Bulgaria men's national ice hockey team


The Bulgarian national ice hockey team is the national men's ice hockey team of Bulgaria. The team is controlled by the Bulgaria Ice Hockey Federation and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. As of 2018, Bulgaria is ranked 38th in the IIHF World Ranking and competes in Division III of the Ice Hockey World Championships.
The team has participated once at the Olympic Winter Games. This happened in Innsbruck in 1976, when Bulgaria fell to the Czechoslovak team 14–1 in the first round. After a few more losses the team finished last in the tournament.
Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, hosted the games of Division II, Group B of the 2009 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. Bulgaria's opponents at the tournament were Belgium, Mexico, Spain, South Africa and South Korea. In 2011, Bulgaria was also in Division II, with Croatia, Romania, China, Ireland and Iceland.
Historically, the team has played in the second highest level four times, with their highest placement being 14th in 1970. However, the only year that they ever earned promotion was in 1975, which also qualified them for the 1976 Olympics. The only year that they won any games in Pool B was 1992, defeating Japan, China and Yugoslavia.
Goaltender Konstantin Mihailov played in 28 Ice Hockey World Championships with Bulgaria, and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2019, as a recipient of the Torriani Award to recognize his international hockey career.

World Championship record

YearCityCountryResult
1963StockholmSweden4th place in Group C
1967ViennaAustriaBronze in Group C
1969SkopjeYugoslavia5th place in Group C
1970BucharestRomania8th place in Group B
1971Several citiesthe Netherlands5th place in Group C
1972Miercurea-CiucRomania4th place in Group C
1973six citiesthe Netherlands4th place in Group C
1974Grenoble, Gap, LyonFranceBronze in Group C
1975SofiaBulgariaSilver in Group C
1976Aarau and BienneSwitzerland8th place in Group B
1977Copenhagen and HørsholmDenmarkBronze in Group C
1978Las PalmasSpain5th place in Group C
1979BarcelonaSpain4th place in Group C
1981BeijingChina6th place in Group C
1982JacaSpain6th place in Group C
1983BudapestHungary6th place in Group C
1985Megève, Chamonix, Saint-GervaisFrance6th place in Group C
1986PuigcerdaSpainBronze in Group C
1987Copenhagen, Herlev, HørsholmDenmark7th place in Group C
1989SydneyAustralia5th place in Group C
1990BudapestHungary6th place in Group C
1991BrøndbyDenmark4th place in Group C
1992KlagenfurtAustria5th place in Group B
1993Eindhoventhe Netherlands8th place in Group B
1994Poprad and Spišská Nová VesSlovakia7th place in Group C1
1995SofiaBulgaria9th place in Group C1
1996Kaunas and ElektrenaiLithuania6th place in Group D
1997CanilloAndorra7th place in Group D
1998Krugersdorp and PretoriaSouth AfricaGold in Group D
1999Eindhoven TilburgSouth Africa8th place in Group C
2000BeijingChina9th place in Group C
2001BucharestRomania4th in Division II Group B
2002Novi SadYugoslavia4th in Division II Group B
2003SofiaBulgariaBronze in Division II Group B
2004ElektrenaiLithuania4th in Division II Group B
2005ZagrebCroatia4th in Division II Group A
2006SofiaBulgariaSilver in Division II Group A
2007ZagrebCroatia5th in Division II Group A
2008Miercurea CiucRomania5th in Division II Group A
2009SofiaBulgaria4th in Division II Group B
2010NaucalpanMexico4th in Division II Group A
2011ZagrebCroatia5th in Division II Group B
2012SofiaBulgariaBronze in Division II Group B
2013IzmitTurkey6th in Division II Group B
2014LuxembourgLuxembourgGold in Division III
2015Cape TownSouth Africa4th in Division II Group B
2016Mexico CityMexico6th in Division II Group B
2017SofiaBulgariaSilver in Division III
2018Cape TownSouth AfricaSilver in Division III
2019SofiaBulgariaGold in Division III
2020ReykjavíkIcelandCancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic

Roster

Roster for the 2018 IIHF World Championship.