The Bulgarian national ice hockey team (, ''Natsionalen otbor po khokeĭ na led na Bŭlgariya'') is the national men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. The team is controlled by the Bulgarian Ice Hockey Federation and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). 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 Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, the capital of

, hosted the games of Division II, Group B of the 2009 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. Bulgaria's opponents at the tournament were

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and

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. In 2011, Bulgaria was also in Division II, with

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

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Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

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. 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 (by placing 1st or 2nd in Pool C) was in 1975, which also qualified them for the 1976 Olympics. The only year that they won any games in Pool B was 1992 (at that time it was contested between nations ranked 13th to 20th), defeating

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, China and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. 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

All-time record

References

External links

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IIHF profileNational Teams of Ice Hockey
{{National sports teams of Bulgaria National ice hockey teams in Europe Men's national ice hockey teams