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.

Euro Ice Hockey Challenge
Statusactive
Genresports event
Date(s)August–February
Frequencyannual
Location(s)various
InauguratedOctober 2001 (2001-10)
Organised byFIS

Organization

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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

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The 2012 edition consisted of seven tournaments:[1]

2nd International Break

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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

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EIHC Romania

Team
  Kazakhstan
  Poland
  Romania
  Ukraine

Standby:   Hungary/  Serbia

EIHC Slovenia

Team
  France
  Norway
  Russia B
  Slovenia

Standby:   Hungary

4th International Break

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EIHC Norway

Team
  Denmark
  France
  Latvia
  Norway

EIHC Ukraine

Team
  Italy
  Kazakhstan
  Spain
  Ukraine

Standby:   Lithuania/  Romania

References

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