included some of the best NIHL teams in a cup competition. The EPIHL teams played against them with 2 foreigners instead of the usual 4 and still won nearly every game comfortably. I actually play in the NIHL myself, but in the South Division 2, so a level below what you watched which would have been South Division 1. Anything below what I play is considered beer league or recreational hockey.
Interesting info, thanks! Good luck to you and your team!
michigan BU is on SNY at 730 tonight. idk if boo is playing.
Yes, the EPIHL is significantly better than the NIHL. Last season when a team dropped out of the EPIHL to add extra fixtures they included some of the best NIHL teams in a cup competition. The EPIHL teams played against them with 2 foreigners instead of the usual 4 and still won nearly every game comfortably. I actually play in the NIHL myself, but in the South Division 2, so a level below what you watched which would have been South Division 1. Anything below what I play is considered beer league or recreational hockey.