Hockey in Europe is very popular.At the international championships, European teams play at a high enough level. Given that the Russian Hockey League has long needed to be updated, management decided to take drastic measures.
What does the abbreviation KHL mean?
KHL is an open international Continentalhockey league. The first championship, according to all its organizers, was experimental, since it is impossible in the first year of existence to take into account all the nuances in organizing the largest hockey league in the world. It was organized on the basis of the Russian Super League. In the KHL draw are determined:
- Championship winner. In the KHL championship, the team that wins the most points after all the games of the regular championship wins.
- Division winner. It is revealed as a result of all the games in the regular season.
- Pairs of playoff participants. All KHL games are compiled in advance by the leadership of the league. They are organized in such a way as to cause the greatest interest among the audience.
Format of the championship
The KHL Championship consists of two conferences.which are separated according to geographical principle: East and West. Each conference has two divisions. Based on this, it turns out that in the KHL there are 4 divisions, each of which has 7 teams, with the exception of the Chernyshev division, since more recently the Red Star Kunlun team was also added there, and it became the eighth in a row.
Each KHL team must play four games.with other teams in the division and two games each with participants from another division of their conference. In addition, each representative of the league will additionally play 4 games with representatives of his division.
Eyeglass system
For the won match, each KHL team takesmaximum three points. Two points are awarded to a team that was able to win in extra time or in shootouts. If the team lost in extra time or in shootouts, it gets only one point. When a team loses a match, no points are awarded.
По окончании игр победителем дивизиона признаётся the team that scored the most points. The calculation is carried out taking into account absolutely all games, and not only on the results of games within the division. All results of the matches are recorded by the KHL leadership.
The scoreboard, presented for the teams and their fans, includes statistics on the performance of teams in the conference and separately in each division.
Playoff draw
Each team playing in the KHL can participatein the first stage of the playoff championship of the Continental Hockey League. To do this, she must take at least 8 seats in her conference. The first two places in the playoff draw are awarded to teams that took first place in their division. The remaining places are occupied by teams in descending order of points.
As a result of the rally will first be identifiedconference winners. And after these teams will compete in the final. In the Gagarin Cup draw the club wins, which scored all the victories in the games right through. At each stage, the participants will hold a series of games with up to four wins.
The first league champion was Kazan “Ak Bars”. This club showed strong hockey throughout the season and rightfully took all the prizes.
League expansion
The KHL is the biggest hockey league in the world.Immediately after the founding, 21 Russian teams participated in the raffle, and teams from Belarus, Latvia, and Kazakhstan played in the championship to the joy of the hockey fans. The KHL is a prestigious and popular league in which many teams want to participate. Since the beginning of the foundation, the number of participants has steadily increased.
Now 29 teams are playing in the championship.Representatives from Croatia, Finland, Slovakia and even from the PRC were added. The list of applications for participation from different countries is becoming more and more. But not everyone wants to meet the requirements of the league.
КХЛ – это престижная лига, для участия в которой need a down payment and stable further funding. And also requires the presence of its own stadium, which will meet the requirements.
Many were surprised by the addition to the league teamfrom Beijing. It was created specifically for participation in the KHL. The club includes Chinese stars and eighteen foreigners. The coach was appointed well-known to all Russian fans, Vladimir Yurzinov Jr. The results in the first season until the team folds up poorly. But in the future it will definitely grow and compete with the grandees of European hockey.
Continental Hockey League develops andseeks to become better. By the degree of entertainment, it is not inferior to the National Hockey League. Not for nothing, many leading players leave her in the KHL. Pavel Datsuk and Ilya Kovalchuk returned to their homeland after creating the league.
