New Zealand Ice Hockey League
 |
|
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| No. of teams | 5 |
| Country |
 New Zealand
|
| Continent | Oceania |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Southern Stampede (4th title) |
| Most titles | Botany Swarm, Canterbury Red Devils Southern Stampede(4 titles) |
| Official website | NZ Ice Hockey League |
The NZIHL is New Zealand’s national ice hockey league. It is an amateur league that was formed in 2005 to develop the sport in New Zealand and to give the top players regular competition against each other to improve the skill level of the game domestically and make New Zealand more competitive on the international scene.
Because the NZIHL is held during the Northern Hemisphere's ice hockey offseason, many quality players travel to New Zealand and enjoy an off-season abroad while keeping in ice hockey shape. The competition is comparable to North America's lowest professional levels, impressive for a southern hemisphere country in the sport of ice hockey.
The New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation is made up of 3 affiliated regions, all of whom are represented in the New Zealand Ice Hockey League with 2 teams from Auckland, 2 teams from Southern and 1 team from Canterbury.
The NZIHL had four foundation clubs, Canterbury Red Devils, West Auckland Admirals, Southern Stampede and South Auckland Swarm. The South Auckland Swarm changed their name to the Botany Swarm in 2007 to reflect the site of their home rink.
The Dunedin Thunder joined the competition in 2008 which saw the Southern Stampede move all its home games to Queenstown.
Expansion within New Zealand is limited by the number of indoor ice rinks currently available. A notable omission from the national competition is the city of Wellington, which is New Zealand's third largest city, but does not have an ice facility. Recent proposals to build a permanent ice rink in Wellington have not yet come to fruition, despite the popularity of temporary ice rinks in the city.
There is always discussion of ice facilities being built in a variety of centres around the country and if any of these come to fruition further expansion of the NZIHL is likely.
With the increase in quality of the New Zealand league and its player base, much talk centres around a combined Oceania competition with a merger between the New Zealand and Australian leagues in one form or another. An early precursor to such a move is the establishment of the current Trans-Tasman Champions League.
NZIHL team rosters must be made up of a minimum 18 players and 2 goalies.
Each team is allowed an unlimited number of overseas imports on their roster, however there are limits to how many of these players can take the ice.
Each team can have 4 imports plus 2 assimilated players (15 months playing in NZ with unlimited ITC). Assimilated players are expected to stay in New Zealand long term and either work towards becoming an Ice Black or participate in coaching junior teams. Australian players are classed as local players and import limits do not apply.
The NZIHL season has developed and lengthened over time and currently consists of a home and away structure where all teams play each other 4 times, twice at home and twice away. The two top seeded teams after the regular season then contest a 3-match Grand Final Series with the first match held at the second-place finishers home rink and the remaining two matches held at the minor premiers home rink the following week.
...
Wikipedia