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2022–23 Asia League Ice Hockey season

2022–23 ALIH season
LeagueAsia League Ice Hockey
SportIce hockey
Duration3 September 2022 – 26 March 2023
Number of games40
Number of teams6
Regular season
Leaders FlagHL Anyang
  Runners-upRed Eagles Hokkaido
Top scorerShogo Nakajima (REH)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVPKang Yoon-Seok (HLA)
Finals championsHL Anyang
  Runners-upRed Eagles Hokkaido
Asia League Ice Hockey seasons

The 2022–23 Asia League Ice Hockey season was the 20th season of operation (18th season of play) of the Asia League Ice Hockey. The league returned after the past two seasons were only Japanese clubs played due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The regular season began on 3 September 2022, when the East Hokkaido Cranes hosted HL Anyang.[1]

The playoffs concluded on 25 March, with HL Anyang defeating Red Eagles Hokkaido in the finals in five games, winning their seventh league championship in franchise history.[2]

Season changes

The Oji Eagles rebranded as Red Eagles Hokkaido back in 2021.[3] The Daemyung Killer Whales folded in 2021. The Yokohama Grits make their league debut this season after their initial debut was postponed with the cancelation for the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons.[4]

On 2 August 2022, the league voted to remove PSK Sakhalin in protest to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[5] On 15 September 2022, Anyang Halla announced that they rebranded to HL Anyang.

Teams

Only five teams from the 2019–20 season returned for the 2022–23 season, with the addition of expansion side Yokohama Grits.

Team City/Town Arena Capacity
HL Anyang South Korea Anyang Anyang Ice Arena 1,284
East Hokkaido Cranes Japan Kushiro Kushiro Ice Arena 2,539
Red Eagles Hokkaido Japan Tomakomai Hakucho Arena 3,015
Nikkō Ice Bucks Japan Nikkō Nikkō Kirifuri Ice Arena 1,608
Tohoku Free Blades Japan Hachinohe Flat Hachinohe 3,500
Yokohama Grits Japan Yokohama KOSÉ Shin-Yokohama Skate Center 2,500

Regular season

The league's regular season began on 3 September 2022.

Standings

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 HL Anyang 40 31 0 4 5 166 64 +102 97 Regular season champions
Qualification to playoffs
2 Red Eagles Hokkaido 40 24 6 2 8 167 84 +83 86 Qualification to playoffs
3 Nikkō IceBucks 40 17 5 3 15 126 114 +12 64
4 East Hokkaido Cranes 40 12 4 3 21 116 142 −26 47
5 Tohoku Free Blades 40 8 2 6 24 92 175 −83 34
6 Yokohama Grits 40 8 3 2 27 98 186 −88 32
Updated to match(es) played on 3 April 2023. Source: Asia League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Games won in regulation time; 3) Number of games won; 4) Head-to-head results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 5) Fewest regulation losses; 6) Away game results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 7) Goals scored; 8) Goal difference; 9) Fewest penalty minutes; 10) Drawing of lots.

Results

Home \ Away HLA EHC REH NIB TFB YGR HLA EHC REH NIB TFB YGR HLA EHC REH NIB TFB YGR HLA EHC REH NIB TFB YGR HLA EHC REH NIB TFB YGR HLA EHC REH NIB TFB YGR
HL Anyang 1–2 2–3[a] 1–4 4–0 9–2 4–1 2–3[a] 7–2 10–1 4–2 3–2 4–2 1–2[a] 4–1
East Hokkaido Cranes 5–8 2–4 2–0 10–1 6–1 1–7 2–7 4–1 4–1 6–2 2–3 3–4[b] 2–4 4–1 4–3[a] 4–1
Red Eagles Hokkaido 3–5 6–2 7–1 1–0 2–3[b] 7–1 1–3 4–3[b] 3–4 6–1
Nikkō Ice Bucks 0–4 4–0 2–3[a] 5–0 4–1 1–2 5–4 0–3 6–1 4–5[b] 3–2 6–2 2–1 5–1
Tohoku Free Blades 3–4 5–7 0–2 3–2 3–4[b] 2–8 4–5[b] 1–2[b] 3–4[b] 1–2 4–3 6–5
Yokohama Grits 0–2 4–5 2–3 3–6 4–2 0–7 5–3 1–7 2–5 6–3 3–4[b] 1–6
Updated to match(es) played on 25 December 2022. Source: ALIH
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
  1. ^ a b c d e Shootout
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Overtime

Playoffs

Bracket

Semifinal Final
      
1 HL Anyang 2
4 East Hokkaido Cranes 0
1 HL Anyang 3
2 Red Eagles Hokkaido 2
2 Red Eagles Hokkaido 2
3 Nikkō IceBucks 0

Semifinals

(1) HL Anyang vs. (4) East Hokkaido Cranes

9 March 2023 East Hokkaido Cranes 1 – 4 HL Anyang Anyang Ice Center Recap  
No scoring First period 15:40 – Song Jong-hun (1)
No scoring Second period 6:58 – Lee Jong-min (1)
Sota Isogai (1) – 1:43 Third period 12:56 – ppAhn Jin-hui (1)
16:14 – Kang Yoon-seok (1)
Yuya Wakimoto (38 saves / 42 shots) Goalie stats Matt Dalton (22 saves / 23 shots)
11 March 2023 East Hokkaido Cranes 0 – 2 HL Anyang Anyang Ice Center Recap  
No scoring First period 4:22 – ppAhn Jin-hui (2)
No scoring Second period No scoring
No scoring Third period 2:45 – Lee Jong-min (2)
Yuya Wakimoto (36 saves / 38 shots) Goalie stats Matt Dalton (29 saves / 29 shots)
HL Anyang won series 2–0


(2) Red Eagles Hokkaido vs. (3) Nikkō Ice Bucks

9 March 2023 Nikkō Ice Bucks 1 – 3 Red Eagles Hokkaido Nikkō Kirifuri Ice Arena Recap  
No scoring First period 11:36 – Kohei Mitamura (1)
No scoring Second period 2:01 – Yuto Osawa (1)
16:40 – Shuhei Kuji (1)
Tetsuya Saito (1) – 18:48 Third period No scoring
Yutaka Fukufuji (28 saves / 31 shots) Goalie stats Yuta Narisawa (20 saves / 21 shots)
11 March 2023 Nikkō Ice Bucks 1 – 2 Red Eagles Hokkaido Nikkō Kirifuri Ice Arena Recap  
No scoring First period No scoring
No scoring Second period 6:23 – ppShuhei Kuji (2)
Yuta Suzuki (1) – pp – 12:36 Third period 4:26 – Kenta Takagi (1)
Yutaka Fukufuji (28 saves / 30 shots) Goalie stats Yuta Narisawa (30 saves / 31 shots)
Hokkaido won series 2–0


Final

(1) HL Anyang vs. (2) Red Eagles Hokkaido

18 March 2023 HL Anyang 1 – 4 Red Eagles Hokkaido Nikkō Kirifuri Ice Arena Recap  
No scoring First period 15:05 – Ryo Hashimoto (1)
16:10 – pp – Ryo Hashimoto (2)
No scoring Second period No scoring
Jeon Jung-woo (1) – 8:30 Third period 11:51 – ppYushi Nakayashiki (1)
16:50 – Shogo Nakajima (1)
Matt Dalton (19 saves / 23 shots) Goalie stats Takuto Onoda (25 saves / 26 shots)
19 March 2023 HL Anyang 4 – 1 Red Eagles Hokkaido Nikkō Kirifuri Ice Arena Recap  
Kim Sang-wook (1) – 11:28 First period No scoring
Lee Juh-yung (1) – 6:15
Lee Young-jun (1) – 7:32
Second period 13:13 – Shogo Nakajima (2)
Song Hyeong-cheol (1) – pp – 8:46 Third period No scoring
Matt Dalton (28 saves / 29 shots) Goalie stats Takuto Onoda (22 saves / 26 shots)
23 March 2023 Red Eagles Hokkaido 2 – 5 HL Anyang Anyang Ice Center Recap  
No scoring First period 2:19 – Lee Juh-yung (2)
Kazumasa Sasaki (1) – 13:05 Second period 13:23 – Kim Ki-sung (1)
Yushi Nakayashiki (2) – 0:50 Third period 6:18 – Kim Ki-sung (2)
15:41 – ppLee Young-jun (2)
19:18 – enLee Jong-min (3)
Yuta Narisawa (28 saves / 33 shots) Goalie stats Matt Dalton (22 saves / 24 shots)
25 March 2023 Red Eagles Hokkaido 1 – 0 HL Anyang Anyang Ice Center Recap  
Ryo Hashimoto (3) – 3:05 First period No scoring
No scoring Second period No scoring
No scoring Third period No scoring
Yuta Narisawa (28 saves / 28 shots) Goalie stats Matt Dalton (32 saves / 33 shots)
25 March 2023 Red Eagles Hokkaido 1 – 2 2OT HL Anyang Anyang Ice Center Recap  
No scoring First period 4:00 – Kim Ki-sung (3)
Ryo Hashimoto (3) – 3:05 Second period No scoring
No scoring Third period No scoring
No scoring Second overtime period 10:13 – Kang Yoon-seok (1)
Yuta Narisawa (48 saves / 50 shots) Goalie stats Matt Dalton (31 saves / 32 shots)
Anyang won series 3–2


Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following shows the top players who led the league in points, at the conclusion of matches played on 5 March 2023.[6]

Player Team GP G A Pts +/– PIM
Japan Shogo Nakajima Red Eagles Hokkaido 40 22 53 75 +3 18
Japan Makuru Furuhashi Nikkō Ice Bucks 40 27 31 58 +2 28
South Korea Kim Sang-wook HL Anyang 40 12 42 54 +7 18
Japan Kento Suzuki Nikkō Ice Bucks 40 30 22 52 +2 26
South Korea Kim Ki-sung HL Anyang 40 25 25 50 +14 4
Japan Yuto Osawa Red Eagles Hokkaido 40 18 31 49 +3 12
Japan Ryo Hashimoto Red Eagles Hokkaido 40 4 44 48 +3 14
Japan Seiji Takahashi Red Eagles Hokkaido 37 20 26 46 +4 16
Japan Yushi Nakayashiki Red Eagles Hokkaido 39 29 14 43 +3 39
Japan Kosuke Ohtsu East Hokkaido Cranes 40 19 24 43 +1 24

Leading goaltenders

The following shows the top goaltenders who led the league in goals against average, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, at the conclusion of matches played on 5 March 2023.[7]

Player Team GP TOI GA Sv% GAA
South Korea Matt Dalton HL Anyang 37 2198:33 53 94.22 1.45
Japan Yuta Narisawa Red Eagles Hokkaido 33 1946:47 65 92.17 2.00
Japan Roman Bengert Nikkō Ice Bucks 20 1162:48 64 88.93 3.30
Japan Yuya Wakimoto East Hokkaido Cranes 24 1290:21 73 89.12 3.39
Japan Michikazu Hata Tohoku Free Blades 25 1377:40 93 90.11 4.05

Awards

Award Winner
League champions HL Anyang
Most valuable player Matt Dalton, HL Anyang
Best goaltender Matt Dalton, HL Anyang
Rookie of the year Kanata Isoya, East Hokkaido Cranes
Leading scorer (Regular season) Kento Suzuki, Nikkō IceBucks
Leading assists (Regular season) Shogo Nakajima, Red Eagles Hokkaido
Leading points (Regular season) Shogo Nakajima, Red Eagles Hokkaido

Team of the year

First Team[8]

References

  1. ^ "Putting the Grit in Yokohama". Japan Forward. 1 November 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  2. ^ "Anyang Halla wins Asia League". eurohockey.com. 26 March 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Sparking consistent local interest in hockey key part of Japan's Winter Olympic future". The Japan Times. 4 February 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  4. ^ "アジアリーグアイスホッケー 2022-2023:試合日程のお知らせ". asiaicehockey.com (in Japanese). 22 July 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  5. ^ "HOCKEYThe club from Russia was kicked out of the international league. Champions become a victim of politics". sportish.co. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Point Ranking 2022/2023". Asia League Ice Hockey. ALIH. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  7. ^ "GK SP Ranking 2022/2023". Asia League Ice Hockey. ALIH. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  8. ^ "Asia League Ice Hockey 2022-2023: Announcement of Regular Season Awards". Asia League Ice Hockey. 9 March 2023.