photo: © Lucía Benaísa
Aragon’s HC Jaca team secured the inaugural Iberian Ice Hockey League championship on Sunday, defeating Kosner Huarte 8-3 in Navarra to close the season atop the seven-team standings.
Adrian Betrán led the way with a hat trick while singles went to Pablo Fernández, Alfred Encinar, Adrian Torralba, Gastón González, and Alejandro Carbonell.
Jaca finished the regular season with a record of 16-1-0-1 and 50 points. Second was CG Puigcerda with 49 points. Puigcerda also led the league in scoring, with 159 goals in just 18 games. Jaca was second with 123 but they also allowed a league-best 35 goals.
Puigcerda’s Swedish star, Julian Edstrom, led the IIHL in scoring with 59 points while teammate Ignacio Granell was the top-scoring Spaniard with 46 points.
The Iberian Ice Hockey League was a joint endeavour between the Real Federacion Espanola de Deportes de Hielo in Spain and the Federacao de Desportos de Inverno de Portugal (FDI-Portugal).
Coached by longtime French national team player Benoit Pourtanel, Jaca has now also won the last two editions of the Liga Nacional Hockey Hielo (LNHH) and the Copa del Rey.
The new IIHL had its genesis in October 2023 when the IIHF’s Semi-Annual Congress was held in Vilamoura, Portugal. IIHF President Luc Tardif helped negotiate a deal between Portugal and Spain to create a new league involving teams from both countries, while Andorra is expected to join for the 2025-26 season. After a delay of a year, the new league finally got going in mid-September 2024. “Today we make history!” exclaimed Pedro Flavio, president of FDI-Portugal. The new league featured 21 rounds and a total of 63 games in 2024-25.
The league featured one team from Portugal, HC Porto, joining six teams from Spain--Koshner CH Huarte (Navarra), CH Jaca (Aragon), SAD Majadahonda (Madrid), Mileno Panthers (Rioja), CG Puigcerda (Catalunia), and CHH Txuri Urdin (Basque Country).
The championship trophy and medals will be awarded on March 1, during the first game of the best-of-five semi-finals that will kick off the 2024-25 LNHH playoffs.
“I think in the near future we will have more teams from both countries, and in a few years we will look back and say this was the right path to take,” Flavio added.
Adrian Betrán led the way with a hat trick while singles went to Pablo Fernández, Alfred Encinar, Adrian Torralba, Gastón González, and Alejandro Carbonell.
Jaca finished the regular season with a record of 16-1-0-1 and 50 points. Second was CG Puigcerda with 49 points. Puigcerda also led the league in scoring, with 159 goals in just 18 games. Jaca was second with 123 but they also allowed a league-best 35 goals.
Puigcerda’s Swedish star, Julian Edstrom, led the IIHL in scoring with 59 points while teammate Ignacio Granell was the top-scoring Spaniard with 46 points.
The Iberian Ice Hockey League was a joint endeavour between the Real Federacion Espanola de Deportes de Hielo in Spain and the Federacao de Desportos de Inverno de Portugal (FDI-Portugal).
Coached by longtime French national team player Benoit Pourtanel, Jaca has now also won the last two editions of the Liga Nacional Hockey Hielo (LNHH) and the Copa del Rey.
The new IIHL had its genesis in October 2023 when the IIHF’s Semi-Annual Congress was held in Vilamoura, Portugal. IIHF President Luc Tardif helped negotiate a deal between Portugal and Spain to create a new league involving teams from both countries, while Andorra is expected to join for the 2025-26 season. After a delay of a year, the new league finally got going in mid-September 2024. “Today we make history!” exclaimed Pedro Flavio, president of FDI-Portugal. The new league featured 21 rounds and a total of 63 games in 2024-25.
The league featured one team from Portugal, HC Porto, joining six teams from Spain--Koshner CH Huarte (Navarra), CH Jaca (Aragon), SAD Majadahonda (Madrid), Mileno Panthers (Rioja), CG Puigcerda (Catalunia), and CHH Txuri Urdin (Basque Country).
The championship trophy and medals will be awarded on March 1, during the first game of the best-of-five semi-finals that will kick off the 2024-25 LNHH playoffs.
“I think in the near future we will have more teams from both countries, and in a few years we will look back and say this was the right path to take,” Flavio added.