Ukraine and Belarus want to resurrect Eastern European Hockey League

16 Jan 2013 | Davide Tuniz

A new multi-countries league was proposed by Ukraine and Belarus Federations including clubs from Poland. Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany expressed interest.

Belarus Federation is considering a proposal received before Christmas from Ukraine colleagues to establish a tournament with the temporary name "Kubok Sodruzhestva" (Commonwealth Cup) that should include four clubs from Ukraine and Belarus and two from Poland.
In general, the scheme is very similar to the EEHL League (East European Hockey League) that existed for nearly a decade from the mid 90s to the mid-2000s.
The format of new League should be the following: clubs holds double round robin tournament but in order not to inflate the calendar, the games between teams of same country in the national championships counts for both tournaments. Generally this format means a dozen of games more in the season. The Belarusian teams accepted the idea with enthusiasm except Yunost Minsk, through the words of its Sport Director Igor Molchanov "If government support is not coming, Yunost will hardly make financial commitments to participate in this tournament. And read that the Ukrainian teams have unstable financial situation" - but national team coach Andrei Skabelka - a sponsor of the project - curtails: "If they do not want, no problem, a candidate less". "My team Gomel played with Berkut Kyiv - a very good team. It would be nice to spend more games with strong contenders". added Skabelka

Finally the four clubs interested - Gomel, Metallurg Zhlobin, Neman Grodno, and Shakhtar Soligorsk - decided to discuss the project in between them and later to invite to Minsk for consultations the neighbours.

As explained by the general manager of the Belarusian national team Vladimir Safonov, Sokil and Berkut Kyiv and Donbas-2 Donets'k already confirmed their partecipation, while the fourth Ukrainian team is yet unknown. From the Polish side expressed interest in the tournament the national champion, Sanok and Cracovia Krakow.

From the Ukranian side, Berkut Kyiv's Sergei Kharovski admitted that the tournament could well be launched from next season but in an interview to isport.ua he indirectly doesn't confirm the partecipation of other clubs
"I informed the PHL (Professional Hockey League) that there is this proposal to discuss next meeting of the Supervisory Board. The initiative to hold the Cup came from Berkut. Our club is the first to propose this idea, our initiative supported by the Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine and Belarus Ice Hockey Federation. How many clubs from Ukraine can take part in the tournament so far? I think that Berkut, Donbas and, hopefully, Companion. As well as Sokil, if the club changes its approach to participation in the championship, investing more in attracting fans and promote the games.
We hope that the tournament will have a significant interest of the audience due to its high level of sports and also considering the fact that it will be international. This should be interesting for televisions and advertisers.
One of the basic requirements: the teams have to play in arenas with capacity of three thousand spectators.
We have received preliminary approval from more than a dozen clubs from Europe, who were willing to participate in the tournament. Russia's interest in this competition may be less, but in Europe, many clubs are interested. The next step for the creation of this committee is the organization of the tournament, then - talks with federations and leagues to place tournament games in domestic championships calendars and, of course, the presence of sponsors who can take over part of the cost.
In Belarus I've heard opinions that the start of the tournament, given the complexity of its organization, is hardly possible in the next season but if the decision is taken as soon as possible - then everything is done quickly. There is no need to spend considerable negotiation. Clubs should consider their budgets: they can play in the tournament or can not."

Besides Belarus, Ukraine and Poland clubs, according to Kharovski, also clubs from other countries expressed interest
"I received signals of interest from Metalurgs Liepaja (Latvia), Czech Kometa Brno and Vitkovice, German Moskitos Essen and Slovak Zvolen and Banska Bystrica"