Austrian Hockey League

Austrian Hockey League
2015–16 Austrian Hockey League season
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1923
CEO	Karl Safron
No. of teams	12
Country(ies)	Austria (8 teams) Slovenia (1 team) Hungary (1 team) Czech Republic (1 team) Italy (1 team)
Most recent champion(s)	EC Red Bull Salzburg
Most championship(s)	EC KAC (30)
Official website	erstebankliga.at

The Austrian Hockey League (German:Österreichische Eishockey-Liga), called the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (English:Erste Bank Hockey League) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level ice hockey league in Austria.

History

The roots of the EBEL league go back to 1923 and various Championships, whose winner is officially recognized as the Austrian Champion. There was no Austrian competition in 1936, and between 1939 and 1945. During World War II, a number of Austrian teams competed in the German Ice Hockey Championship, which is why the EK Engelmann Wien and Vienna EV list German Championships in their history.

The league exists in today's form since the 1965-66 season.

Until 2005-06 the league consisted solely of Austrian teams. Since then the league has added teams from Slovenia (starting 2006-07 and 2007–08), Hungary (starting 2007-08), Croatia (starting 2009-10 season), and the Czech Republic (starting in 2011-12). The non-Austian teams are competing for the "EBEL Champion" title. Only Austrian teams in this league are additionally eligible for the "Austrian Champion" title. The league has had different sponsors, and the current naming rights have been held by "Sparkasse Bank" and its Erste Bank brand since the 2003-04 season.

EBEL Playoffs

All Erste Bank Eishockey Liga Playoffs have been won by Austrian teams. The best non-Austrian team result is the HDD Olimpija Ljubljana managing to get into the finals in 2007-08 season, losing the EBEL championship to EC Red Bull Salzburg.

In 2013-14, Italy's Bolzano Foxes became the first non-Austrian team to win the EBEL title when they beat the Salzburg Red Bulls 3 games to 2 in their best-of-five final. Such success is not unheard of for an Italian outfit, but previous similar results took place in the Alpenliga and the Six Nations Tournament, standalone competitions whose postseason tournaments were distinct from the Austrian playoffs.

Teams

Team	City/Area	Arena	Capacity	Founded	Joined EBEL
Current Teams
Dornbirner EC	Dornbirn	Messestadion	4,270	1992	2012–13
Graz 99ers	Graz	Eisstadion Liebenau	4,050	1999	2000–01
HC TWK Innsbruck	Innsbruck	OlympiaWorld Innsbruck	7,212	1994	2012–13
EC KAC	Klagenfurt	Stadthalle Klagenfurt	5,500	1909	1923–24
Black Wings Linz	Linz	Donauhalle	3,800	1992	2000–01
Red Bull Salzburg	Salzburg	Eisarena Salzburg	3,600	1977	2004–05
Vienna Capitals	Vienna	Albert Schultz Eishalle	7,022	2000	2001–02
EC VSV	Villach	Villacher Stadthalle	4,800	1923	1977–78
Olimpija	Ljubljana	Tivoli Hall	7,000	1928	2007–08
SAPA Fehérvár AV 19	Székesfehérvár	Ifjabb Ocskay Gábor Ice Hall	3,600	1960	2007–08
Orli Znojmo	Znojmo	Hostan Arena	5,500	1933	2011–12
HC Bolzano	Bozen	PalaOnda	7,220	1933	2013-14
Notable Former Teams
VEU Feldkirch	Feldkirch	Vorarlberghalle	5,200	1945	1967–68
Jesenice	Jesenice	Podmežakla Hall	5,900	1948	2006–07
KHL Medveščak Zagreb	Zagreb	Dom Sportova	7,500	1961	2009–10

Austrian Champions

1923 Wiener EV 1924 Wiener EV 1925 Wiener EV 1926 Wiener EV 1927 Wiener EV 1928 Wiener EV 1929 Wiener EV 1930 Wiener EV 1931 Wiener EV 1932 Pötzleinsdorfer SK 1933 Wiener EV 1934 Klagenfurter 1935 Klagenfurter 1936 Not Played 1937 Wiener EV 1938 EK Engelmann 1939-1945 Not played 1946 EK Engelmann 1947 Wiener EV 1948 Wiener EV

1949 Wiener EG 1950 Wiener EG 1951 Wiener EG 1952 Klagenfurter 1953 Innsbrucker EV 1954 Innsbrucker EV 1955 Klagenfurter 1956 EK Engelmann 1957 EK Engelmann 1958 Innsbrucker EV 1959 Innsbrucker EV 1960 EC KAC 1961 Innsbrucker EV 1962 Wiener EV 1963 Innsbrucker EV 1964 EC KAC 1965 EC KAC 1966 EC KAC 1967 EC KAC 1968 EC KAC

1969 EC KAC 1970 EC KAC 1971 EC KAC 1972 EC KAC 1973 EC KAC 1974 EC KAC 1975 ATSE Graz 1976 EC KAC 1977 EC KAC 1978 ATSE Graz 1979 EC KAC 1980 EC KAC 1981 Villacher SV 1982 VEU Feldkirch 1983 VEU Feldkirch 1984 VEU Feldkirch 1985 EC KAC 1986 EC KAC 1987 EC KAC 1988 EC KAC

1989 Innsbrucker EV 1990 VEU Feldkirch 1991 EC KAC 1992 Villacher SV 1993 Villacher SV 1994 VEU Feldkirch 1995 VEU Feldkirch 1996 VEU Feldkirch 1997 VEU Feldkirch 1998 VEU Feldkirch 1999 Villacher SV 2000 EC KAC 2001 EC KAC 2002 Villacher SV 2003 Black Wings Linz 2004 EC KAC 2005 Vienna Capitals 2006 Villacher SV 2007 Red Bull Salzburg 2008 Red Bull Salzburg

2009 EC KAC 2010 Red Bull Salzburg 2011 Red Bull Salzburg 2012 Black Wings Linz 2013 EC KAC 2014 Red Bull Salzburg (EBEL title winner HC Bozen) 2015 Red Bull Salzburg 2016 Red Bull Salzburg

Club	Winners	Winning Years
EC KAC	30	1934, 1935, 1952, 1955, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2013
Wiener EV / EG	17	1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1937, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1962
VEU Feldkirch	9	1982, 1983, 1984, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
Innsbrucker EV	7	1953, 1954,1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1989
Red Bull Salzburg	7	2007, 2008, 2010, 2011,2014*, 2015, 2016
Villacher SV	6	1981, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2002, 2006
EK Engelmann	5	1936, 1938, 1946, 1956, 1957
ATSE Graz	2	1975, 1978
Black Wings Linz	2	2003, 2012
Vienna Capitals	1	2005
Pötzleinsdorfer SK	1	1932

bold - seasons in which league had teams outside Austria

• - seasons in which the Austrian Champion didn't win the EBEL title

External links

• Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL)
• Austrian Hockey Association (ÖEHV)
• Multilanguage forum on Austrian Hockey
• Summary table in Hungarian at icehockey.hu
• Information about Ice-hockey in Austria (German)

European Ice Hockey Leagues

International leagues Alps Hockey League - Balkan Ice Hockey League - BeNe League - Kontinental Hockey League - MOL Liga National leagues Armenia - Austria - Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Georgia - Germany - Greece - Hungary - Iceland - Italy - Kazakhstan - Latvia - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Macedonia - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Romania - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine - United Kingdom Defunct leagues Soviet Union - Russia - Czechoslovakia - Yugoslavia - West Germany - East Germany - Ireland - Luxembourg - Malta - Portugal - Alpenliga - Interliga - Inter-National League - North Sea Cup - Panonian League - Eastern European - Balkan League - Baltic League - Carpathian League - Slohokej Liga

Austrian Hockey League seasons

- 1922–23 - 1923–24 - 1924–25 - 1925–26 - 1926–27 - 1927–28 - 1928–29- 1929–30 - 1930–31 - 1931–32 - 1932–33 - 1933–34 - 1934–35 - 1935–36 - 1936–37 - 1937–38 - 1945–46 - 1946–47 - 1947–48 - 1948–49 - 1949–50 - 1950–51 - 1951–52 - 1952–53 - 1953–54 - 1954–55 - 1955–56 - 1956–57 - 1957–58 - 1958–59 - 1959–60 - 1960–61 - 1961–62 - 1962–63 - 1963–64 - 1964–65 - 1965–66 - 1966–67 - 1967–68 - 1968–69 - 1969–70 - 1970–71 - 1971–72 - 1972–73 - 1973–74 - 1974–75 - 1975–76 - 1976–77 - 1977–78 - 1978–79 - 1979–80 - 1980–81 - 1981–82 - 1982–83 - 1983–84 - 1984–85 - 1985–86 - 1986–87 - 1987–88 - 1988–89 - 1989–90 - 1990–91 - 1991–92 - 1992–93 - 1993–94 - 1994–95 - 1995–96 - 1996–97 - 1997–98 - 1998–99 - 1999–00 - 2000–01 - 2001–02 - 2002–03 - 2003–04 - 2004–05 - 2005–06 - 2006–07 - 2007–08 - 2008–09 - 2009–10 - 2010–11 - 2011–12 - 2012-13 - 2013-14 - 2014-15 - 2015-16