Plenty of Nothing

2020 Women's Hockey Champions

In 2019 Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays jumped from the collapsed CWHL to the Russian Women's Hockey League, and on March 11th they won the playoffs. Source.

Other completed championships:

European Women's Hockey League: KMH Budapest

National championships that have been cancelled:

Usports, NCAA, Finland, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France

National championships that have been postponed:

SDHL, NWHL, Italy

2019-20 Vanke Rays roster:

Player                      Nationality          2018-19 club

Siye He                    Chinese                

Kimberley Newell     Canadian           Vanke Rays

Noora Räty              Finnish                Vanke Rays

Megan Bozek          American            Markham Thunder

Taylor Flaherty        American            

Zhixin Liu                Chinese               Vanke Rays

Xueting Qi               Chinese             

Kaitlin Tse               Canadian            

Shuang Zhang        Chinese              

Leah Lum                Canadian            Vanke Rays

Alex Carpenter        American            Vanke Rays

Emily Costales        Canadian            

Cui Huo                   Chinese

Claudia Kepler        American             HV71

Rebekah Kolstad    American            

Yufei Liu                  Chinese              

Rachel Llanes         American             Vanke Rays

Amy Menke             American            Minnesota Whitecaps

Hannah Miller          Canadian            Vanke Rays

Yunlin Pi                  Chinese

Liang Tang              Chinese

Jessica Wong         Canadian             Vanke Rays

Maddie Woo           American             Vanke Rays

Liying Yang             Chinese              

Melanie Jue            American             Vanke Rays

Source: Eurohockey.com

39th All Japan Women's Ice Hockey Championship

Vortex won Group B last year. Source.

The 39th All Japan Women's Ice Hockey Championship, which was to have taken place March 12th to 15th, has been cancelled due to the COVID19 virus.

The eight participants were: Daishin, Obihiro Cranes Ladies, Douru Kensetsu Peregrin, Kushiro Bears, Takashi Clinic Mikage Gretz, Toyota Cygnus, Seibu Princess Rabbits and Vortex Sapporo.

I'm posting this instead of deleting it because I didn't want to waste this picture of Sapporo Vortex's sharp uniform.

The 2020 IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship, which would have begun in Nova Scotia in a couple of weeks, is also cancelled. The Japanese women's team were in Group B and were scheduled to play their games in Truro.

Hamburg Crocodiles versus Tilburg Trappers

Former Ottawa Senator Christoph Schubert finished his playing career with Hamburg Crocodiles. Source.

Canadians currently playing for Hamburg: Chase Witala and Jordan Draper.

Tilburg have one more game against Leipzig and then the regular season is done and the playoffs are next. I'll write one blog post for each playoff series that Tilburg are in.

[Crocodiles win 3 - 1.]

[Tilburg Trappers were scheduled to meet Selber Wölfe, the eighth-place finisher in the Oberliga Süd, in the eighth-finals, but the playoffs were cancelled on March 11 because of the coronavirus.]

Tilburg Trappers versus Hannover Scorpions

Hannover Scorpions, German Champions 2010. Source.

Tilburg Trappers host Hannover Scorpions, the only club in the 2019-20 Oberliga Nord to have been Deutscher Meister.

Hannover Scorpions currently have four Canadians on their roster: Kevin Miller, Julien Pelletier, Mike Robinson and Mario Valery-Trabucco.

The top-tier Deutsche Eishockey Liga has been relatively free from churn over the past decade. It has had the same number of clubs (14) since 2010 and has operated as a closed shop without relegation or promotion except for cases of financial insolvency. Hannover Scorpions dropped out in 2012, and were replaced by Schwenninger Wild Wings. Hamburg Freezers left in 2016 to be replaced by Fischtown Pinguins.

DEL2 started in 2013 with 12 teams, expanded to 14 the next year, and has maintained that number each year since. Nine of the original 12 are still in it.

The Oberliga is in pretty constant flux. Oberliga Ost, Nord and West were amalgamated in 2015 to make a division of sixteen clubs called Oberliga Nord. Since then that number has risen to eighteen and then been whittled down to twelve.

[Scorpions win 5 - 0.]

Hockey at SMU, 1980-81

Hockey on the frozen football field, Saint Mary's, 1980-81. Source.

Tilburg Trappers versus Herner EV

Source.

Now we're talking. Tilburg Trappers and Herner EV occupy the top two positions in the league. If Tilburg win this one they clinch first place.

Herne have handed Tilburg two of their four losses this season. Erfurt and Rostock got the other two upsets. Games between Herne and Tilburg:

2019/10/11    Herner EV 4 - 3 Tilburg Trappers

2019/11/15    Tilburg Trappers 6 - 3 Herner EV

2019/12/22    Herner EV 7 - 2 Tilburg Trappers

Herner Eissport-Verein came to be through the merger of two clubs in 2001. They reorganized in 2007 as part of their promotion effort and got into the Oberliga in 2008. In 2016-17 they finished first in the Oberliga Nord. They play at Hannibal-Arena, which can accommodate 3,700 spectators. Three teams in DEL2 have smaller rinks.

Herne is another of those Rhein-Ruhr cities that come in boxes of twelve. It's known as Die Goldene Stadt and coincidentally is the home town of Gert Fröbe, who played Bond villain Auric Goldfinger.

Canadian Patrick Asselin plays for Herner EV.

[Tilburg win 7 - 1 and secure the Oberliga Nord title.]

Saale Bulls Halle versus Tilburg Trappers

Source.

Saale Bulls Halle come from Halle an der Saale in Saxony-Anhalt in the former GDR. It's important to mention the Saale because there's a Halle in Hesse too.

The Bulls play at the Sparkassen-Eisdom, which can accommodate 1500 to 2500 spectators.

The Halle roster includes Canadians Mark Heatley, Kyle Helms and Tyler Mosienko. Tyler Mosienko is the grandson of Hall of Famer Bill Mosienko, and probably sick of hearing about it.

Tilburg hold first place. Halle are seventh.

[Tilburg score five in the third period to win 5 - 3.]

Asahi Hockey Team 1919-20

Source.

Rostock Piranhas versus Tilburg Trappers

Advertisements in the Eishalle. Source.

Tilburg Trappers visit Rostock Pirahas at the 2000-seat Eishalle Rostock on the Baltic coast. The Trappers are in first place in the Oberliga Nord; the Piranhas are ninth.

Canadian Chris Stanley plays for Rostock.

The institutional history of Rostock Piranhas is a good example of how things often go in German sport:

1953    BSG Motor Rostock was founded.

1954    BSG Motor Rostock was taken over by SG Dynamo Rostock.

1956    SC Empor Rostock was founded.

1962    SC Empor Rostock took over SG Dynamo Rostock.

1970    SC Empor Rostock was dissolved and reestablished as VSG Rostock.

1972    VSG Rostock were taken over by BSG Chemie 70 Rostock.

1985    BSG Schifffahrt/Hafen Rostock was founded.

1990    VSG Schifffahrt/Hafen Rostock and BSG Chemie 70 Rostock merged into Rostocker EC.

2006    Rostocker EC took on the nickname Piranhas.

Rostock Piranhas came up to the Oberliga in 2010.

(German Wikipedia is the source for most of this.)

[Rostock win 4 - 3.]

2019-20 Champions Hockey League Final

Mountfield HK meet Frölunda Indians in the 2019-20 Champions Hockey League final at ČPP Arena in Hradec Kralové, Czech Republic.

These two teams played each other twice in the group stage. The results were:

Frölunda 2 - 3 Mountfield

Mountfield 3 - 4 Frölunda

You'll notice that the visitor won both times.

If Frölunda win, it will be their fourth championship in the short history of this tournament. If Mountfield win it will be the first championship for a Czech club.

[Frölunda win 3 - 1.]