Alps Hockey League


The Alps Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league based in Central Europe. The league is made up of teams from Austria, Italy and Slovenia. The league was established as a result of a merger between Serie A and the Inter-National League.

Formation

The Alps Hockey League was founded in spring 2016, and is a joint venture between the Austrian Ice Hockey Association, the Federazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio, and the Ice Hockey Federation of Slovenia. The three national governing bodies have stated that they are keen to ensure that the league is both of a high standard, and financially viable in the long term. In addition, the league has also stated that it is open to teams from other nations, including the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia.
Regarding players, each team can sign a maximum four foreign born players. The AlpsHL operates a points based system similar to that of the EBEL, with each team having 16 points at their disposal. As a result of this, the league aims to focus on the development of young players from the participating countries.

2019–20 teams

In the 2019–20 season, the AlpsHL consisted of 18 teams, nine of which were based in Austria, seven in Italy, and two in Slovenia. Hockey Milano Rossoblu were the league's most recent expansion team, joining in 2018 after replacing HC Neumarkt-Egna who withdrew due to financial difficulties. However, after only one season, they withdrew from the league.
Austria
Italy
Slovenia