Nikkō Ice Bucks

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Nikkō Ice Bucks
Nikkō Ice Bucks.png
CityNikkō, Tochigi
LeagueAsia League Ice Hockey
Founded1999 (1999)
Home arenaNikkō Kirifuri Ice Arena (capacity 2,000)
Colours     
Owner(s)Kobayashi Sumio
Head coachAri-Pekka Siekkinen
CaptainSetaka Tetsuo
Websitehttp://www.icebucks.jp/

The HC Nikkō Ice Bucks (ホッケークラブ日光アイスバックス, Hokkē Kurabu Nikkō Aisu Bakkusu) is an Asia League Ice Hockey team based in Nikkō, Tochigi, Japan.

Logo design: The word IceBucks in italicized English in black with white trim, with the words "NIKKO KOBE" in bold italics in orange trimmed with white

Mascot: An orange and white furred male deer wearing a hockey helmet.

History[]

Nikko Icebucks in 2018

The Nikkō area has a long history of ice hockey, with the Furukawa Electric semi-professional team (one of the oldest in Japan) having been established in 1925, and becoming a founding member of the Japanese Ice Hockey League in 1966. In 1999, however, the team was forced to disband due to financial difficulties.

A outflow of support from the city and local financing allowed the team to be recreated as a club team, supported locally. It was renamed the HC Nikkō IceBucks and joined the league in time for the next season's start. The team, despite fervent local support, was never one of the successes of the JIHL even when they were supported as Furukawa Electric, and had a rocky start as the HC Nikkō IceBucks, having to relaunch their business model in 2001. The team has consistently placed near or at the bottom of the league.

When the league expanded into the Asia League Ice Hockey, Nikkō was one of the teams that was part of the new league. In the summer of 2005, the team arranged to play a number of its home games in Kobe, Hyogo, and changed its name to the Nikkō Kobe IceBucks to reflect its new two-city home. In 2007–2008 season Kobe is no longer home and the name was reverted to the older HC Nikkō Ice Bucks.

On January 29, 2020, It was announce that five players would represent Japan in the 3rd round of qualifiers for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.[1]

Honours[]

Year-by-year record[]

wearing the team's away jersey which was introduced in 2011

JIHL 1999–2004[]

Season GP W W(OT) W(PS) T L(PS) L(OT) L GF GA PTS Finish Playoffs
1999-00 30 3 5 22 45 106 11 6th/6 Out of playoffs
2000–01 40 10 1 29 91 164 21 6th/6 Out of playoffs
2001–02 40 6 2 2 2 2 26 103 163 23.0 6th/6 Out of playoffs
2002–03 32 7 0 4 1 2 18 68 114 23.0 5th/5 Out of playoffs
2002–03 24 1 0 1 0 1 21 33 112 4.5 4th/4 ?
2003–04 12 0 0 0 0 0 12 19 56 0.0 4th/4 ?

ALIH 2003–present[]

complete records for previous seasons[2]

Season GP W W(OT) W(GWS)* T L(GWS)* L(OT) L GF GA PTS Finish Playoffs
2003–04 16 2 0 2 0 12 38 67 6 5th/5 No Playoffs due to shortened season
2004–05 42 13 1 2 2 24 110 125 45 6th/8
2005–06 38 16 2 2 1 17 103 118 55 6th/9 Lost in quarter-final
2006–07 34 12 0 1 0 21 90 158 37 6th/8 Lost in semi-final
2007–08 30 8 2 2 0 18 60 109 30 6th/7 Lost in quarter-final
2008–09 36 4 2 1 1 1 27 74 161 20 7th/7
2009–10 36 12 2 1 2 2 17 103 118 46 6th/7
2010–11 36 10 3 1 0 2 20 95 112 40 6th/7
2011–12 36 18 0 4 0 1 13 158 103 63 3rd/7
2012–13 42 15 3 3 2 0 19 123 141 59 5th/7
Totals 346 110 15 10 9 5 9 188 954 1212

*prior to the 2008–2009 season, there were no shoot-outs and games ended in a tie

Current roster[]

Goaltenders
# Country Player Catches Acquired Place of Birth
1 Japan L 2014 Taiwa, Japan
38 Japan L 2011 Machida, Japan
44 Japan Fukufuji Yutaka (A) L 2010 Kushiro, Japan
Defencemen
# Country Player Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
4 Japan L 2018 Kushiro, Japan
5 Japan L 2016 Nikkō, Japan
8 Japan L 2018 Sapporo, Japan
9 Japan (A) L 2014 Kushiro, Japan
27 Finland Joonas Hurri L 2018 Lahti, Finland
28 Japan L 2014 Nikkō, Japan
49 CanadaJapan R 2017 West Vancouver, Canada
51 Japan L 2018 Nikkō, Japan
54 Japan R 2015 Tomakomai, Japan
55 Russia Artyom Dorofeyev L 2018 Moscow, Russia
74 Japan L 2015 Sapporo, Japan
Forwards
# Country Player width=8
12 Japan W R 2013 Tomakomai, Japan
13 Japan (A) C L 2013 Tomakomai, Japan
16 Japan Saito Tetsuya (C) C R 2013 Kushiro, Japan
17 Japan RW R 2017 Utsunomiya, Japan
18 Japan LW L 2016 Nikkō, Japan
22 Japan F L 2016 Obihiro, Japan
25 Finland Joonas Alanne LW/RW L 2011 Rovaniemi, Finland
30 Japan C L 2013 Sapporo, Japan
53 Japan (A) LW L 2017 Nikkō, Japan
86 Japan W/C R 2016 Tokyo, Japan
88 Japan LW L 2014 Nikkō, Japan
91 Japan Saito Takeshi RW R 2014 Kushiro, Japan
92 Japan F L 2018 Tomakomai, Japan

Past import players[]

References[]

  1. ^ https://www.icebucks.jp/news/14446
  2. ^ "Archive Record". Alhockey.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved 12 January 2009.

External links[]

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