This article is about a Russian ice hockey league. For a list of minor league ice hockey leagues elsewhere, see List of ice hockey leagues. For ice hockey played by children, see Minor ice hockey.
The Junior Hockey League (JHL)[4] (Russian: Молодежная Хоккейная Лига (МХЛ), romanized: Molodezhnaya Hokkeinaya Liga), sometimes translated as the Minor[5] or Youth Hockey League,[6] is a major junior ice hockey league in Eurasia, founded in 2009. It currently consists of 33 teams from 3 countries.[7] Currently, all teams but one are subsidiaries (feeder teams) for their respective KHL or VHL professional counterparts. A player's age cannot be older than 20.[8] The Kharlamov Cup, named after star ice hockey player Valeri Kharlamov, is awarded annually as the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia's official Junior Championship,[9] following a 16-team playoff at the end of the regular season.
In the first MHL season, 22 teams participated, all from Russia. The MHL opened its doors on September 4, 2009 in Moscow, when the first ever MHL game was played between MHC Dynamo (then the junior team of Dynamo Moscow) and CSKA-Red Army (the junior team of CSKA Moscow) with Dynamo picking up the 6–2 victory.[citation needed]
The 2010 Challenge Cup (Russian: Кубок Вызова, Kubok Vyzova), the all-star game of the MHL, was played on February 6 in the Ice Palace in Saint Petersburg. The Western Conference team defeated the Eastern Conference team 6–4. The last matches of the regular season were played on March 8, 2010. Steel Foxes (the junior team of Metallurg Magnitogorsk) won the Eastern Conference regular season and the overall MHL regular season with 135 points in 54 games. Soviet Wings won the Western Conference regular season with 119 points in 66 games.[citation needed]
The playoffs started on March 13, 2010. No teams of the Western Conference made it past the round of 16 of the playoffs. Steel Foxes and Kuznetskie Medvedi (the junior team of Metallurg Novokuznetsk) reached the playoff finals for the Kharlamov Cup. The first game of the best-of-five series between these two clubs was played on April 21, 2010. Steel Foxes won the first ever Kharlamov Cup after defeating Kuznetsk Bears 3–2 on April 26, 2010 and winning the series 3–1. Belye Medvedi (the junior team of Traktor Chelyabinsk) and Tolpar (the junior team of Salavat Yulaev Ufa) lost the semi-finals series of the playoffs and played in a two-legged tie for the third place. The first match of the tie was played on April 20, 2010 on Belye Medvedi's home ice and the second leg on April 24 on Tolpar's home ice. Tolpar won both games, first 4–2, second 5–2 and clinched third place of the first season of the MHL.[citation needed]
The number of teams was expanded from 22 in the inaugural season to 29 in the second season. 8 new teams joined the league while Dynamo Moscow's junior team left the league. Sheriff, the junior team of HC MVD in the inaugural season, was moved to Tver and would serve as the junior team of UHC Dynamo in the second season. Phoenix was renamed to MHC Khimik. MHC Krylya Sovetov was reunited with PHC Krylya Sovetov (playing in the VHL) and the MHL team of the newly reunited club was moved to Dmitrov. Among the new teams were teams from Belarus (Minskie Zubry (then the junior team of Dinamo Minsk) and MHC Yunost (the junior team of Yunost Minsk)) and Latvia (HC Riga (the junior team of Dinamo Riga)), thus making the league international. Both conferences were divided into 2 divisions each.[10]
The regular season started on 4 September 2010 in Magnitogorsk with a match for the Opening Cup between last year's Kharlamov Cup playoff finalists Steel Foxes and Kuznetskie Medvedi.[11] Steel Foxes won the match with 8 goals to 1. The 2011 Challenge Cup took place in Ufa on 12 February 2011. As in 2010, the match pitted the best players of the Western Conference on one side against the best players of the Eastern Conference on the other side.[12] In the West, MHC Khimik won the regular season, while in the East, Tolpar Ufa was the winner.[citation needed]
The playoffs were for the first time separate in each conference, with the two winners meeting in the Kharlamov Cup final. In the final, the Red Army team from Moscow defeated the Steel Foxes from Magnitogorsk with a 4–0 sweep.[citation needed]
The 2012 Challenge Cup took place in Magnitogorsk on 11 February 2012. The first ever Future Cup (Russian: Кубок Будущего, Kubok Budushchego) took place in Chelyabinsk on 13 March 2012 and featured the best under-18 players (not born before 1 January 1994) of both the MHL and the MHL-B division.[citation needed]
The Omsk Hawks once again made it to the Kharlamov Cup final, where this time they defeated MHC Spartak (the junior team of Spartak Moscow) from Moscow in 7 games, winning the seventh game in overtime thanks to Kirill Rasskazov. Omsk Hawks also became the first team ever to not only win 2 Kharlamov Cups, but also the first team to ever repeat as Kharlamov Cup champions.[citation needed]
2013–14 season
For the fifth season, the league expanded to 40 teams, divided into two conferences with two divisions each. New teams are the junior team of EC Red Bull Salzburg from Austria, Molodaya Gvardia from Ukraine (the junior team of HC Donbass) and Dinamo Saint Petersburg. Ladya Togliatti, Olimpiya Kirovo-Chepetsk, Junior Kurgan (the junior team of Zauralie Kurgan) and HC Chelny were promoted from MHL-B. Oktan Perm was renamed to "Molot". In September, after the season had already started, Patriot from Hungary withdrew from the league, leaving only 39 teams to play the season.[13]
For the sixth season, the league went through a number of changes, with 2 teams joining the league and 2 teams leaving, each for different reasons. Due to the War in Donbass, the league stated that Molodaya Gvardia would miss this season. JHC Bars (then the junior team of Ak Bars Kazan) left the league to join the Supreme Hockey League (VHL). Their place as Ak Bars Kazan's junior team would be taken by Irbis. New teams joining the league were an expansion team from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk called the Sakhalin Sharks as well as Berkuty Kubani Krasnodar from Krasnodar, who were promoted from MHL-B.
The first ever (and so far only) Super Cup (Russian: Суперкубок, Superkubok) took place on 30 April 2016 in Uchaly. It was the trophy awarded to the winner of the game between the winner of the Kharlamov Cup (the MHL champions) and the winner of the Regions Cup (the MHL-B champions)[14] and was won by Loko Yaroslavl 5–1 against Gornyak Uchaly.[15]
2016–17 season
For the eighth season, the number of teams in the league was at 31 teams, representing 3 countries (28 from Russia, 2 from Kazakhstan and 1 from Latvia). Teams that left the league were Olimpiya Kirovo-Chepetsk, Dinamo-Raubichi, Russia U18 and the Sakhalin Sharks. Meanwhile, the teams that joined the league were Sputnik Almetyevsk (the junior team of Neftyanik Almetyevsk), expansion club Taifun from Ussuriysk (the junior team of Admiral Vladivostok), Altay Oskemen from Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan (the junior team of Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk) as well as Krylya Sovetov who were returning to the league after being inactive for five years.[citation needed]
While Reaktor (the junior team of Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk) dominated both the regular season and the first three rounds of the playoffs, they were not able to continue their success in the Kharlamov Cup final, with the Red Army team taking the series in a 4–0 sweep, winning their second Kharlamov Cup.[citation needed]
2017–18 season
Season nine featured some minor changes with only 2 teams joining the league. Those teams were KRS Junior (the junior team of Kunlun Red Star) from Beijing, China (though they play their home games in Riga, Latvia) and returning Kapitan Stupino (which became the junior team of HC Sochi), thus bringing the number of teams in the league up to 33 once again, this time representing only 4 countries. Meanwhile, MHC MVD was renamed to MHK Dynamo.[citation needed]
International matches
Tour of North America 2010–11
In December 2010 and January 2011, a team composed of players playing in the MHL named the Red Stars toured North America and played 5 games there with the following results:
As in 2010, the Red Stars (Russian: Красные Звезды, Krasnye Zvezdy), a team made of players who play in the MHL, toured North America. The opponents of the Red Stars were teams from NCAA Division I and the NAHL.[16]
Game against the Merrimack Warriors cancelled due to severe weather concerns according to North American sources.[20] Game ended 5 goals to 4 after a shootout according to Russian sources.[21][22][23]
^ abJunior Hockey League press service (2 January 2014). "Red Stars VS Merrimack. 4:5 (Б)" (in Russian). Junior Hockey League website. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
^ abJunior Hockey League press service (3 January 2014). "Red Stars уступили по буллитам" (in Russian). Junior Hockey League website. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
^ abHC Salavat Yulaev press service (2 January 2014). Не везёт в серии буллитов (in Russian). HC Salavat Yulaev website. Archived from the original on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
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