...
Ice
Hockey's history in Slovenia
Ice
Hockey using official, IIHF rules, was
played as early as 1928 in Ljubljana by SK
Ilirija.
Since Illiria did not have
competition, they organised their own in
Kamnik. The first match (and now historical)
in Slovenia was therefore borne on February
7th, 1929 with Illirija winning 15:1 over
Kamnik, (the only goal produced by Kamnik
was a header).
Since Iliria did not find
any competition in (then) Yugoslavia, it
looked north to Austria and on February
21st, 1932 played the first International
match with KAC from Klagenfurt, but lost
12:1.
During
these early days circa 1934, the epicenter
for Ice Hockey in Slovenia was on Lake
Bled, where the Iliria (National
representative) played matches against WEV
from Vienna, VSV from
Villach (both Austria) and FTC from
Budapest
(Hungary). Yugoslav
skating and Ice Hockey Federation
establish in1937. In
1937 and 1938, Iliria
defaulted as a National champion without
any matches as there were no competitive
teams in (then) Yugoslavia. The first
official National tournament was held January
9th, 1939 in Zagreb, with Iliria winning
the Nationals tournament.
...national
team
In
1939, Iliria took 13th (of 14) place at
the Zurich International championships.
The
first International match won by Slovenia
(representing Yugoslavia), was also in
1939 in Bucharest, beating the
Netherlands, 4:2.
The
Slovenian
The
Slovenian/Yugoslavian
Hockey league improved dramatically by 1968, where they won 1st place in
group B (9th place in the world). Slovenia again attained 9th place in
1973 Group B. In 1974, they attained 2nd place in Group B (8th in the
world). In 1991, the Slovenian team had a final match under the Yugoslav
flag.
Altogether
144 Slovene ice hockey players (67,7%)
played for Yugoslavia national team of
total 213 players.
T
he
official Slovenian representation began in 1992 in Group C, a strong
group due to Russian dominance
(ex-Soviet`s Republics). In 1998, Slovenia was
upgraded to Group B and in 2001 (winning
1st place in Group B) was upgraded to
Group A (a dream come true for many
die-hard players and fans alike).
...national
championships
The first
official National tournament was held January
9th, 1939 in Zagreb, with Iliria winning
the Nationals tournament.1940,
new ice hockey center arised at Jesenice.
After II. world war, many new ice hockey
clubs from Trzic, Celje, Maribor, Kranj,
Brezice, Velenje, Prevoje, Vevce, Zalog,
Kranjska Gora and Bled were joined to
Jesenice and Olimpia .
At
1957, Jesenice (also called steelers) won
first national championship. Between 1957
and 1971 all the titles went to Jesenice.
In 163 matches, the team was defeted
only 4 times. During the sixties, a
new ice hockey team from Ljubljana,
Olimpia (also called dragons), become and
rivalry between the teams croweds of
spectators. In 1972, Olimpia stopped
the Jesenice trophy series. At the
late of `80., Croatian and Serbian ice
hockey clubs shuttered by the Slovenian
predominance with imports players from
Slovenia.
Slovene
clubs won 33 champion titles (Jesenice
23, Olimpija 8, Iliria 2)
altogether at 46 national
championships in former Yugoslavia.
In
season 1991/1992 was started first
national championship of the
independent Slovenia.
Only
about 200 (senior) ice hockey players have
been registred today in Slovenia,
respectivetly about 1000 ice hockey
players all generation and sex.
Eight
ice hockey teams are in first
(and only senior`s) division:
HK
Olimpia,Ljubljana,
HK
Yesenice,
HK
Slavija, Ljubljana-Zalog,
SD Alfa,Ljubljana-Vevce,
HK Bled,
HK Triglav,Kranj,
HK Maribor`s Dog-Foxes,
Maribor,
HK HIT Kranjska Gora (Jesenice`s
junior team), Jesenice,
and HS
Olimpija (Olimpia`s
junior team),
Ljubljana;
(maybe also again HK Celje,
Celje).
