Orixtal Hockey League
Current season, competition or edition: 2034–25 OHL season | |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1951 |
| Inaugural season | 1951–52 |
| President | Nicholas Taihana |
| No. of teams | 32 |
| Country |  Tierrador (21 teams) Alstin (6 teams) Ceylonia (2 teams) Porlos (2 teams) Istrenya (1 team) |
| Most recent champion(s) | Veraise Raiders (1st title) |
| Most titles | Qabór Phoenix (35 titles) |
| TV partner(s) | |
| International cup(s) | Cronan Hockey Cup |
| Official website | http://www.ohl.tw |
The Orixtal Hockey League (Qabóri: Orihtóc Lataisâ le Hoceî, OLH) is a professional ice hockey league in South Crona founded in 1951. It currently comprises of 32 teams; 21 in Tierrador, 6 in Alstin, 2 each in Ceylonia and Porlos, and 1 in Istrenya. It is one of the most popular sports leagues in Crona, with league and playoff matches being broadcasted in every Cronan country, along with many countries around the world.
The OHL was organized and founded at the Spitzer Hotel in Taisgol on November 26, 1951, after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the six-team South Cronan Hockey Association (SCHA), which had been founded in 1913 in Qabór. The OHL immediately took the SCHA's place as one of the leagues that contested for the THA Cup in an annual inter-league competition consisting of the OHL, the CHL (until 1966), and the original rendition of the WHL (until they merged in 1976). A long series of league mergers and foldings left the OHL as the only league left competing for the THA Cup, which had been renamed to the Watson Cup to honor hockey legend Matt Watson in 1976.
The OHL is an active member of the Tierradorian Hockey Administration (THA), which is recognized by the WAHF as the national governing body for hockey in Tierrador. The league's several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices in Central Square in Taisgol, while its OHL Entertainment and OHL TV studios are directed out of offices located in Qabór, Las Rozas. In Tierrador, the OHL is the second wealthiest professional sport league after the Premiership, and one of the top ice hockey leagues in the world, directly rivaling the Levantine Hockey League.
The OHL's regular season is typically held from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. Following the conclusion of the regular season, 16 teams advance to the Watson Cup playoffs, a four-round tournament that runs into June to determine the league champion. Since the OHL's incorporation in 1951, the Qabór Phoenix have won the most outright OHL titles with 35; 26 pre-merger OHL championship series before the league took full exclusivity of the Watson Cup in 1972, and 9 Watson Cups afterwards. The reigning league champions are the Veraise Raiders, winning their first Watson Cup over the Taisgol Spires in the 2035 Watson Cup Finals.
History
Early years
The presence of hockey in Crona, specifically the south, dates back to 1893, when Kiravian immigrants began playing the sport in Tierrador. Eventually, many organized leagues would be established in the northeastern part of the country, as the more mountainous areas consisted of the appropriate climate for that time. The Tierradorian Hockey Administration would be founded in 1910, and the first professional competition, the Tierradorian Hockey Cup, would be established three years later. The first two professional clubs, the Qabór Monarchs and the Taisgol Spires, were both established in 1913 and played the first edition of the Tierradorian Hockey Cup, with Qabór winning the best-of-five series three games to one. As the sport grew throughout the area, several short-lived clubs would be established around the Southeastern Metropolis to compete for the Cup, with league membership exceeding 35 in 1919. Despite this, many of these clubs would fold after five or so years due to a multitude of issues, the most common being from financial difficulties or lack of a permanent home rink. The THA would be reduced from 35 clubs in 1919 to just 12 around the beginning of the 1922 edition of the tournament. The THA would add three more teams—Porvaos Condors, the Naihungo Prairie Dogs, and the Caxano Titans—before the start of the 1923 season.
The 1920s and 30s were a stagnant time for the THA. Four new teams would be added from 1924 to 1933; the Prisamarina Mystics, the Arrecife Pioneers, the Ominasky Outlaws, and the Qazrogzo Wheatmen. The Tierradorian Hockey Cup would be split between Qabór and Taisgol, with the exception of 1929, where the Porvaos Condors would upset the heavily favored Phoenix in a dominant four-game sweep. In 1931, the THA would make major changes to its competition format; instead of tournament-style bracket, all of the teams competed in a quadruple round-robin, for a total of 72 games. After the regular season ended, the top eight teams would advance to a playoff round, where a team must prevail in three best-of-seven series in order to win the Tierradorian Hockey Cup. Following these changes, the league would begin to see many new champions, the most notable being the Prisamarina Mystics, who won their first three cups in 1937, 1938 and 1939. In 1940, the Caxano Titans, following many financial woes, would fold, reducing the league to just 18 teams, where it would stay at until the dissolution of the THA.
THA dissolves
The outbreak of the Second Great War in 1934 began a domino effect which would ultimately lead to the THA's demise. Despite Tierrador's neutrality in the war, many players who originated from the countries involved were called to serve their respective sides, which would end up forcing three teams to become inactive. Many of the players who left would not return for many reasons, which would cause a wave of uncertainty throughout the league during the rest of the 1940s. Eventually, many media outlets would begin to question the need for a governing body for hockey in South Crona, as the keepers of the Tierradorian Hockey Cup were considered to be the true governors of hockey. Eventually, in 1951, due to a plethora of reasons including financial woes within the organization, the Tierradorian Hockey Administration would dissolve, splitting into three member leagues; the Orixtal Hockey League, which was in eastern Tierrador, the Ceylonian Hockey League, the premier hockey league in Ceylonia, and the Western Hockey League, which encompassed all of western Tierrador, Asteria, Porlos, and for a couple of seasons, Alstin. The keepers of the Tierradorian Hockey Cup would be reorganized into the five Governors of Hockey, serving as the governing body for the three leagues.
The 1952–53 season saw only six teams competing in the OHL; the Taisgol Spires, Qabór Phoenix, Hugo Hitmen, Porvaos Condors, Arrecife Pioneers, and Prisamarina Mystics. The CHL was comprised of five; the Santa Maria Blazers, Novo Sierra Rangers, Antakee Monsters, Saqauwee Ceylonianos, and the East Sachia Sharks. The WHL had the most teams out of the three, being comprised of ten, spread across western Tierrador, Porlos, and Asteria. The WHL would remain at 10 until its merger with the OHL in 1972. The Tierradorian Hockey Cup tournament would be reorganized once again, being competed by the champion of the WHL versus the winner of a playoff series between the OHL and CHL champions. This era of hockey would be dominated by the Qabór Phoenix, where they, led by Matt Watson, the first player to score fifty goals in a singular season, would win the cup four straight years from 1951 to 1954 and six straight years from 1959 to 1964. Watson would repeat his record three more times during the Phoenix dynasty.
Despite the massive talent seen throughout the WHL, they would only account for winning two Cups throughout the league's existence; the Ominasky Outlaws in 1955–56, who finished the 72–game regular season with a W-L-T record of 61–6–5 and sweeping the WHL playoffs, and the Topaqoí Wahoo in 1964–65, led by Willy Schaefer, taking down the CHL champion Antakee Monsters in the first non-OHL Finals in Cup history. The CHL would only see one champion, the Santa Maria Blazers in 1965–66. Led by star forward Fyodor Koshchev, and goaltender/Saukhin King Apaha'enia, the Blazers would take down the Centurions in one of the greatest upsets in Cup history. In 1964, two CHL clubs; the East Sachia Sharks and the Novo Sierra Rangers, were suspended from the league for the 1964–65 season after Ceylonian state investigations found that both clubs were laundering money earned through illegal pyramid schemes. In protest, the Saqauwee Ceylonianos would sit out the second half of the season, leaving the Antakee Monsters and the Santa Maria Blazers as the remaining CHL clubs for the season. For both the 1964–65 and 1965–66 seasons, the OHL and CHL would unofficially merge. The Monsters and Blazers would still play a championship series to decide the champion of Ceylonia, with Antakee winning in 1965 in 7 games, and Santa Maria winning the next year in 5 games.
OHL-CHL merger
When it had become clear that the Sharks, Rangers, and Ceylonianos would not return to play, the only solution was to integrate the remaining CHL clubs into the OHL. This would occur prior to the start of the 1966–67 Tierradorian Hockey Cup. Lead Governor Patrick Wilson extended invites to both the Santa Maria Blazers and Antakee Monsters, however, the invite, which was sent by mail, was lost in translation and accidentally delivered to a home in rural Aracadó. Governor Wilson, confused by only receiving the Blazers' response, did not discover the blunder until halfway through the season. By the time a second invite was sent, the Monsters, believing they were excluded from the merger, had ceased operations. Following the merger, the total amount of clubs had been reduced to 17, seven in the OHL and ten in the WHL. The Tierradorian Hockey Cup would once again be reorganized into an eight-team playoff, contested by the top four teams in both leagues, as opposed to the previous format which was only contested by the top teams from each league. The Blazers would become champions of the OHL in their first official year in the league, but would immediately be stuffed in the Cup Final by the Qazrogzo Wheatmen. This would be the only Tierradorian Hockey Cup won by the Wheatmen.
The "Golden Era" of hockey
The increasing modernization of the OHL and WHL would earn the nickname "Golden Era of Hockey" for the 1970s and 80s. In 1969, the OHL would sign its first ever television broadcasting contract with TBS, the public broadcaster in Tierrador. Before the contract was signed, people were only able to listen to hockey games through the radio, or by reading their local newspaper the following day.
Merging with the WHL
Modern era
Season structure
Regular season
Playoffs
Teams
Trophies and awards
Champions
The league champion is contested by the champions of both the King of Tapkoii and Patrick Wilson Conferences, and is awarded the Watson Cup, arguably one of the most famous sports trophy, along with being one of the most difficult to win. Below is a list of every Watson Cup champion since 1951.
| Year | Winning team | Coach | Games | Losing team | Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2035 | Veraise Raiders (50–23–9) | Tim Terrie | 4–3 | Taisgol Spires (49–27–6) | Petr Tolakov |
| 2034 | Tulangia Centurions (46–28–8) | Barry Adriza | 4–3 | Wadičaq Phantoms (45–28–9) | Levar Xirótin |
| 2033 | Tulangia Centurions (47–27–8) | Barry Adriza | 4–2 | Taisgol Spires (52–21–9) | Petr Tolakov |
| 2032 | Prisamarina Mystics (53–25–4) | Colin Tayyis | 4–3 | Auqali Shockers (46–30–6) | Aphío Antonov |
| 2031 | Sedem Regni Thrones (48–20–14) | Jean-Charles Carre dePerrier | 4–3 | Taisgol Spires (47–29–6) | Petr Tolakov |
| 2030 | Wadičaq Phantoms (54–20–8) | Levar Xirótin | 4–2 | Sedem Regni Thrones (51–22–9) | Jean-Charles Carre dePerrier |
| 2029 | Tulangia Centurions (58–15–9) | Barry Adriza | 4–2 | Qabór Phoenix (50–23–9) | Qasperi Santonai |
| 2028 | Auqali Shockers (54–19–9) | Aphío Antonov | 4–3 | Tulangia Centurions (60–13–9) | Badry Adriza |
| 2027 | Naqili Hornets (39–27–16) | Jean-Yves Lazard leMonde | 4–0 | Tawakee Hurricanes (48–28–6) | Francisco Asonakee |
| 2026 | Tulangia Centurions (62–13–7) | Barry Adriza | 4–2 | Auqali Shockers (55–19–8) | Aphío Antonov |
| 2025 | Auqali Shockers (65–12–5) | Aphío Antonov | 4–2 | Veraise Raiders (51–23–8) | Satolo Aikala |
| 2024 | Auqali Shockers (62–16–4) | Aphío Antonov | 4–2 | Naqili Hornets (54–21–7) | Jean-Yves Lazard leMonde |
| 2023 | Prisamarina Mystics (50–22–10) | Colin Tayyis | 4–1 | Tansher Spirit (45–33–4) | Jerry Iostenari |
| 2022 | Taisgol Spires (64–13–5) | Petr Tolakov | 4–2 | Tulangia Centurions (58–17–7) | Barry Adriza |
| 2021 | Sačia Tropics (45–29–8) | Xavier Cristobál | 4–1 | Alstin Sentinels (40–33–9) | Mike DeSoto |
| 2020 | Sačia Tropics (46–31–5) | Xavier Cristobál | 4–3 | Anloiya Blizzard (40–35–7) | Hectór Qosnan |
| 2019 | Tawakee Hurricanes (42–32–8) | Jason Saunders | 4–2 | Vernaza Titans (49–27–6) | Hectór Qosnan |
| 2018 | Karaba Mountaineers (52–21–9) | Petr Tolakov | 4–2 | Cuzco Beserkers (55–20–7) | Pyotr Šalasi |
| 2017 | Alcosky Prairie Dogs (49–22–11) | Matthew Qabolov | 4–3 | Auqali Shockers (40–31–11) | Andrew Walls |
| 2016 | Alcosky Prairie Dogs (47–29–6) | Matthew Qabolov | 4–2 | East Sachia Tubarões (43–32–7) | Levar Xirótin |
| 2015 | Agualaría Bluewave (46–32–4) | Kil Faxanan | 4–2 | Naqili Hornets (47–27–8) | Amani Ayala |
| 2014 | Vernaza Titans (32–21–3) | Jason Saunders | 4–2 | Qabór Phoenix (40–10–6) | William E. Roberts |
| 2013 | Vernaza Titans (54–19–9) | Jason Saunders | 4–3 | Porvaos Condors (46–25–11) | Trevor Šalasi |
| 2012 | Santa Maria Blazers (54–15–13) | Aphía Nešomi | 4–3 | Utopia Rouges (52–23–7) | Austin Mays |
| 2011 | Auqali Shockers (50–26–6) | Phoenix Simmons | 4–2 | Vernaza Titans (53–21–8) | Jason Saunders |
| 2010 | Porvaos Condors (43–28–11) | Joel Laqeim | 4–3 | Pacuí Mammoth (42–32–8) | Amani Ayala |