Supreme Hockey League

Supreme Hockey League
Current season, competition or edition:;
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	2010
No. of teams	34 (2019–2020 season)
Countries	Russia (27 teams); Kazakhstan (3 teams); China (3 teams); Uzbekistan (1 team)
Most recent; champion(s)	Saryarka Karagandy (2)
Most titles	Toros Neftekamsk (3)
Related; competitions	Kontinental Hockey League; VHL-B; Junior Hockey League; National Junior Hockey League
Official website	vhlru.ru

The Supreme Hockey League (SHL)^[1]^[2] (Russian: Высшая хоккейная лига (ВХЛ), Vysshaya hokkeinaya liga (VHL)), also known as the Major Hockey League^[3]^[4] or Higher Hockey League (HHL),^[5] is a professional ice hockey league in Eurasia, and the second highest level of Russian hockey. There will be 34 teams from 4 nations (Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Uzbekistan) participating in the 2019–20 season.^[6]

Though currently acting independently, plans were in place to convert it to a farm system for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)'s 2010–11 season.^[7] It was preceded by the Major League of the Russian Championship (Vysshaya Liga) that formerly held a relegation role for the Russian Superleague, and was governed by the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia. As of the 2017–18 season, some VHL teams are affiliated with a KHL team (e.g. HC Sarov is affiliated with KHL's Torpedo), while other teams of the VHL are not affiliated with a KHL team.

Russian Classic[]

The Russian Classic (Russian: Русская классика, Russkaya klassika) is an outdoor ice hockey game that is played during the Supreme Hockey League regular season. So far, the visiting team has won every edition of the game.

Date	Venue	Sport	Location	Home Team	Visiting Team	Score	Attendance
February 17, 2012	Central Stadium	Football, Rugby	Krasnoyarsk	Sokol Krasnoyarsk	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	2–3	16,100
January 19, 2014	Central Stadium	Football	Chelyabinsk	Chelmet Chelyabinsk	Lada Togliatti	2–5	9,200
February 14, 2015	Sputnik Stadium	Football	Nizhny Tagil	Sputnik Nizhny Tagil	Yuzhny Ural Orsk	0–4	8,350
February 7, 2016	Khimik Stadium	Football	Tver	THK Tver	Buran Voronezh	1–2 (OT)	6,350
January 14, 2017	Park Legend		Moscow	Dynamo Balashikha	Khimik Voskresensk	1–3	1,831
January 28, 2018	Central Stadium	Football	Kurgan	Zauralie Kurgan	Rubin Tyumen	0–4	3,000

Bolded teams denote winners

Seasons overview[]

Season	Petrov Cup winner	Finalist	Final score	Regular season winner
2010–11	Rubin Tyumen	Neftyanik Almetyevsk	4–0	Rubin Tyumen
2011–12	Toros Neftekamsk	Rubin Tyumen	4–1	Rubin Tyumen
2012–13	Toros Neftekamsk	Saryarka Karagandy	4–3	Saryarka Karagandy
2013–14	Saryarka Karagandy	Rubin Tyumen	4–2	Toros Neftekamsk
2014–15	Toros Neftekamsk	HC Izhstal	4–2	Saryarka Karagandy
	Neftyanik Almetyevsk	HC Izhstal	4–1	THK Tver
	Dynamo Balashikha	Kazzinc-Torpedo	4–0	Kazzinc-Torpedo
	Dinamo Saint Petersburg	SKA-Neva	4–2	Dinamo Saint Petersburg
	Saryarka Karagandy	Rubin Tyumen	4–1	SKA-Neva
	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic			Zvezda Moscow

Teams in 2019–20[]

Team	City	Arena	Capacity	KHL Affiliate Team(s)	MHL/NMHL Affiliate Team(s)	Founded	Joined league
Bars	Kazan		3,845	Ak Bars Kazan		2009	2014
Buran	Voronezh		3,200	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl		1949	2012
Chelmet	Chelyabinsk	Yunost Sport Palace	3,500	Traktor Chelyabinsk	Belye Medvedi	1948	2010
CSK VVS Samara	Samara	CSK VVS Sport Palace	3,500	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	Independent	1950	2017
Dinamo Saint Petersburg	Saint Petersburg	Yubileyny Sports Palace	7,000	Vityaz Podolsk		2013	2016
Dizel	Penza		5,500	Independent		1956	2010
Dynamo Tver	Tver	Sports Complex Yubileiny	2,000	Dynamo Moscow	MHC Dynamo Moscow	2019	2019
Ermak	Angarsk		6,900	Sibir Novosibirsk	Sibirskie Snaipery	1959	2010
Gornyak	Uchaly		1,500	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	Avto	2013	2017
HC Izhstal	Izhevsk		3,268	Severstal Cherepovets	Progress	1958	2010
HC Rostov	Rostov-on-Don	Ice Arena	600	Independent	Independent	2004	2019
HC Ryazan	Ryazan		3,000	HC Sochi	Kapitan Stupino	1999	2010
HC Tambov	Tambov	Crystal Ice Palace	1,200	Independent	Independent	1981	2018
Humo	Tashkent	Humo Ice Dome	12,500	Independent	Independent	2019	2019
Khimik	Voskresensk	Podmoskovie Ice Palace	4,000	Spartak Moscow	JHC Spartak	2005	2015
KRS Heilongjiang	Harbin	Harbin Sport University Gymnasium	2,500	HC Kunlun Red Star		2017	2017
Lada Togliatti	Tolyatti	Lada Arena	6,000	Independent		2004	2018
Metallurg Novokuznetsk	Novokuznetsk	Kuznetsk Metallurgists Sports Palace	7,533	Sibir Novosibirsk	Kuznetskie Medvedi	1949	2017
Molot-Prikamye	Perm	Universal Sports Palace Molot	6,000	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	Reaktor	1948	2010
Neftyanik	Almetyevsk		2,000	Independent		1965	2010
Nomad	Nur-Sultan	Kazakhstan Sports Palace	4,070	Barys	Snezhnye Barsy	2007	2019
	Beijing		2,000	HC Kunlun Red Star		2019	2019
Rubin	Tyumen	Sports Palace Tyumen	3,300	Independent	Tyumensky Legion	1959	2010
Saryarka	Karagandy	Karagandy Arena	5,500	Independent	HC Temirtau (KHC)	2006	2012
SKA-Neva	Saint Petersburg	Yubileyny Sports Palace	7,000	SKA Saint Petersburg	SKA-1946	2008	2010
Sokol	Krasnoyarsk	Arena Sever	2,600	Independent		1977	2011
Toros	Neftekamsk		1,900	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	Tolpar	1988	2010
	Nizhny Novgorod	Konovalenko Sports Palace	4,300	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod		2019	2019
Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk	Ust-Kamenogorsk	Boris Alexandrov Sports Palace	4,400	Barys	Snezhnye Barsy	1955	2010
Tsen Tou Jilin City	Jilin	Jilin Arena	8,000	Independent	Independent	2017	2017
Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk	Khanty-Mansiysk	Arena Ugra	5,500	Avangard Omsk	Mamonty Yugry	2006	2018
Yuzhny Ural	Orsk		4,500	Admiral Vladivostok	Sarmaty	1958	2010
Zauralie	Kurgan		2,500	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	Stalnye Lisy	1962	2010
Zvezda Moscow	Moscow	CSKA Ice Palace	5,600	CSKA Moscow	Krasnaya Armiya	2015	2015

All-time team records[]

Since its foundation in 2010, 40 different clubs have played in the VHL, and 34 of them have at least once qualified for the playoffs. Only one club (Toros Neftekamsk) has made the playoffs in all nine championships of the VHL, reaching the semi-final stage six times. The table gives the final regular-season ranks for all teams, with the playoff performance encoded in colors. The teams are ordered by their best championship results.

	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Toros Neftekamsk	2	2	3	1	8	3	5	10	3
Rubin Tyumen	1	1	2	3	11	19	10	17	4
Saryarka Karagandy			1	4	1	8	3	4	10
Neftyanik Almetyevsk	3	7	4	10	19	4	11	3	2
Dynamo Balashikha	19	20	11	13	17	12	6
Dinamo Saint Petersburg							12	1	14
HC Izhstal	16	19	26	19	2	10	16	21	26
Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk	9	8	14	11	15	9	1	7	18
SKA-Neva	11	11	18	25	21	7	2	2	1
Dizel Penza	7	5	16	6	10	20	19	19	21
THK Tver			19	8	3	1	7
Molot-Prikamye Perm	4	12	13	2	4	15	17	16	27
Buran Voronezh			7	9	7	5	25	25	22
Zauralie Kurgan	10	16	25	26	9	11	8	5	8
Ariada Volzhsk	18	9	12	14	20	22	24
Donbass Donetsk		3
Ermak Angarsk	8	6	8	17	12	6	13	6	28
Sputnik Nizhny Tagil	12	14	6	24	13	14	4	26
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl		22	10
Ryazan	15	21	27	21	6	2	15	22	13
Lada Togliatti	20	13	9	12					5
Yuzhny Ural	6	4	5	7	18	17	21	11	16
Zvezda Moscow						21	14	12	6
Chelmet Chelyabinsk	13	10	20	18	16	16	18	20	20
Sokol Krasnoyarsk		18	24	16	22	18	9	8	12
Kuban			17	5	14
Kristall Saratov	17	23	21	22		25	26
Metallurg Novokuznetsk								13	11
Sarov	5	17	15	20	23	13	20	9	25
Titan Klin		15	22	15
Lipetsk				23	5
Krylya Sovetov	14
Khimik Voskresensk						24	23	15	9
Tsen Tou								14	15
Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk									7
Bars					24	23	22	18	17
CSK VVS Samara								27	19
Gornyak Uchaly								23	24
HC Tambov									23
KRS-ORG Beijing								24	29
Yunost Minsk			23
						26
Dynamo Tver
Humo
Nomad

HC Rostov

Color	Result
Red	Bratina Cup Winner
Yellow	Runner-up
Green	Semifinalist
Light Blue	Quarterfinalist
Blue	Qualified for playoffs
Light Gray	Not qualified for playoffs
Gray	Did not play in the season

References[]

^ Supreme Hockey League
^ TV-VHL on YouTube
^ "League Structure". KHL. Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
^ "Medical Support For All". Kontinental Hockey League. 26 June 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^ "The press conference devoted to the start of the season of Higher Hockey League was". Ice Hockey Federation of Russia. Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
^ "Teams". Retrieved August 8, 2019.
^ "Учреждение ВХЛ". KHL.ru. Retrieved 4 April 2010.

External links[]

[1] Supreme Hockey League

[2] TV-VHL on YouTube

[vhlofficial-3] "League Structure". KHL. Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.

[4] "Medical Support For All". Kontinental Hockey League. 26 June 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.

[5] "The press conference devoted to the start of the season of Higher Hockey League was". Ice Hockey Federation of Russia. Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.

[6] "Teams". Retrieved August 8, 2019.

[7] "Учреждение ВХЛ". KHL.ru. Retrieved 4 April 2010.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]