Russian hockey is now in isolation. Some foreign teams left the KHL in the spring, and the remaining clubs sign contracts with foreign players with great difficulty.

Deprived of the opportunity to play in international tournaments under the auspices of the IIHF and Russian teams of various ages. But the discrimination of our hockey came from where they did not expect.

The whole team from Russia will have to look for a new league, as it is no longer suitable for the championship due to the political situation.

Far Eastern Champions

The Sakhalin Hockey Club, founded in 2013, has spent almost its entire history in the Asian Hockey League. This championship is attended mainly by teams from South Korea and Japan. The AHL, in fact, was created precisely to popularize hockey in these two states. From time to time, teams from China and Russia joined the league.

In 2014, the league accepted the Sakhalin team into its ranks, which immediately began to show great results. Not once in the entire time of the performance in the AHL, the Russian team did not fall below second place. Twice the Far East won the regular season. They also have two full championships to their credit.

The last time Sakhalin won the title was in the 2019/20 season. Then there were two winners in the league at once. In addition to the Russian team, the Korean club Anyang Halla was declared the champion. The dual power in the AHL happened due to covid restrictions that affected the cancellation of the final series.

At the same time, the Sakhalin “sea lions” are still the current owners of the championship title. The thing is that since then a full-fledged championship in the league has not been held. The season was canceled twice due to severe Japanese restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo: © PSK “Sakhalin”

“A decision was made to remove Russian athletes”

The downtime situation in the league was supposed to change in the 2022/23 season. In the AHL, they finally dared to hold a full-fledged championship. To determine the format and clarify the details, on August 2, the management held an online meeting, where the heads of all teams playing in the league were present. It was here that the director of Sakhalin was told that the Russian team would not play in the upcoming championship.

— Today, August 2, 2022, a meeting of the Asian Hockey League was held via videoconference. From the Russian side, the director of the PSK Sakhalin, Nikolay Nikolayevich Sternichuk, took part in it. Following the meeting, the leadership of the league, in agreement with the teams, decided to remove Russian athletes from participation in the tournament of the 2022-2023 season. with the wording “due to the political situation,” the club said in a statement.

The further fate of the team from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk remains unknown. It is not yet clear whether the AHL has expelled the Sea Lions forever or if this is a temporary measure. And is there a place for Sakhalin in one of the Russian leagues now?