European University Hockey League

Current season or competition: 2013–14 EUHL season
EUHL logo
Countries	Slovakia (5 teams) Czech Republic (3 teams) Austria (1 team) Poland (1 team)
Region(s)	Central Europe
League President	Jaroslav Straka
LeagueVice-President	Ľubomír Sekeráš
Founded	2013
First season	2014–15
No. of teams	10
Recent Champions	UK Praha (1st title)
Most successful club	UK Praha (3 titles)
Headquarters	Trenčín, Slovakia
Website	http://www.euhl.eu

The European University Hockey League (EUHL) is the first European university league in ice hockey, founded in 2013. It is managed by the European University Hockey Association (EUHA). The idea for a university hockey league in Europe came from Jaroslav Straka, with support from Lubomir Sekeras, Frantisek Sadecky, and Peter Spankovic. The initial idea was for a pan-European expansion through the creation of four divisions to save money and time: Eastern (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Hungary), Western (Germany I, France, Belgium, The Netherlands), North (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark) and South (Germany II, Austria II, Switzerland, Slovenia). Presently the EUHL consists of 10 teams from 4 countries, but next year there will be more teams included. The new applicants come from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Hungary, accompanied by American universities and associations from the USA.

Trophy

The winner of the league is awarded the Sekeráš Championship Trophy, named after former Slovak NHL player Ľubomír Sekeráš, who is the co-founder of the league.^[1]

Divisions

Four divisions are planned – Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western. The Northern division will contain teams from universities in Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark; the Eastern division teams from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, and Hungary; the Southern division teams from Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, and Austria, and the Western division teams from France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.^[2]

For the first season in 2013–14, only six teams were involved, forming only one division.

Teams

At the beginning of the first season only five teams were confirmed – three from Slovakia and two from the Czech Republic – even though more universities were interested in joining the league. However, on 13 November 2013 a new participant, VŠEMvs Managers from Bratislava joined the league, thus increasing the number of participants to six.^[3]

In the second season the following teams participated:

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Team name	Joined	Arena	Capacity	Titles	Website
Charles University in Prague	Prague	1347	Public	UK Praha	2013	Zimní stadion Slaný	3,200[4]	1
City University of Seattle (VŠM)	Trenčín	1999	Private	CityU Gladiators Trenčín		Zimný štadión Pavla Demitru	6,150	0
Czech Technical University	Prague	2001	Public	Technika Praha				0
Pan-European University	Bratislava	2004	Private	Paneuropa Kings		Zimný štadión Vladimíra Dzurillu	3,500	0
Slovak University of Technology	Bratislava	1937	Public	Slávia STU				0
University of International and Public Relations Prague in Bratislava	Bratislava		Private	Diplomats Pressburg	2014
University of West Bohemia	Plzeň	1991	Public	Akademici Plzeň
Matej Bel University	Banská Bystrica	1992	Public	UMB Banská Bystrica
The Podhale State College of Applied Sciences in Nowy Targ[5]	Nowy Targ			PPWSZ – Podhale Nowy Targ	2015
Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu - National-Louis University[6]	Krynica-Zdrój	1928	Public	Academy KTH 1928 Krynica-Zdrój	2016
University of Graz	Graz	1585	Public	UHT Dukes Graz	2015	Eisstadion Liebenau	4,050
University of Prešov	Prešov		Public	UNIPO Warriors	2016

References

External links

• Official website