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HL Anyang
HL Anyang (Korean: HL 안양) is a professional ice hockey team based in Anyang in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is one of the founding and current members of the Asia League Ice Hockey (ALIH). Formed in 1994, it is the oldest professional ice hockey team in South Korea. The Halla Group contributes three billion won annually to run the club.
At its inception the team was based in Mok-dong, Seoul and named the Mando Winia. In 1998 the team took the name of Mando's parent company, Halla. After the collapse of the Korean Ice Hockey League in 2003, they were the only team to survive. They joined four Japanese teams to create the new Asia League Ice Hockey. In 2005, the team moved to its current hometown of Anyang, where it plays its home games at the Anyang Ice Arena. After two years of finishing in fifth place, they became the first non-Japanese team to finish first in the regular season in 2008–09. However, they failed to defeat the Nippon Paper Cranes in the semi-finals. In the following season, Halla again finished in first and won the semi-final and final series giving them their first play-off series win and first Asia League Championship. The club captured their second AL title after the league cancelled the championship final due to the earthquake in Japan. Asia League announced Halla and Tohoku Free Blades as the co-champions. In 2022, the team rebranded as HL Anyang.
The team was founded in 1994 by the Halla Group to help promote hockey in Korea. The Halla Group also felt that by creating an ice hockey team, it would help them to fulfill their role as a responsible corporation by providing something to the community. The team was originally named "Mando Winia". It was so named because Mando is a subsidiary company of Halla and Winia is a brand of air conditioner sold by the company. In 1997 the team was disbanded for a short time during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. However, the chairman of Halla Group, Chung Mong-won, fought to keep the team.
As a member of the Korean Ice Hockey League the team won the championship five times. During this time, the team also changed their name from "Mando Winia" to "Halla Winia". The team first looked at adding foreign players to their roster in late 2001 with other members of the Korean League. In 2003, the team was one of the founding members of Asia League Ice Hockey.
While the team participates primarily in the Asia League, they also play in tournaments like the All Korea Ice Hockey Championship each year. In the inaugural year of Asia League Ice Hockey, Halla played a shortened seasons of only 16 games, and failed to break .500. In the following year they brought Esa Tikkanen, a veteran player of 20 NHL seasons, on board. He was brought on primarily to coach the players but he also played during the team's games. Tikkanen felt that as the players played against more skilled teams their own skill level showed greater improvement. He also felt that they should play more games and that the season was too short. That year the team was also noted for showing great improvement over the first year's effort. Halla finished the season winning 18 games out of 42 with 5 ties. Their top offensive player, Marco Poulsen, finished fifth in the overall points race, however they did not reach their goal that year of making the playoffs, finishing in fifth place one spot out of the playoffs. In the off-season the team changed their name from Anyang Halla Winia to Anyang Halla with the expiration of the sponsorship contract. As well they hired Otakar Vejvoda to be the team's new coach. Vejvoda was considered a legend in the Czech Extraliga both for his skill as a player and a coach.
In the 2005–06 season Halla improved on the previous year's performance finishing in second place. The league saw a reduced season of only 38 games. Song Dong-hwan was the leader in goals for the league with 31 and Patrik Martinec ranked second in assists with 44. Martinec ranked number two on the total points list while Song finished in fourth place. Halla also scored the most short-handed goals of any team in the league with 11. The city of Anyang won an award for being "The best Hockey Town in Asia". The team made the play-offs for the first time since the league's formation. They received a bye in the first round and played Kokudo, the winner of the third place and sixth place match-up. Anyang won only a single game out of the first three which were played on home ice. They were eliminated in the fourth game which was played in Kokudo's home rink by a score of 5–1. Kokudo went on to be the league champions for the second year in a row.
After the conclusion of the 2005–06 season there were some roster changes. Two of the team's top players, Song Dong-hwan and Jang Jong-moon, had to report for compulsory military service. Starting goaltender, Kim Sung-Bae, retired after the previous season. Even though they were missing these players they were noted for having more players with more than 10 goals and 10 assists than in the previous season. With the departure of Song offensive output dropped slightly, the team's top offensive player finished seventh overall in goals with 21. However Martinec won the assists race with 53 and the overall points total with 71. The team shared top spot in the short-handed goals with 2 other teams, scoring 10 over the course of the season. With a further shortened season of only 34 games the team finished in fifth place and faced the other Korean team, Kangwon Land in the quarter-finals. During the regular season Kangwon won six of seven meetings, and the quarter-finals were no different. Kangwon swept Halla in three games, the final game ending in 3–2 with a last minute desperate bid by Halla to tie the game.
The next season saw the AL further reduce the number of games played to just 30. In the pre-season Halla won the Anyang Cup, which is a pre-season tournament held in Anyang. The team's record in the regular season remained relatively the same and they finished again in fifth place. Lee Yu-Won was the top offensive player with 16 goals and was tied for fourth place with three other players. Martinec continued to contribute many assists to the team and finished in second place with 29, one point off first. He finished in fourth place in the overall point totals. Halla did not have another player in the top 10. The team once again led the league in short-handed goals and gave up the fewest short-handed goals against along with the Oji Eagles. In the playoffs the Halla faced the Nippon Paper Cranes in the first round. During the regular season the two teams split their series, each winning two games. The playoffs told a different story, and Nippon swept Halla in three games. Halla lost each game by a single goal. Vejvoda praised Nippon's goalie for his excellent play and commended his players for their effort.
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HL Anyang
HL Anyang (Korean: HL 안양) is a professional ice hockey team based in Anyang in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is one of the founding and current members of the Asia League Ice Hockey (ALIH). Formed in 1994, it is the oldest professional ice hockey team in South Korea. The Halla Group contributes three billion won annually to run the club.
At its inception the team was based in Mok-dong, Seoul and named the Mando Winia. In 1998 the team took the name of Mando's parent company, Halla. After the collapse of the Korean Ice Hockey League in 2003, they were the only team to survive. They joined four Japanese teams to create the new Asia League Ice Hockey. In 2005, the team moved to its current hometown of Anyang, where it plays its home games at the Anyang Ice Arena. After two years of finishing in fifth place, they became the first non-Japanese team to finish first in the regular season in 2008–09. However, they failed to defeat the Nippon Paper Cranes in the semi-finals. In the following season, Halla again finished in first and won the semi-final and final series giving them their first play-off series win and first Asia League Championship. The club captured their second AL title after the league cancelled the championship final due to the earthquake in Japan. Asia League announced Halla and Tohoku Free Blades as the co-champions. In 2022, the team rebranded as HL Anyang.
The team was founded in 1994 by the Halla Group to help promote hockey in Korea. The Halla Group also felt that by creating an ice hockey team, it would help them to fulfill their role as a responsible corporation by providing something to the community. The team was originally named "Mando Winia". It was so named because Mando is a subsidiary company of Halla and Winia is a brand of air conditioner sold by the company. In 1997 the team was disbanded for a short time during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. However, the chairman of Halla Group, Chung Mong-won, fought to keep the team.
As a member of the Korean Ice Hockey League the team won the championship five times. During this time, the team also changed their name from "Mando Winia" to "Halla Winia". The team first looked at adding foreign players to their roster in late 2001 with other members of the Korean League. In 2003, the team was one of the founding members of Asia League Ice Hockey.
While the team participates primarily in the Asia League, they also play in tournaments like the All Korea Ice Hockey Championship each year. In the inaugural year of Asia League Ice Hockey, Halla played a shortened seasons of only 16 games, and failed to break .500. In the following year they brought Esa Tikkanen, a veteran player of 20 NHL seasons, on board. He was brought on primarily to coach the players but he also played during the team's games. Tikkanen felt that as the players played against more skilled teams their own skill level showed greater improvement. He also felt that they should play more games and that the season was too short. That year the team was also noted for showing great improvement over the first year's effort. Halla finished the season winning 18 games out of 42 with 5 ties. Their top offensive player, Marco Poulsen, finished fifth in the overall points race, however they did not reach their goal that year of making the playoffs, finishing in fifth place one spot out of the playoffs. In the off-season the team changed their name from Anyang Halla Winia to Anyang Halla with the expiration of the sponsorship contract. As well they hired Otakar Vejvoda to be the team's new coach. Vejvoda was considered a legend in the Czech Extraliga both for his skill as a player and a coach.
In the 2005–06 season Halla improved on the previous year's performance finishing in second place. The league saw a reduced season of only 38 games. Song Dong-hwan was the leader in goals for the league with 31 and Patrik Martinec ranked second in assists with 44. Martinec ranked number two on the total points list while Song finished in fourth place. Halla also scored the most short-handed goals of any team in the league with 11. The city of Anyang won an award for being "The best Hockey Town in Asia". The team made the play-offs for the first time since the league's formation. They received a bye in the first round and played Kokudo, the winner of the third place and sixth place match-up. Anyang won only a single game out of the first three which were played on home ice. They were eliminated in the fourth game which was played in Kokudo's home rink by a score of 5–1. Kokudo went on to be the league champions for the second year in a row.
After the conclusion of the 2005–06 season there were some roster changes. Two of the team's top players, Song Dong-hwan and Jang Jong-moon, had to report for compulsory military service. Starting goaltender, Kim Sung-Bae, retired after the previous season. Even though they were missing these players they were noted for having more players with more than 10 goals and 10 assists than in the previous season. With the departure of Song offensive output dropped slightly, the team's top offensive player finished seventh overall in goals with 21. However Martinec won the assists race with 53 and the overall points total with 71. The team shared top spot in the short-handed goals with 2 other teams, scoring 10 over the course of the season. With a further shortened season of only 34 games the team finished in fifth place and faced the other Korean team, Kangwon Land in the quarter-finals. During the regular season Kangwon won six of seven meetings, and the quarter-finals were no different. Kangwon swept Halla in three games, the final game ending in 3–2 with a last minute desperate bid by Halla to tie the game.
The next season saw the AL further reduce the number of games played to just 30. In the pre-season Halla won the Anyang Cup, which is a pre-season tournament held in Anyang. The team's record in the regular season remained relatively the same and they finished again in fifth place. Lee Yu-Won was the top offensive player with 16 goals and was tied for fourth place with three other players. Martinec continued to contribute many assists to the team and finished in second place with 29, one point off first. He finished in fourth place in the overall point totals. Halla did not have another player in the top 10. The team once again led the league in short-handed goals and gave up the fewest short-handed goals against along with the Oji Eagles. In the playoffs the Halla faced the Nippon Paper Cranes in the first round. During the regular season the two teams split their series, each winning two games. The playoffs told a different story, and Nippon swept Halla in three games. Halla lost each game by a single goal. Vejvoda praised Nippon's goalie for his excellent play and commended his players for their effort.