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I
will miss fans like these. |
9.29.04-Before
I give you the low down on the new look Asia League
I have some personal news to talk about. Unfortunately
I am having to return home to the US after spending
6 of the last 7 years in Japan. During that time I
have enjoyed watching the JIHL and making friends
with the many fans that come to the games. They have
been like one big family to me. I have also enjoyed
getting to know many of my favorite players as well
as their families. For all it's shortcomings the JIHL
has been a blast to watch. Truly my experiences here
have been unique and I will not forget them. I hope
to be back as soon as I can to catch some games. Of
course from now on I will also not be able to update
this site regularly. I will keep it going as long
as I can and update it once in a while but there won't
be anymore new photos. Hope you have enjoyed the site
that I started 5 years ago mainly because I was so
depleased by the league's official site.
Now, on to the hockey talk. The new Asia league kicked
off with 8 teams- Kokudo, Nippon Paper Cranes, Oji
Seishi, and the Nikko Icebucks from Japan, Golden
Amur from Russia, Halla Winia from South Korea, and
two teams from China, Harbin and Qiqibaru. Watching
the opening weekend of action in Tokyo I can tell
you that Golden Amur will challenge Kokudo (and whoever
else) for the title. They are a talented, young team
that you cannot underestimate. Kokudo had to lift
their game quite a bit to beat them. You get the impression
that as the season goes on this young team won't make
so many mistakes and will be much harder to beat.
A scary thought. And I don't want to think about how
hard it will be to beat them at home.
Unfornately I have to get back to preparing to return
to the US so for those of you who need your Asia League
Hockey fix check out their English homepage here.
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Fukufuji
is off to the Kings prospect camp in California |
7.11.04-The
JIHF just announced a few days ago that the Asia League
(now officially called the Asia League Ice Hockey)
will expand to 8 teams. Returning from last year are
the JIHL teams of Oji, Nikko, Kokudo and the Cranes
along with the Korean team Halla Winnia. Joining them
this next season will be two teams from China and
one team from Russia (the Amur team that often plays
Team Japan). They also revealed the new logo for the
league. It seems this league will be much more of
the full time league that was invisioned before last
season.
This is a giant step forward for hockey in Japan and
Asia in general. There is one unfortunate calsualty
of all this- the Japan Ice Hockey League looks like
it will gone for good. The oldest amateur league in
Japan (37 seasons)is history. Although I look forward
to the Asia league I will miss the days of he JIHL.
Kokudo also will not be able to win their record 5
straight titles.
Now for the good news- as most of you know by now,
Kokudo GK Yutaka Fukufuji was drafted by the LA Kings
in the 8th round in the 2004 NHL draft. Of course
this is great news for Fukufuji and hockey in Japan.
Starting the 11th Fukufuji will join other Kings draftees
at the Kings prospect camp in southern California.
This will be the first step in his long road to the
NHL. In all probability if he is signed by the Kings
he will compete for a starting job with the Reading
Royals of the ECHL.
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Kikuchi
is down with an injury |
1.28.04-Well,
the Asia League's first season is over and the Nippon
Paper Cranes edged Kokudo for their first championship
in franchise history. As a Kokudo fan I was disappointed
but as a hockey fan in general it is nice to see the
Cranes finally come through in the end.
The Asia league as a whole was a success especially
considering the lack of time there was in preparing
for it. Of course it was pratically ignored by the
media after the first game but what else is new. (It
should be noted that there was a nice piece on the
league and the state of hockey on Nihon TV that lasted
almost 10 minutes! Thanks guys!) After a horrible
start Halla Winnia impressed me with better play as
the season went along. Their upset over Kokudo on
the 2nd to last day of the season set-up the Cranes
title. The Korean team edged a disappointing Oji Seishi
team for 3rd in their first season vs. Japanese teams.
I wasn't completely surprised
by the Cranes victory but I was surprised by the way
they got there. GK Jiro Nihei, MVP with Kokudo, had
an unusually goals against average and a save percentage
below .900. Satistically Kokudo was much better than
the Cranes defensively but in the end the Cranes found
a way to be one win better than the first stage JIHL
champs, Kokudo.
It's great to hear that two former Kokudo players
have returned to play in the JIHL, even if it isn't
with Kokudo. DF Corey Foster signed with the Cranes
and FW Shin Yahata joined Oji Seishi for the 2nd stage
of the JIHL season. Both were impact players with
Kokudo a few years ago. Corey gave Kokudo a physical
presence on the blue line. He was also an offensive
force with a booming shot from the blueline. He was
selected to the best five in his first three season
in JIHL. Shin returns after playing in France and
England for a year and a half. An offensive wonder,
Yahata's best season was in 1999 when he lead the
league with 64 points in only 33 games. He was also
the most popular player with the lady Kokudo fans
come Valentines day. Both should help their team challenge
Kokudo for the 2nd stage title.
Kokudo's Kikuchi (above) will be out for a good amount
of time with an injury. It's a good thing Kokudo has
another number one keeper in Fukufuji and a good back-up
in Matsumoto.
It appears that "Pride", the Japanese drama
about a hockey team, is already having a positive
effect on the JIHL. On Tuesday night around 1,300
fans showed up to see Kokudo beat Nikko, a higher
than usually number for a weekday game. 1.2.04-Wecome
to the 2004 version of Slapshot: Japan. As you can
probably see it's still under construction so please
bear with me. I will upgrade it as much as my work
allows me to. Now, onto the hockey talk!
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Prpic
is raking in the points |
Kokudo's
Joel Prpic is becoming as surprising canidate for
scoring leader in the Asia league. Joel is collecting
points at a much higher pace then I thought he was
capable of. Currently he has an amazing 28 points
in only 13 games. Add that to his 15 points in 12
JIHL 1st stage games and that's 43 points in 28 games!
In a recent homestand against the Icebucks he easily
maintained his place as the Icebucks fans' least favorite
player by getting 8 points in the two games.
While in the JIHL 1st stage Kokudo just barely edged
Oji Seishi for the title this time the Cranes and
Kokudo are neck and neck with 20 points each. The
Cranes however have 1 game at hand and will take on
Halla Winnia (4th) and Nikko (5th). The Lions of Kokudo
also have two games against Nikko as well as one against
Oji.
It may look like it's in the bag for the Cranes but
they have had trouble against Nikko in the past. Even
with the unmatched depth of Kokudo both leagues have
had close races that have excited fans and this is
certainly the best thing for the leagues overall.
Nobody wants to see Kokudo run away with everything
even a Kokudo fan like me.
It seems that Halla Winnia have adjusted better to
the Japanese teams' speed and have even upset Oji
Seishi on the road. Trailing 4-3 recently they scored
twice in the last 5 minutes to pulloff their second
win in Japan and shock the Oji fans. Still they have
a long way to go before they beat Kokudo. They were
recently defeated by the Lions on a very grumpy Christmas
day game 7-0. They have been outscored 18-1 in two
games vs. the 3-time JIHL champs.
While I was disappointed by the performance of the
Cranes in the 1st stage of the JIHL I have been equally
surprised by Oji in Asia league play. As this was
written Oji only had a 1 point lead over Halla Winnia
for 4th place and have fallen 11 points behind the
leaders Kokudo and the Cranes. Lets hope they can
recover in time for the 2nd stage of the JIHL season.
The Japan national team is now in the US for a short
exhibition tour with a mianly young roster. Already
making their mark in the US are Kengo Ito (Charlotte
Checkers, ECHL), Masahito Haruna (Quad City, UHL),
and more recently Daisuke Obara (also Charlotte).
Daisuke originally signed with Peoria in the ECHL
this season but after limited icetime and no points
in 4 games he was let go. Luckily he was picked up
by Charlotte and joined the team that already had
DF Kengo Ito (it is believed that Charlotte is the
first team to have two Japanes eplayers on their roster
in North America). The change has been great for Diasuke
and the Checkers. He had an assists in his first two
games and scored his first goal in his 4th game. He
has 4 goals and 4 assists in 8 games so far.
