The Elite Women’s Hockey League (EWHL) has been moved under the coordination of the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation starting from the 2019-2020 season.
A new chapter will be starting in the EWHL which was founded in 2004. The day to day work will stay in the hands of league president Martin Kogler but the league will be under the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation name.
“Hungarian Women’s hockey has developed tremendously in recent years, the U18 national team has been to the A-Pool and this past year the senior team won promotion to the A-Pool. The interest of the sport has been growing in the media and the financial backing is good as well. The Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation has shown that the EWHL can be under its coordination. In Austria the budget that was to be spent on women’s hockey has been cut by 40%. Their were structural changes as well for the women’s hockey in Austria, the league needed a better opportunity where it would get support and to grow. There will be teams from nine countries participating in the league. The Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation will be giving proper support.” Martin Kogler.
Just like this past season next year there will be two Hungarian teams playing in the EWHL. KMH Budapest will be back next season. Last year MAC Marilyn and FTC entered the EWHL together with a U25 team. This year MAC will be entering the league on their own. Aside from this there will be three Austrian teams and one each from Kazakhstan, Italy, Slovenia and one from Poland. The league is in talks with having a team from Denmark play as well.
KMH and MAC will also be participating in the EWHL Super Cup which will have three German teams and one Slovak as well.
There will be no major changes in the league structure and the want to make the Super Cup a more important tournament as it is right now and turn it into a European Cup. “Our goal is to make the league more interesting for the fans and to make it more appealing for people in general. We need to get more sponsors and to raise the level of hockey.”
Expected field:
KMH Budapest (HUN)
MAC Budapest (HUN)
EHV Sabres Vienna (AUT)
DEC Salzburg Eagles (AUT)
KEHV Lakers (AUT)
Aisulu Almaty (KAZ)
Eagles Südtirol (ITA)
Team Poland – Silesia Brackens (POL)
HK SZ Olimpija Ljubljana (SLO)
Hvidovre IK (DEN, not for sure)
Supercup field:
KMH Budapest (HUN)
MAC Budapest (HUN)
EHV Sabres Vienna (AUT)
DEC Salzburg Eagles (AUT, még bizonytalan)
Aisulu Almaty (KAZ)
HC SKP Bratislava (SVK)
ECDC Memmingen Indians (GER)
ESC Planegg (GER)
ERC Ingolstadt (GER)
