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Greece
Hellenic Ice Sports Federation
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  • Incorporated  1989
  • Joined the IIHF  April 29, 1987
  • 713  registered players
  • 5  registered clubs
  • President:  Vacant
National Teams
Star Players

History
Hockey in Greece
Ice hockey in Greece was introduced in Thessaloniki by Czechoslovak emigrants in the early 1980s. Romanians and Canadians built ice rinks in Greece, but most of them were not of standard hockey size. A regulation-sized facility did exist at the sports stadium at Neo Faliro but it was generally used for basketball. Ice was only available for about two or three weeks in November.

Despite the difficulties, Greece joined the International Ice Hockey Federation in April of 1987. By then, Greece had four different hockey clubs. The Flying Ice Skaters in Athens had a senior and junior team as well as a beginners club with 32 children between the age of six and 10. The Albatros Athens club was represented by a senior team. Located 50 miles outside of Athens, the Chalkis Ice Hockey Club had a senior and a junior team, as did Aris Thessaloniki. The first Greek national hockey championship took place in 1988-89 and was won by Aris Thessaloniki. This club won the first four national championships before their run of success was ended by Ice Flyers Athens in 1993.

In 1989, Greece's ice hockey association became a section of the Greek Ice Sports Federation (Elliniki Omospondia Pagodromion - Hellenic Ice Sports Federation). Three years later, the Greek National Team made its first international appearance at the "C" Pool, Group 2 of the World Championships in South Africa. Greece enjoyed a successful debut when they defeated Turkey 15-3 on March 21, 1992 in Johannesburg. They also vanquished Israel and Luxembourg to win the bronze medal. Savvas Adamidis was selected the outstanding goalkeeper at the tournament. Since that time Greece only had a dismal ninth place showing at the 1995 "C" Pool, Group 2 tournament in South Africa but returned in 1998 to place 8th in "D" a feat they repeated the following year.


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