Serbia: Serbian Hockey League

loppa*

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Hello. Wasn't sure where to post this so I figured may as well post it here.


Basically... there actually is a hockey league in Serbia. (who knew?!)


Their season starts soon with the following teams taking part... Partizan, Beostar, Vitez, Crvena zvezda & Tisa Volan

Apparently the first four are located in Belgrade, and the last one in Hungary. Last season the serbian under 21 team (or something like that) was in the league. Also, a team from Subotica and Novi Sad were in the league. Those three teams are not going to be in the league this year. The serbian hockey federation's website says that novi sad and subotica's teams were having difficulties starting on time and attending away games, so to not risk disrupting the schedule (which has been extremely disrupted the last few years), they are not going to participate this season. Too bad for them.

The league is basically a "belgrade league", or stew, with some hungarian flavor on top. ^^
 

EvilDead

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I remember reading something on the internet about Ice Hockey in Serbia and that the teams play in outdoor rinks. Just out of curiosity, does Serbia have any indoor rinks?
 

loppa*

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I remember reading something on the internet about Ice Hockey in Serbia and that the teams play in outdoor rinks. Just out of curiosity, does Serbia have any indoor rinks?

There is only one outdoor rink for hockey - in the northern town called Subotica. In recent years there have been some serious plans to put a roof on that thing.

Novi Sad has one or two indoor arenas. One is an arena, and the other one is, well, I think an ice surface for skating.

Belgrade has two rinks... many cities/towns have outdoor rinks, but they are not used for hockey, just for some skating for fun in the winter months...
 

EvilDead

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There is only one outdoor rink for hockey - in the northern town called Subotica. In recent years there have been some serious plans to put a roof on that thing.

Novi Sad has one or two indoor arenas. One is an arena, and the other one is, well, I think an ice surface for skating.

Belgrade has two rinks... many cities/towns have outdoor rinks, but they are not used for hockey, just for some skating for fun in the winter months...

Interesting. So what teams are there in Serbia for hockey? Last I read, there were four teams. Are there any new teams that are sprouting up?
 

loppa*

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Interesting. So what teams are there in Serbia for hockey? Last I read, there were four teams. Are there any new teams that are sprouting up?

Going north to south...

There is HK Spartak in Subotica. They play on the open arena. They don't play every season in the league.

In Novi Sad, there was historically the team called HK Vojvodina. They won like seven or something like that serbian championships in a row from the mid 1990s to the early 2000s.
After the bombing of Yugoslavia, in 1999, civilian infrastructure was so hurt in Belgrade that hockey was shut down in Belgrade for some time. So, a new team formed in Novi Sad, called HK Novi Sad. When the global financial crisis hit (the 2007 one to be precise), that team folded. Its main sponsor was a criminal banker and he went to jail because of illegal transactions or things that were very shady. Shortly afterwards HK Vojvodina folded also - and by the way, a fire destroyed all their equipment actually. Another team, HK NS Stars sprung up however. For a while they only had some teams for kids, nothing on the senior level. So that there would be some senior hockey they had a senior team, and well, they're not participating this season. So, it looks bleak.

That leaves Belgrade.

Historically there were only three teams in Belgrade. Partizan, Crvena Zvezda (red star), and OHK. OHK folded in the early 1970s if I remember correctly. Partizan and Zvezda dominate most sports in serbia. They have this disguisting moronic rivalry, where fans of both teams like complete idiots like to fight one another or something like that. It's sickening. And it really showed on the serbian hockey forum (back when it existed), when supports of one team openly went out of their way to harass those who do not share their opinions, or whom they deem to be supporting the other team. Really scary stuff.

In the mid 1990s a team HK Tas appeared. But they disappeared shortly thereafter, and to this day they exist but only have junior teams.

There was one more team, which popped up in the mid 2000s... HK Beostar. They have their own Arena actually, in the area called New Belgrade. They were in the league for a bit, then they left when the financial crisis came, and had only junior teams, and then they appeared back last season, and are around this season too. I wonder how they got two imports (a ukrainianor russian and a czech guy), I suspect they will win the season as they have those two guys.

Finally there is HK Vitez. They appeared on the senior arena more recently. Basically, after the financial problems, the league went to *****. Partizan left it to play in the slo-hokej league, and in serbia itself the domestic league got worse and worse. Games being delayed became the typical thing, and it got so bad that one season almost no games were played. HK Vitez formed because some players were just pissed off because they did not have an opportunity to play. Imagine hockey in serbia, especially belgrade, being an oligopoly where partizan and zvezda are in cohoots with one another. These two bullies came together and prevented HK Vitez from playing because they wouldn't let their players sign with them. In Serbia there is no Free Agent as there is in say the NHL. Basically, a player is tied to their team unless if they take their papers away, and well, one season partizan and zvezda preferred that they do not give those papers, so that the there will not be a third senior team in belgrade. Disgusting, really, but, the following season HK Vitez appeared, and so they exist also.

So um, yeah, that's it in a nutshell. I don't think there are any plans for anything else to happen as of late, no expansion no new arenas, no nothing. It would be a nice improvement to see the outdoor rink in subotica getting covered, as then they will probably be able to play regularily. And hopefully novi sad can scrap up some funds or something to play also. As some guy said, the biggest problem there is in terms of organization, and so, the issue is that they are not organized well. It can get frustrating.




On a side note - as of last season, a hungarian team is playing in the league, which is interesting. It's kinda cool. :)
 
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BladesofSTEELwFIRE

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I've noticed Serbians are taller than the average European. There must be a lot of a tall hockey players in this league.
 

loppa*

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How has the Serbian Hockey League season gone this year?

It was odd, in the sense that enough games were played. Some teams delayed playing some games because not all their players were ready. In the end it was a tight race for the play off spot between the lower end teams. What I dislike is that some of the teams brought in "imports" at almost the end of the short season. But, I am surprised that they were as organized as they were to play as many games as they did.

Partizan actually lost during the regular season... apparently the team Beostar was able to get some foreign imports, I think that's why... heh it helps Beostar that they have their own arena.

The season is posted here: https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Хокејашка_лига_Србије_2014/15.


I've noticed Serbians are taller than the average European. There must be a lot of a tall hockey players in this league.

Well, some examples...

Partizan: http://www.eliteprospects.com/team.php?team=4851&year0=2015&status=
Vitez: http://www.eliteprospects.com/team.php?team=11310&year0=2015&status=
Beostar: http://www.eliteprospects.com/team.php?team=4164&year0=2014&status=
Crvena Zvezda: http://www.eliteprospects.com/team.php?team=2393&year0=2015&status=
 
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EvilDead

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Any new news out of the Serbian Leagues? Also, as a side note, I hear that ice hockey is growing (albeit at a slow pace) in near by Bosnia. Despite the problems of the 90's that created friction between Serbia and Bosnia; is there any chance that some teams (if there are any) from nearby Bosnia, or any of the nearby Balkan states for that matter, would be interested in and joining the Serbian league?
 

Dueling Banjos

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KHK Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) from Belgrade is playing in a league with 3 Slovenian and 3 Croatian clubs this year.
 

HungryFrank

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this is the league (Slovenian hockey federation website, on slovenian language, but it's basically a list of clubs):
http://hokej.si/statistika/?stat_mod=tekmovanje&stat_s=1435910446&stat_t=1436436840&

Crvena Zvezda (alongside three croatian clubs and three slovenian) is in group A, this group will have 12 rounds and it will end in december after which clubs will focus on their domestic competitions.
It starts today, Crvena Zvezda has postponed their match in Maribor (don't know why, but it's a logistics problem on behalf of CZ), problems in this concept emerge before the first round so future of this competition doesn't seem bright.
 

loppa*

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Any new news out of the Serbian Leagues?

Nope. Even their facebook looks kinda dead... https://www.facebook.com/savez.hokeja.na.ledu.srbije
I will ask some guy though, about what is going on.


Also, as a side note, I hear that ice hockey is growing (albeit at a slow pace) in near by Bosnia. Despite the problems of the 90's that created friction between Serbia and Bosnia; is there any chance that some teams (if there are any) from nearby Bosnia, or any of the nearby Balkan states for that matter, would be interested in and joining the Serbian league?

Bosnia is the rock pit bottom of hockey, I think. They got some sort of league organized these last few years. There are a few teams in it, but they are all in based in Sarajevo. That's the only place in Bosnia where hockey is played. Their league does not allow checking as far as I remember. In the past there was some discussion for the national B&H team to join the Serbian league, but I guess that didn't happen. Also, if I am not mistaken, their national junior team did play in one of the junior leagues of Serbia... u16 or something I think?





this is the league (Slovenian hockey federation website, on slovenian language, but it's basically a list of clubs):
http://hokej.si/statistika/?stat_mod=tekmovanje&stat_s=1435910446&stat_t=1436436840&

Crvena Zvezda (alongside three croatian clubs and three slovenian) is in group A, this group will have 12 rounds and it will end in december after which clubs will focus on their domestic competitions.
It starts today, Crvena Zvezda has postponed their match in Maribor (don't know why, but it's a logistics problem on behalf of CZ), problems in this concept emerge before the first round so future of this competition doesn't seem bright.

Is this a new panonian league? It should have some name I would think?

Some serbian clubs have difficulty in terms of organization, so a postponed game does not surprise me. There might be more of those also. :/ Heck, I don't know if they even have ice in Belgrade now - they might not!
 

HungryFrank

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Bosnia is the rock pit bottom of hockey, I think. They got some sort of league organized these last few years. There are a few teams in it, but they are all in based in Sarajevo. That's the only place in Bosnia where hockey is played. Their league does not allow checking as far as I remember. In the past there was some discussion for the national B&H team to join the Serbian league, but I guess that didn't happen. Also, if I am not mistaken, their national junior team did play in one of the junior leagues of Serbia... u16 or something I think?

Bosnian U16 team played in European rookie cup (more like cup of "EBEL nations")
results of bosnian team were: http://www.rookiecup.eu/fileadmin/_processed_/csm_Results_Kaposvar_4_2312c3c5cf.jpg
goal difference 7:105 in 3 matches pretty much explains everything.

Is this a new panonian league? It should have some name I would think?

Some serbian clubs have difficulty in terms of organization, so a postponed game does not surprise me. There might be more of those also. :/ Heck, I don't know if they even have ice in Belgrade now - they might not!

I don't believe that this league will last, this may be an only edition, problems already started.
There is another thing I would like to know, why don't serbian clubs play in Hungarian competitions? It's much closer, junior hockey is pretty much the same as in Slovenia, while Hungarian pro or semi-pro leagues are much better then slovenian.
 

loppa*

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I don't believe that this league will last, this may be an only edition, problems already started.
There is another thing I would like to know, why don't serbian clubs play in Hungarian competitions? It's much closer, junior hockey is pretty much the same as in Slovenia, while Hungarian pro or semi-pro leagues are much better then slovenian.

After the three seasons that Slohokej liga existed, Partizan wanted to join the Hungarian MOL liga. They were not able to - the arena simply was not up to par.

The serbian hockey league just posted something...

Tokom protekle nedelje u ledenoj dvorani "Pionir" pripremana je ledena ploča za novu sezonu, a tokom vikenda krenuli su i prvi treninzi. HokejaÅ¡ka sezona u Srbiji zvanično počinje u petak, 2. oktobra kada u naÅ¡oj najvećoj dvorani počinje prva runda Kontinental kupa za 2016. godinu na kojem će Srbiju predstavljati Hokej klub Partizan. ViÅ¡e o tom događaju u danima koji su pred nama...

[translation]During the past week (or sunday), in the ice arena "Pionir", the ice surface is being prepared for the new season, and during the weekend the first practices began. The hockey season in serbia officially begins on Friday, 2nd of October, when in our biggest arena the first round of the continental cup for 2016 starts, in which Serbia will be represented by the hockey club Partizan. More about that event will be posted in the upcoming days...[/translation]


So there you have it - they start getting ice in late september. That's really late.






A contact of mine updated me on some other situations...

Beostar will not have a senior squad this upcoming season. Oh well.
Zvezda and Partizan both will have a loaded squad - probably foreigners on each squad.

I am not sure if it will be much of a league with only three teams...
 

GX

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A small interview with Ivan Glavonjič on Latvian media (he and Rankovič have joined HASC of Latvian league):

He says that his agent found the club in Latvian league, that he sees it as a first step in his road/aim/dream of playing in more competitive and stronger leagues.

He also stated that Serbian league is not that competitive and that it isn't followed by any relevant media. He feels sad about it as, according to Glavonjič, there are some very talented players in Serbian league that aren't noticed, that's it's very hard to get noticed, while playing in Serbia.

http://sportacentrs.com/hokejs/03102015-serbs_latvijas_hokeja_komandu_atrada_agen
 

EvilDead

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After the three seasons that Slohokej liga existed, Partizan wanted to join the Hungarian MOL liga. They were not able to - the arena simply was not up to par.

What are the arena standards for MOL Liga?
 

HungryFrank

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interesting little team has been put up for Slovenian championship by Crvena Zvezda. There are 2 russians, slovak and canadian defenders + young serbian players. Will be interesting to see them perform in this league with such a diverse roster.
They play away at KHL Zagreb tomorrow.
 

loppa*

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interesting little team has been put up for Slovenian championship by Crvena Zvezda. There are 2 russians, slovak and canadian defenders + young serbian players. Will be interesting to see them perform in this league with such a diverse roster.
They play away at KHL Zagreb tomorrow.

I was not even aware of this! It makes me wonder what will Partizan have in terms of a roster and where they will play...

On Zvezda's website they say this: (btw, is this where you found the team roster or did you find it somewhere else?)


SLO LIGA: Seniori Crvene Zvezde protiv KHL Zagreb u četvrtak 15.10.2015. u Zagrebu

U četvrtak 15.10.2015. u dvorani Velesajam u Zagrebu odigraće se utakmica između crveno belih i KHL Zagreb u sklopu Slo lige. Posle viÅ¡e godina Crvena zvezda se učeÅ¡ćem u Slo ligi vraća na internacionalnu scenu. Zvezda će se predstaviti u mladom sastavu sa prosekom godina dvadeset i jedna. Za ovu priliku trener Nenad Milinković je odabrao sledeće igrače: Anić Ivan, Bjelogrlić UroÅ¡, Crnogorac Dominik, Gačić Stefan, Ignjatović Božidar Milan, Markelov Dmitry, MikuÅ¡ Marian, Novaković UgljeÅ¡a, Novaković Petar, Pajević Filip, Paunović SiniÅ¡a, Popravka Pavel, SabadoÅ¡ Robert, Stepanović Petar, Tadić Marko, Vukićević Luka, Živić Vladimir, Zwick Andrej i tri rezervna igrača: Kerezović Nikola, Požar Stefan i Nikolić MiloÅ¡. Zvezda će nastupiti u belim dresovima. Utakmica počinje u 18:30h.

Poželimo im sreću u igri i pobedu!



Nothing on there that has not been said before, but the roster is I guess...

Anić Ivan
Bjelogrlić UroÅ¡
Crnogorac Dominik
Gačić Stefan
Ignjatović Božidar Milan
Markelov Dmitry
Mikuš Marian
Novaković UgljeÅ¡a
Novaković Petar
Pajević Filip
Paunović SiniÅ¡a
Popravka Pavel
Sabadoš Robert
Stepanović Petar
Tadić Marko
Vukićević Luka
Živić Vladimir
Zwick Andrej

Reserve players
Kerezović Nikola
Požar Stefan
Nikolić MiloÅ¡


Mikus played for Zvezda last season... he also played in Slovakia. http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=157390
Popravko previously played for Partizan I think... he plays on the Serbian national team, even though he's Russian.


On the team's website the logo says "SKHL Crvena Zvezda"... I wonder what SKHL means... I am guessing the previous team went bankrupt so they changed the name and re-registered the team. lol
 

loppa*

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Crvena zvezda beat khl zagreb by 7:4, and Triglav by 5:3... I can see them winning this league like Partizan won Slohokej in the past... but, of course, the best Slovenian players/teams are not in this league.

Still no news of Partizan.



Some info that someone gave to me, regarding the serbian league...

- Vitez is screwed by the other teams basically... they get the least amount of ice time to practice(by a long shot), and they get the worst possible times too. For example, Vitez gets about 9 hours of free ice time, whereas Zvezda/Partizan get 90. That's how it work when the federation is dominated by the Partizan organization.
- Beostar gets some free ice time in the main arena, but resells those time slots to partizan.
- League will probably have 12 games
- Beostar will not have a senior team
- Novi Sad may very well be back in the league
- some Hungarian team might be back also
 

HungryFrank

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Crvena zvezda beat khl zagreb by 7:4, and Triglav by 5:3... I can see them winning this league like Partizan won Slohokej in the past... but, of course, the best Slovenian players/teams are not in this league.

Still no news of Partizan.

Crvena zvezda definitely took this league seriously, which is not the case in other teams so they probably will win the league. Mladost Zg is only other team that is (kind of) serious. (only Croatian club that tried something with it's senior squad).
Slovenian clubs have talented youth players, and rarely some over-23 players, Zagreb is Croatian version of that and Medveščak 2 is a joke. :D
So i believe that they will win the league.

About Partizan,
they were playing (hosting) in Continental Cup round 1: http://www.iihf.com/competition/560/group-a/
they finished third behind CSKA Sofia and Z-something Istanbul (which is rather embarrassing, since Serbian team never lost to Turkish hockey team). Since two higher placed teams have dropped out (finances), they went to second round in Tychy (Poland) and lost the first match 26:0.
http://www.iihf.com/competition/562/group-c/
 

loppa*

Guest
Crvena zvezda definitely took this league seriously, which is not the case in other teams so they probably will win the league. Mladost Zg is only other team that is (kind of) serious. (only Croatian club that tried something with it's senior squad).
Slovenian clubs have talented youth players, and rarely some over-23 players, Zagreb is Croatian version of that and Medveščak 2 is a joke. :D
So i believe that they will win the league.

About Partizan,
they were playing (hosting) in Continental Cup round 1: http://www.iihf.com/competition/560/group-a/
they finished third behind CSKA Sofia and Z-something Istanbul (which is rather embarrassing, since Serbian team never lost to Turkish hockey team). Since two higher placed teams have dropped out (finances), they went to second round in Tychy (Poland) and lost the first match 26:0.
http://www.iihf.com/competition/562/group-c/

I was about to post that about Partizan. I noticed it like 10 minutes ago, and I must say, it was a long time since I saw a 26-0 loss lol.
That being said, such a score is not surprising considering that they are completely different levels...

Regarding Zvezda... I would not say that they are the only ones taking the Slovenian league seriously... but rather that their owner/sponsor/boss actually decided to put some money into the team after a very long time of not putting much money into anything.
This Slovenian league is starting to turn into a sort of Yugoslavian league I guess?
 

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