Elite.A

Elite.A

Lega Italiana Hockey su Ghiaccio
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1924
No. of teams	10
Country	Italy
Most recent champion(s)	Asiago Hockey AS
Official website	http://www.lihg.it/

Elite.A is the name of the top tier of professional ice hockey in Italy, which first began play in 1924. They are conducted under the authority of the Federazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio (FISG). As in the other top-level Italian sports leagues, the winners of the Elite.A will wear the Scudetto the following season. The league's cup is known as the Rbk Hockey Cup to reflect Reebok's sponsorship of the league.

The league was formerly known as the Serie A (full name: la Serie A di hockey su ghiaccio, or A Series of ice hockey), but changed its name to Elite.A in 2013.^[1]

2012/13

Teams

Alleghe

Asiago

Bolzano

Cortina

Fassa

Milan

Pontebba

Ritten

Bruneck

Valpellice

Teams currently in the Serie A.

2011/12

Teams

Playing format

• First part: "Regular season" - Every team plays four matches against each other.
• Second Part: After the regular season the teams will be divided into 2 groups to determine access to play off and play out (round robin).
• Third part: "Play Off" - Quarterfinals: 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5. Quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be played at the best of 7. "Play Out" - 9 vs 10.

2010/11

Teams

Playing format

• First part: "Regular season" - Every team plays five matches against each other. Team points are then halved and the second part begins.
• Second part: "Play Off" - Quarterfinals: 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5. Quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be played at the best of 7.

2009/10

Teams

Playing format

• First part: "Regular season" - Every team plays five matches against each other. Team points are then halved and the second part begins.
• Second part: "Play Off" - Quarterfinals: 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5. Quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be played at the best of 7.

2008/09

Teams

Playing format

• First part: Every team plays four matches (2 home and 2 on the road) against each other. Team points are then halved and the second part begins.
• Second part: Every team plays two matches (1 home and 1 on the road) against each other. In the end, the final standings determine the playoff and playout tree. The first 4 teams access to playoff, the last 4 to playout.
• Third part:
  • "Play Off" - Semifinals: 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3. Semifinals and finals will be played at the best of 7.
  • "Play Out" - Semifinals: 5 vs 8, 6 vs 7. The losers play against each other, and the team who lose, will play against the winner of the Serie A2 to avoid relegation.

Points: Win 3 points - Win (Overtime or Penalties) 2 points - Lose (Overtime or Penalties) 1 point

2007/08

Teams

Playing format

• First part: "Regular season" - Every team plays four matches (2 home and 2 on the road) against each other. Team points are then halved and the second part begins.
• Second part: "Master round/Relegation round" - Teams are divided into two groups, the master round (Group A) with the top 4 teams and the relegation round (Group B) with the last 5 teams. Every team plays two matches (1 home and 1 on the road) against the teams of its group. In the end, the final standings determine the playoff tree. 8 teams access to the playoff: the 4 teams in Group A and the best 4 teams in Group B). The last one of the relegation round ends the season sooner but it won't play in the lower division next year, since no movements from one division to another are foreseen.
• Third part: "Play Off" - Quarterfinals: 1A vs 4B, 2A vs 3B, 3A vs 2B, 4A vs 1B. Quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be played at the best of 5.

Points: Win 2 points - Tie 1 point

Elite.A champions

¹ AC Milanese DG, Milan-Inter HC and Diavoli HC Milano are teams which were born from the disbanding of HC Milano & HC Diavoli Rossoneri Milano.
² HC Devils Milano adopted the name 'AC Milan Hockey' for the 1993-94 season.

Notable players

Foreigners

Italians

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Serie A (ice hockey).

• Official website of the Italian Ice Hockey League (in Italian and German)
• Official website of the Italian Ice Sports Federation - Ice Hockey section (in Italian)
• Tuttohockey - News and statistics from around the league (in Italian)
• HockeyTime - News and interviews from around the league (in Italian)
• Südtirol on Ice - News, tables and discussions from around Italian hockey with a focus on South Tyrol-based teams (in German)

v t e Elite A Teams: HC Alleghe HC Asiago HC Bolzano HC Pustertal-Val Pusteria SG Cortina HC Fassa SG Pontebba AS Renon HC Valpellice Other articles: Coppa Italia Supercoppa Italia Italy men's national ice hockey team Italy women's national ice hockey team Related articles: IIHF IIHF Continental Cup IIHF European Champions Cup