The Chance Liga is the second-highest level of professional
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
in the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, after the
Extraliga. It began in 1993 and is run and administered by
Czech Ice Hockey Association
The Czech Ice Hockey Association ( cs, Český svaz ledního hokeje, ČSLH) is the governing body of ice hockey in the Czech Republic.
Structure
According to the statutes, seven organs operate in the Czech Ice Hockey Association. Every two year ...
.
Until 2015, the league was known as the 1st Czech National Hockey League. It was then known as the WSM Liga until 2018.
Format
In the first phase, every team plays each other four times—twice at home and twice away—which makes for a 52-game regular season.
After the 52-game regular season, the first six teams directly qualify for the quarter-finals, while teams which placed 7 to 10 play a
round-robin to determine the final two participants in the quarter-finals.
The First League, unlike other leagues around the world, has two winners. The playoffs end with the semi-finals, with the two winning teams being declared co-champions. The two teams then go on to face the bottom two teams from the
Extraliga in a round-robin. The two highest-placed teams at the end of the round robin are promoted to the Extraliga for the following season.
The last placed team at the end of the regular season is directly relegated to the
Second League for the following season. They are replaced by the winner of a 3 team
round-robin group between the winners of the East, the Central and the West divisions of the Second League.
Three points are awarded for a win in regulation time and two points for an overtime or shootout victory, while the defeated team in overtime or shootout gets one point.
The level of 1. národní hokejová liga is slightly lower than the
Czech Extraliga
The Czech Extraliga ( cs, Extraliga ledního hokeje, ELH) is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. It was created by the 1993 split of the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League following the breakup of Czechoslovakia. The le ...
, but there are a lot of players moving between those two leagues every season. Each team in this league is allowed to have five imports. The league has no salary cap, with an average salary of USD 2200 per month, but some of the best players reportedly sign contracts for more than USD 5000 per month, plus most of the teams cover accommodation expenses for their players during the season.
Current teams (2022-23)
Champions
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1993–94 Vsetínská hokejová and
HC Slavia Praha
HC Slavia Praha (eng: HC Slavia Prague) is a Czech ice hockey team located in Prague playing the Czech 1st National Hockey League, the second-highest league in the country. Slavia played in the Extraliga from 1994 until 2015, winning the nati ...
*
1994–95 HC Kometa Brno
HC Kometa Brno ("Comet" in English) is a professional ice hockey team based in Brno, Czech Republic. They play in the Czech Extraliga. Kometa is the most successful ice hockey club in the Czech Republic with 13 Czechoslovak (and Czech) league ch ...
and
TZ Třinec
*
1995–96 HC Přerov and
HC Opava
*
1996–97 HC Becherovka Karlovy Vary and
HC Kralupy nad Vltavou
*
1997–98 HC Znojemští Orli
*
1998–99 HC Znojemští Orli
*
1999–2000 HC Dukla Jihlava
*
2000–01 KLH Chomutov
*
2001–02 HC Bílí Tygři Liberec
Bílí Tygři Liberec (English: ''Liberec White Tigers'') are a professional ice hockey club based in Liberec, Czech Republic. The team competes in the Czech Extraliga, the highest level of play in professional Czech ice hockey.
History
The fir ...
*
2002–03 HC Vagnerplast Kladno
*
2003–04 HC Dukla Jihlava
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2004–05 HC České Budějovice
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2005–06 HC Slovan Ústí nad Labem
*
2006–07 HC Slovan Ústí nad Labem
*
2007–08 BK Mladá Boleslav
*
2008–09 HC Slovan Ústečtí Lvi
*
2009–10 KLH Chomutov
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2010–11 HC Slovan Ústečtí Lvi
*
2011–12 Piráti Chomutov
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2012–13 BK Mladá Boleslav and
HC Olomouc
HC Olomouc is an ice hockey team in the Czech Extraliga (first-level league) from Olomouc. They won the Extraliga championship in the 1993/1994 season. In 1997 the club sold the Extraliga license to HC Karlovy Vary, and was thus relegated to th ...
*
2013–14 BK Mladá Boleslav and HC Olomouc
*
2014–15 Piráti Chomutov and
Motor České Budějovice
HC Motor České Budějovice is a professional men's ice hockey club, based in České Budějovice, Czech Republic. It is a member of the Czech Extraliga (ELH) after reforming when the original club, now known as Mountfield HK, moved to Hradec K ...
*
2015–16 HC Dukla Jihlava and
HC Slavia Praha
HC Slavia Praha (eng: HC Slavia Prague) is a Czech ice hockey team located in Prague playing the Czech 1st National Hockey League, the second-highest league in the country. Slavia played in the Extraliga from 1994 until 2015, winning the nati ...
*
2016–17 Motor České Budějovice
HC Motor České Budějovice is a professional men's ice hockey club, based in České Budějovice, Czech Republic. It is a member of the Czech Extraliga (ELH) after reforming when the original club, now known as Mountfield HK, moved to Hradec K ...
and
HC Dukla Jihlava
*
2017–18 Energie Karlovy Vary and
Rytíři Kladno
*
2018–19 Motor České Budějovice
HC Motor České Budějovice is a professional men's ice hockey club, based in České Budějovice, Czech Republic. It is a member of the Czech Extraliga (ELH) after reforming when the original club, now known as Mountfield HK, moved to Hradec K ...
and
Rytíři Kladno
*
2019–20 Motor České Budějovice
HC Motor České Budějovice is a professional men's ice hockey club, based in České Budějovice, Czech Republic. It is a member of the Czech Extraliga (ELH) after reforming when the original club, now known as Mountfield HK, moved to Hradec K ...
*
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
Rytíři Kladno
*
2021–22 HC Dukla Jihlava
External links
Hokej.czHokej iDNES.cz
{{DEFAULTSORT:1. narodni hokejova liga
Czech
Professional ice hockey leagues in the Czech Republic