Euro Ice Hockey Challenge

The Euro Ice Hockey Challenge is a yearly series of national ice hockey tournaments, organized during the international breaks defined in the IIHF calendar in November, December, and February. Tournaments are played in different locations in Europe and sometimes feature teams from outside of Europe, usually Japan.

Organization

The EIHC was founded in October 2001 by the IIHF. Participants are the ice hockey national teams of countries that are themselves at or around the level of the IIHF World Championship Division I. It is a second-tier equivalent to tournaments of the Euro Hockey Tour.

Almost all the teams use the EIHC as preparation for the World Championship later in the same year. It is an opportunity for teams to test less experienced players and for them to gain valuable ice time at an international level.

In 2001 the initial IIHF tournament scheme, planned to last until 2005, included the following 12 participating nations:  Ukraine,  Austria,  Netherlands,  Italy,  Latvia,  Slovenia,  Poland,  Belarus,  Norway,  Great Britain,  France,  Denmark and  Hungary. The tournament has since expanded to more than 4 tournaments and the occasional participation by  Japan.

2011-2012 tournaments

The 2012 edition consisted of seven tournaments:[1]

2nd International Break

EIHC Hungary

Team
 Austria
 Italy
 Japan
 Hungary

Standby:  Ukraine

EIHC Belarus

Team
 Belarus
 Denmark
 Japan
 Slovenia

EIHC Poland

Team
 Croatia
 Netherlands
 Poland
 Romania

Standby:  Lithuania

3rd International Break

EIHC Romania

Team
 Kazakhstan
 Poland
 Romania
 Ukraine

Standby:  Hungary/ Serbia

EIHC Slovenia

Team
 France
 Norway
 Russia B
 Slovenia

Standby:  Hungary

4th International Break

EIHC Norway

Team
 Denmark
 France
 Latvia
 Norway

EIHC Ukraine

Team
 Italy
 Kazakhstan
 Spain
 Ukraine

Standby:  Lithuania/ Romania

References

  1. ↑ EIHC 2011/2012

External links