Kyrgyzstan men's national ice hockey team
The Kyrgyzstan national ice hockey team (Kyrgyz: Кыргызстандын улуттук шайбалуу хоккей курамасы; Russian: Сборная Киргизии по хоккею с шайбой) is the national men's ice hockey team of Kyrgyzstan. They are controlled by the Ice Hockey Federation of the Kyrgyz Republic and has been an associate member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).[2] As of 2019, Kyrgyzstan is currently ranked 52nd in the IIHF World Ranking.[3]
 | |
| Association | Ice Hockey Federation of the Kyrgyz Republic |
|---|---|
| General manager | Elzar Bolotbekov |
| Head coach | Mikhail Chekanov |
| Assistants | Ruslan Suleimanov |
| Captain | Aleksandr Tikhonov |
| Most games | Uran Tursunbekov (29) |
| Top scorer | Oleg Kolodii (28) |
| Most points | Oleg Kolodii (43) |
| Team colors | |
| IIHF code | KGZ |
| Ranking | |
| Current IIHF | 50  2 (30 March 2022)[1] |
| Highest IIHF | 52 (2019) |
| Lowest IIHF | 52 (2019) |
| First international | |
Kyrgyzstan  15–4  Thailand(Astana, Kazakhstan; 28 January 2011) | |
| Biggest win | |
Kyrgyzstan 23–2  Malaysia(Astana, Kazakhstan; 1 February 2011) Kyrgyzstan 22–1 Malaysia(Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; 5 March 2022) | |
| Biggest defeat | |
Romania  18–2 Kyrgyzstan(Brasov, Romania; 13 December 2019) | |
| IIHF World Championships | |
| Appearances | 2 (first in 2019) |
| Best result | 45th (2022) |
| Asian Winter Games | |
| Appearances | 2 (first in 2011) |
| Best result | 6th (2011) |
| IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia | |
| Appearances | 3 (first in 2014) |
| Best result | 6th (2016) |
| International record (W–L–T) | |
| 27–12–0 | |
History
Kyrgyzstan played its first game in 1962 during the Winter Spartakiad which was held in Sverdlovsk, USSR, in which they represented the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic. Kyrgyzstan played seven games, winning both games against the Armenian SSR and losing five to the Ukrainian SSR, the Estonian SSR, the Latvian SSR, the Georgian SSR and the Lithuanian SSR respectively.[4]
In 2011 Kyrgyzstan returned to international play, when they competed in the Premier Division of the 2011 Asian Winter Games. In the first game of the tournament, Kyrgyzstan recorded their first ever win, defeating Thailand 15–4.[4] Kyrgyzstan went on to win the Premier Division after winning all six of their games and finishing on top of the table.[5]
Kyrgyzstan made its debut in the World Championships in 2019, playing in the Division III qualification tournament held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. They finished first after winning all five games. However, all their first four games were later voided and the results were counted as 5–0 forfeits due to Kyrgyzstan's player Aleksandr Titov being disqualified. Later IIHF acknowledged they had made a mistake, but the results would still stand.[6] Tournaments in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Kyrgyzstan hosted the 2022 Division IV tournament.[7]
Tournament record
World Championships
| Year | Host | Result | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 through 1991 | As part of the  Soviet Union | ||||||
| 1992 through 2018 | Did not enter | ||||||
| 2019 |  Abu Dhabi | 52nd place[note 1] (6th in Division III Q) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2020 | Bishkek | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[8] | |||||
| 2021 | Bishkek | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[9] | |||||
| 2022 | Bishkek | 45th place (1th in Division IV) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 2/4 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
Asian Winter Games
| Year | Host | Result | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 |  Astana | 6th place (1st in Premier Division) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 |  Sapporo | 12th place (2nd in Division II) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 2/2 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
Challenge Cup of Asia
| Year | Host | Result | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 through 2013 | Did not participate | ||||||
| 2014 | Bishkek | 8th place (2nd in Division I) | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2015 |  Kuwait City | 8th place (3rd in Division I) | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2016 | Bishkek | 6th place (1st in Division I) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 through 2020 | Did not participate | ||||||
| Total | 3/13 | 14 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
All-time record against other nations
Last match update: 15 December 2019[4]
| Positive balance (more Wins) | |
| Negative balance (more Losses) | |
| Neutral balance (Wins = Losses) |
| Team | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 India | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 6 |
| Kuwait | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 13 |
| Malaysia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 12 |
| United Arab Emirates | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 8 |
 Macau | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 7 |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 6 |
| Thailand | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 6 |
 Qatar | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 |
 Bahrain | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 10 |
 Mongolia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 |
 Philippines | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 |
 Hong Kong | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 |
 Oman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
 Luxembourg | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
 Singapore | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 8 |
 Turkmenistan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
 Israel | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
 Iceland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| Romania | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 18 |
| Total | 35 | 28 | 7 | 0 | 312 | 134 |
Notes
- After winning their first four games, a player was disqualified and all their results were counted as 5–0 forfeits.
References
- "IIHF Men's World Ranking". IIHF. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- Merk, Martin (14 May 2011). "Welcome Kyrgyzstan". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
- "Kazakhstan, Japan get top events". new-iihf.com. Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
- "Kyrgyzstan Men All Time Results" (PDF). National Teams of Ice Hockey. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- "Today there will be last matches in premier division". Olympic Council of Asia. Archived from the original on 5 February 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
- "Международная федерация хоккея попросила прощения у Кыргызстана, но оставила результат в силе" (in Russian). АКИpress. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
- Merk, Martin (5 June 2021). "U18 Worlds in Germany". IIHF.com. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- "IIHF cancels March tournaments". iihf.com. 2 March 2020.
- "IIHF – IIHF Council announces more cancellations". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 18 November 2020.