2024 IIHF Asia Championship

[FrHockeyFan]

Kazakhstan is hosting this week in Almaty the inaugural tournament for this tourney to be organised until at least 2027-2028 season. Japon, South Korea and China are completing the line-up.

Tournament website.

IIHF - Home 2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY ASIA CHAMPIONSHIP

IIHF - Home 2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY ASIA CHAMPIONSHIP

www.iihf.com

Live streams

International Ice Hockey Federation

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Last week, Japan won the women's tournament in Beijing, China

Click to read more...

 

[FourQuarters]

Watched Women's tournament in Beijing last weekend, the atmosphere was great and many parents brought their hockey kids to watch the games. Believe that these games will live long in the memories of these hockey kids, inspiring them, and wish all the best for the upcoming men's tournament!

 

[PanniniClaus]

Looks like this was a really good event. Some competitive games and some younger players getting opportunities.

 

[Albatros]

Three games without a final feels a bit few for a continental championship title, it's just the Asian equivalent of the Deutschland Cup.

 

[ozo]

Three games without a final feels a bit few for a continental championship title, it's just the Asian equivalent of the Deutschland Cup.

There are only so many somewhat competitive Asian teams even if there was a longer time window to get this thing done on a bigger scale.

 

[Albatros]

I'm all for promoting international hockey by creative means, but even so it's not aesthetically pleasing when you can win a major title on day two.

 

[Uleke]

Despite major upset in the first game the Kazakhs losing to Korea 1-4, Kazakhstan became the champion of the 1st Asian Championship (not mentioning earlier Asian Cups or Asian Games) in Almaty. I understood from Kazakh media that Kazakhstan sent B roster as well as China not sending all of their best players due to ongoing KHL tournament.

 

[Albatros]

Kunlun has nothing to do with the Chinese national team anymore, this was their A team.

 

[FourQuarters]

I'm all for promoting international hockey by creative means, but even so it's not aesthetically pleasing when you can win a major title on day two.

Okay, I know you haven't been watching this tournament at all. In this tournament, the champions were decided by the last game on the last day. Two of the four teams are relatively strong(Kaz, Japan for Men, China, Japan for Women) and two are relatively weak, so the matches of the two stronger teams are scheduled for the last game on the last day.

 

[Albatros]

Okay, I know you haven't been watching this tournament at all. In this tournament, the champions were decided by the last game on the last day. Two of the four teams are relatively strong(Kaz, Japan for Men, China, Japan for Women) and two are relatively weak, so the matches of the two stronger teams are scheduled for the last game on the last day.

That's how it happened to play out by chance rather than by design. It's entirely possible to win this tournament in two games. Korea could have won on day two had they beaten Japan and the other first two games went to OT.

 

[FourQuarters]

That's how it happened to play out by chance rather than by design. It's entirely possible to win this tournament in two games. Korea could have won on day two had they beaten Japan and the other first two games went to OT.

And? It didn't happen. If there're enough money, they could play double round-robin with playoffs, then?
I'm not sure what you want to judge. IIHF set this tournament isn't for selecting the best hockey team on the world, you've talked about promoting, yeah that's what IIHF want.
Also if you just want more games, then I fully support you, you can come to Beijing next year to watch the game. Last week, the IIHF president's seat and my seat is only five meters away, and the ticket only costs 60 yuan. I think if you sit here and yell at him, he can hear you.

 

[Albatros]

They could even just play a final between the top two placed teams, that's one extra game and better publicity.

And I have nothing against the Deutschland Cup, but with this format that's all this tournament can aspire to be either.

 

[ozo]

Never seen someone hating on a random tournament so hard There is no format that makes any sort of Asian Championship a legit major tournament. Enjoy for what it is or ignore it.

 

[Albatros]

The IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia featuring lesser teams had two groups, and playoffs starting from the quarterfinals. It's complete nonsense to suggest that legit Asian Championships with at least that format wouldn't be possible.

 

[ozo]

It's complete nonsense to suggest that legit Asian Championships with at least that format wouldn't be possible.

Hard disagree on the basis of rationality. Does Kazakhstan really needs to face Kuwait, Philippines or Thailand to be called the champions of Asia? There are 3 nations capable of icing professional players, there simply is no potential for this tournament to be something bigger in scale. Whatever preliminary rounds you might tag on for this tournament, final 4 will look exactly like it did now and teams in 99% of cases will finish in the exact same order.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I'm all for promoting international hockey by creative means, but even so it's not aesthetically pleasing when you can win a major title on day two.

Just to reiterate what ozo is saying, nobody is acting like this is a major title. You are the only one insisting that it could ever be a major title which to me seems ridiculous for the reasons ozo had listed. It's a B-tier tournament and everyone is treating it as such and everyone but you, it seems, is fine with it.

 

[Albatros]

Hard disagree on the basis of rationality. Does Kazakhstan really needs to face Kuwait, Philippines or Thailand to be called the champions of Asia? There are 3 nations capable of icing professional players, there simply is no potential for this tournament to be something bigger in scale. Whatever preliminary rounds you might tag on for this tournament, final 4 will look exactly like it did now and teams in 99% of cases will finish in the exact same order.

Does Canada need to face Japan to be World Championships in women? They have two professional teams and it works generally just fine. And if you don't think a title is warranted, then don't grant it to start with.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Does Canada need to face Japan to be World Championships in women? They have two professional teams and it works generally just fine. And if you don't think a title is warranted, then don't grant it to start with.

So you don't argue against the fact that more games wouldn't change the outcome but think more meaningless games would legitimize the tournament? Brilliant logic.

This is not a major tournament. The team that won doesn't even bother sending a good chunk of its best players. Everyone understands the ranking in the WC cycle is the end-all-be-all of your hockey standing at this level. That is why Japan plays against Canada - so that they would know what their standing is compared to other teams, not Canada itself.

This is a nice tournament of, basically, friendly games in preparation for the WC. Similar to Eurotour games, or the Deutschland Cup or whatever you want to compare it with. Who else but you is making a bigger deal of it?

 

[kaiser matias]

Isn't the entire purpose of the tournament an outlet to let the Asian teams play a few more games, to give them a chance to further develop? Even if it's just 4 teams now, that's an extra 3 games they get to play, which is not a bad thing. And it does have the potential to expand if/when other Asian teams are able to meet that level (or if they institute tiers, like at the World Championships or CCoA).

 

[Albatros]

So you don't argue against the fact that more games wouldn't change the outcome but think more meaningless games would legitimize the tournament? Brilliant logic.

This is not a major tournament. The team that won doesn't even bother sending a good chunk of its best players. Everyone understands the ranking in the WC cycle is the end-all-be-all of your hockey standing at this level. That is why Japan plays against Canada - so that they would know what their standing is compared to other teams, not Canada itself.

This is a nice tournament of, basically, friendly games in preparation for the WC. Similar to Eurotour games, or the Deutschland Cup or whatever you want to compare it with. Who else but you is making a bigger deal of it?

If you think that the games are meaningless then why play at all? There have been full-scale Asian Championship tournaments in more marginal sports like floorball, I don't understand where the idea comes from that the same wouldn't be possible in a legitimate way in ice hockey. Whether all of Kazakhstan's KHL players are there is not decisive, we never needed all NHL players for the World Championships either.

If you want to grow hockey in Asia then a lesser version of the Deutschland Cup branded as the continental championship will never cut it. Meaningful games against arch rivals are good advertisement for the sport, but they also need a meaningful and engaging context. The last ten years we've had three such games between Japan and Korea. Between Japan and China two.

Sure they get to play Italy and Romania at the World Championship Division I A, but no non-hockey fan will be interested in that. At all.

 

[SoundAndFury]

If you think that the games are meaningless then why play at all? There have been full-scale Asian Championship tournaments in more marginal sports like floorball, I don't understand where the idea comes from that the same wouldn't be possible in a legitimate way in ice hockey. Whether all of Kazakhstan's KHL players are there is not decisive, we never needed all NHL players for the World Championships either.

If you want to grow hockey in Asia then a lesser version of the Deutschland Cup branded as the continental championship will never cut it. Meaningful games against arch rivals are good advertisement for the sport, but they also need a meaningful and engaging context. The last ten years we've had three such games between Japan and Korea. Between Japan and China two.

Sure they get to play Italy and Romania at the World Championship Division I A, but no non-hockey fan will be interested in that. At all.

I didn't say games are meaningless, I said they are useful as a friendly, reasonably competitive preparation tournament similar to 4 nation tournaments in Europe. Adding more games against non-competitive teams would be meaningless, that is what I said.

The rest of your post just continues in a pipe dream scenario you imagined.

 

[Albatros]

I didn't say games are meaningless, I said they are useful as a friendly, reasonably competitive preparation tournament similar to 4 nation tournaments in Europe. Adding more games against non-competitive teams would be meaningless, that is what I said.

The rest of your post just continues in a pipe dream scenario you imagined.

That's indeed a very Euro-centric vision of hockey, which directly inhibits growth elsewhere. The Japanese national team has played eight games in Japan since 2012. Doing significantly more such as hosting a legit continental championship tournament every four years or so is not a pipe dream scenario when other sports have done it with success.

 

[FourQuarters]

That's indeed a very Euro-centric vision of hockey, which directly inhibits growth elsewhere. The Japanese national team has played eight games in Japan since 2012. Doing significantly more such as hosting a legit continental championship tournament every four years or so is not a pipe dream scenario when other sports have done it with success.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. This tournament is just a first attempt, and while others are happy to see progress, you’re stepping in to say, “No, this championship has too many imperfections! It shouldn’t be like this!”
It’s fine to envision an ideal model and set it as a goal, but dismissing the value of holding this championship because it doesn’t meet a perfect standard is a bit absurd. Likewise, yeah, there are many Eurocentric fans in hockey, but calling a fan who celebrates this championship “Eurocentric,” while you simultaneously equate Japan—a top-division team—playing Canada with Kazakhstan playing the Philippines, raises questions.

 

[Albatros]

Rome wasn’t built in a day. This tournament is just a first attempt, and while others are happy to see progress, you’re stepping in to say, “No, this championship has too many imperfections! It shouldn’t be like this!”
It’s fine to envision an ideal model and set it as a goal, but dismissing the value of holding this championship because it doesn’t meet a perfect standard is a bit absurd. Likewise, yeah, there are many Eurocentric fans in hockey, but calling a fan who celebrates this championship “Eurocentric,” while you simultaneously equate Japan—a top-division team—playing Canada with Kazakhstan playing the Philippines, raises questions.

Rome, however, was built. Whereas there are no serious attempts to build hockey in Asia. If you're located in Beijing then you should be aware of what happened to Chinese hockey and all the promises made after the Olympics. Next to nothing came out of it. This tournament looks more like a small compensation to Kazakhstan for not getting to host the IIHF World Championships than a first attempt at anything.

Whether the Philippines in their current form would participate in a legitimate Asian Championship tournament is not very relevant, but the Philippines did successfully host the full-scale Asian Championships in floorball which is an even more marginal sport.

 

[FourQuarters]

Rome, however, was built. Whereas there are no serious attempts to build hockey in Asia. If you're located in Beijing then you should be aware of what happened to Chinese hockey and all the promises made after the Olympics. Next to nothing came out of it. This tournament looks more like a small compensation to Kazakhstan for not getting to host the IIHF World Championships than a first attempt at anything.

Whether the Philippines in their current form would participate in a legitimate Asian Championship tournament is not very relevant, but the Philippines did successfully host the full-scale Asian Championships in floorball which is an even more marginal sport.

Players from overseas leave, and then what? Some felt it was the end when the news was announced at the time, but a younger generation of local players is growing up and playing with the team at the WC and WJC.
After the Winter Olympics, I met a lot of fans who started watching hockey after the Winter Olympics, and watched the women's hockey league, and the men's hockey league will start next week.
So what do you expect me to say? Things will not always be ideal, but the people who love it are giving it the strength to grow.