The Inter Alps Hockey League is born: a defeat for Italian ice hockey?

After some heated discussions between clubs and the Italian federation, finally came the official announcement: starting from next year, seven out of the eight teams who competed in the last edition of the Serie A, Italy's highest tier of competitive ice hockey, will take part in a new tournament called Inter Alps Hockey League (IAHL); the only team who refused such a move, Valpellice, cited financial difficulties and geographical distance (being based in Piedmont, Valpe is the only club coming from a region which does not border with Austria) as reasons for the refusal, as well as opposing the project as a whole. 

As it was officially disclosed during a press conference held yesterday, the next Italian champion will be elected among the best ranked Italian teams of the league, with a modus still to be defined. After Bozen, which plays in the EBEL (Austria's premier ice hockey league) since three seasons, every leading team from Italy will thus "move north": the low profile of the sport in Italy and many financial difficulties were the main reasons for such a hard choice. 

This comes on a strange and delicate moment for the Italians, as the national team just obtained promotion to the Top Division of the World Championship: paradoxically enough, Austria will remain in the lower tier of the continental event, at least for next year. HC Milano, which relegated itself last year because of economic instability, has been cited as a candidate likely to join as well, while Slovenian clubs Jesenice, Celje and Slavija Ljubljana, as well as the farm team of Medvescak Zagreb, will start the new league too. EBEL teams KAC Klagenfurt and Red Bull Salzburg will probably provide farm teams, and the provisional roster is completed by other Austrian teams like Zall am See, Bregenzerwald, Lustenau and Kitzbühel. 

Will this league mean the end for Italian ice hockey, a temporary halt, or a rebirth? Let's see...

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