2023–24 Asia League Ice Hockey season

2023–24 ALIH season
LeagueAsia League Ice Hockey
SportIce hockey
Duration16 September 2023 – 6 April 2024
Number of games80
Number of teams5
Regular season
Leaders FlagHL Anyang
  Runners-upRed Eagles Hokkaido
Season MVPLee Chong-min (HLA)
Top scorerKim Sang-wook (HLA)
(48 points)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVPShin Sang-woo (HLA)
Finals championsHL Anyang
  Runners-upRed Eagles Hokkaido
Asia League Ice Hockey seasons

The 2023–24 Asia League Ice Hockey season was the 21st season of operation (19th season of play) of the Asia League Ice Hockey.

The regular season began on 16 September 2023 when the defending champions HL Anyang host Red Eagles Hokkaido.[1] The season concluded on 6 April 2024 with HL Anyang defeating the Red Eagles Hokkaido in 4 games to clinch their eighth championship.

Season changes

The league dropped the East Hokkaido Cranes on 17 July 2023 after the team could not resolve outstanding salary issues from the previous season.[2]

Only two teams qualify for the playoffs this season due to the reduced number of participating teams.

Teams

Only five teams from the 2022–23 season returned for the 2023–24 season after East Hokkaido Cranes folded.

Team City/Town Arena Capacity
HL Anyang South Korea Anyang Anyang Ice Arena 1,284
Red Eagles Hokkaido Japan Tomakomai Hakucho Arena 3,015
Nikkō Ice Bucks Japan Nikkō Nikkō Kirifuri Ice Arena 1,608
Tohoku Free Blades Japan Hachinohe Flat Hachinohe 3,500
Yokohama Grits Japan Yokohama KOSÉ Shin-Yokohama Skate Center 2,500

Regular season

The league's regular season began on 16 September 2023 and ended on 24 March 2024, which HL Anyang clinching their seventh regular season championship.

Standings

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 HL Anyang 32 22 1 3 6 126 81 +45 71 Regular season champions
Qualification to playoffs
2 Red Eagles Hokkaido 32 21 1 0 10 124 78 +46 65 Qualification to playoffs
3 Tohoku Free Blades 32 14 2 2 14 101 107 −6 48
4 Nikkō IceBucks 32 12 3 1 16 99 118 −19 43
5 Yokohama Grits 32 3 1 2 26 78 144 −66 13
Source: Asia League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Games won in regulation time; 3) Number of games won; 4) Head-to-head results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 5) Fewest regulation losses; 6) Away game results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 7) Goals scored; 8) Goal difference; 9) Fewest penalty minutes; 10) Drawing of lots.

Results

Teams play each other eight times, four at home and four away.

Home \ Away HLA REH NIB TFB YGR
HL Anyang — 5–4 6–0 5–2 7–2
— 6–3 5–3 3–2 2–3[a]
— 2–6 1–3 3–0 4–2
— 3–1 4–2 7–2 4–2
Red Eagles Hokkaido 2–1 — 1–2 7–2 6–1
4–0 — 6–4 4–1 3–1
2–5 — 6–3 3–4 5–3
3–6 — 6–3 6–2 4–0
Nikkō Ice Bucks 3–4 2–5 — 4–2 6–5[b]
1–3 1–2 — 4–6 4–2
6–4 2–8 — 3–2 1–8
3–2[a] 3–0 — 2–4 7–5
Tohoku Free Blades 5–4[b] 2–4 3–4[b] — 7–2
2–4 4–1 1–0[a] — 3–1
0–3 1–6 4–6 — 6–4
1–0 3–4[a] 5–2 — 5–1
Yokohama Grits 3–6 0–2 0–5 3–5 —
2–5 4–2 0–3 3–6 —
5–6[b] 2–5 4–5 2–4 —
2–6 0–3 4–2 2–5 —
Source: ALIH
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
  1. ^ a b c d Shootout
  2. ^ a b c d Overtime

Playoffs

The two teams that finished at the top of the regular season were the only teams participating in the 2024 playoffs. The Finals were competed in a best-of-five series following a 2–2–1–1–1 format. The regular season runners-up hosted games one and two, and the first place team hosted games three and four (game five, was not necessary).

Finals

(1) HL Anyang vs. (2) Red Eagles Hokkaido

30 March 2024 HL Anyang 5–4 3OT Red Eagles Hokkaido Nikkō Kirifuri Ice Arena Recap  
No scoring First period No scoring
No scoring Second period 19:59 – pp – Taiga Irikura (1)
Song Jong-hun (1) – pp – 2:56
Shin Sang-woo (1) – 11:45
Nam Hee-doo (1) 17:12 		Third period 16:08 – pp – Taiga Irikura (2)
19:15 – Yushi Nakayashiki (1)
Matt Dalton (53 saves / 57 shots) Goalie stats Yuta Narisawa (46 saves / 51 shots)
31 March 2024 HL Anyang 5–2 Red Eagles Hokkaido Nikkō Kirifuri Ice Arena Recap  
No scoring First period 13:59 – Kenta Takagi (1)
Ahn Jin-hui (1) – pp – 5:01 Second period No scoring
Shin Sang-woo (1) – 1:26
Lee Chong-min (1) – 3:30
Lee Chong-min (2) – 14:52
Kang Yeon-seok (1) – en – 19:08 		Third period 7:54 – Toi Kobayashi (1)
Matt Dalton (29 saves / 31 shots) Goalie stats Takuto Onoda (26 saves / 31 shots)
4 April 2024 Red Eagles Hokkaido 5–0 HL Anyang Anyang Ice Center Recap  
No scoring First period No scoring
Hayato Aiki (1) – 11:01
Yusuke Kon (1) – 12:51 		Second period No scoring
Seiji Takahashi (1) – ps – 8:51
Kenta Takagi (1) – en – 17:05
Yushi Nakayashiki (1) – pp – 18:58 		Third period No scoring
Yuta Narisawa (33 saves / 33 shots) Goalie stats Matt Dalton (17 saves / 22 shots)
6 April 2024 Red Eagles Hokkaido 1–5 HL Anyang Anyang Ice Center Recap  
No scoring First period 9:04 – Ahn Jin-hui (1)
Tsuguto Shibata (1) – 17:48 Second period 9:46 – pp – Shin Sang-hoon (1)
No scoring Third period 13:03 – pp – Song Hyeong-cheol (1)
18:11 – en – Ahn Jin-hui (2)
19:47 – en – Lee Chong-min (1)
Yuta Narisawa (41 saves / 46 shots) Goalie stats Matt Dalton (22 saves / 23 shots)
Anyang won series 3–1


Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following shows the top players who led the league in points, at the conclusion of matches played on 24 March 2024.[3]

Player Team GP G A Pts +/– PIM
South Korea Kim Sang-wook HL Anyang 32 8 40 48 +3 16
Japan Seiji Takahashi Red Eagles Hokkaido 32 25 22 47 +5 20
Japan Ryo Hashimoto Red Eagles Hokkaido 32 3 44 47 +2 28
Canada Alexandre Boivin Tohoku Free Blades 28 20 26 46 +2 12
Japan Shogo Nakajima Red Eagles Hokkaido 32 16 29 45 +2 10
South Korea Lee Chong-min HL Anyang 29 18 23 41 +5 14
South Korea Shin Sang-hoon HL Anyang 32 16 18 34 +4 19
United States Alex Rauter Yokohama Grits 32 11 20 31 +1 26
Japan Ryo Tanaka Tohoku Free Blades 32 9 21 30 +2 14
Japan Makuru Furuhashi Nikkō Ice Bucks 21 18 10 28 +1 13

Leading goaltenders

The following shows the top goaltenders who led the league in goals against average, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, at the conclusion of matches played on 24 March 2024.[4]

Player Team GP TOI GA Sv% GAA
Japan Takuto Onoda Red Eagles Hokkaido 13 773:09 26 94.22 2.02
Japan Yuta Narisawa Red Eagles Hokkaido 18 1071:26 43 92.11 2.41
South Korea Matt Dalton HL Anyang 29 1753:19 71 91.57 2.43
Japan Takayuki Ito Tohoku Free Blades 13 776:18 36 91.91 2.78
Japan Yutaka Fukufuji Nikkō Ice Bucks 27 1481:23 81 90.17 3.28
Japan Michikazu Hata Tohoku Free Blades 20 1123:59 65 89.60 3.47
Japan Shun Furukawa Yokohama Grits 18 1044:40 73 88.63 4.19

Awards

Award Winner
League champions HL Anyang
Most valuable player (playoffs) Shin Sang-woo, HL Anyang
Most valuable player (regular season) Lee Chong-min, HL Anyang
Best goaltender Yuta Narisawa, Red Eagles Hokkaido
Rookie of the year Riku Ishida, Tohoku Free Blades
Leading scorer (Regular season) Seiji Takahashi, Red Eagles Hokkaido
Leading assists (Regular season) Ryo Hashimoto, Red Eagles Hokkaido
Leading points (Regular season) Kim Sang-wook, HL Anyang

Team of the year

First Team[5]

References

  1. ^ "Makuru Furuhashi Aiming to Power Nikko Ice Bucks to the Top of Asia League". japan-forward.com. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  2. ^ "ひがし北海道クレインズの今季（2023-2024シーズン）のリーグ戦不参加について". asiaicehockey.com (in Japanese). 17 July 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Point Ranking 2023/2024". Asia League Ice Hockey. ALIH. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  4. ^ "GK SP Ranking 2023/2024". Asia League Ice Hockey. ALIH. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  5. ^ "Asia League Ice Hockey 2023-2024: Announcement of Regular Season Awards". Asia League Ice Hockey. 26 March 2024.