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Croatia
Hrvatski Savez Hokeja Na Ledu
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  • Incorporated  Nov. 9, 1935
  • Joined the IIHF  May 6, 1992
  • 437  registered players
  • 5  registered clubs
  • President:  Dr. Nikola Svigir
National Teams
Star Players

History
Hockey in Croatia
The roots of ice hockey in Croatia go back to 1906 when the first hockey team in Yugoslavia (HASK -- the Croatian Academic Sports Club) was formed in the city of Zagreb. Dr. Franjo Bucar was a key figure in the introduction of the sport to Croatia. The first official hockey games also took place in Zagreb in 1916-17 when HASK played a two-game series against I.HSK (I. Croatian Sports Club). HASK won the first game 2-0 but lost the second 6-0. In 1930, the Yugoslav Ice Hockey Federation was founded in Zagreb. Not surprisingly, clubs from this city were among the best in Yugoslavia for many years. Other strong teams were the Karlovac and Varazdin based in Sisak. In 1946-47 Mladost Zagreb won the first Yugoslavian championship of the post-war era.

In 1991, Hrvatski Savez Hokeja na Ledu (the Croatian Ice Hockey Association) was founded and the first Croatian national championship was won by MK Zagreb in 1991-92. Other member clubs during this inaugural season were Mladost and Medvescak from Zagreb and MK Sisak. The MK team won three consecutive championships between 1992 and 1994.

The newly independent nation joined the International Ice Hockey Federation on May 6, 1992 and the Croatian National Team made its debut in the 1994 "C" Pool Group 2 World Championships in Barcelona , Spain. They struggled at the "C" Pool level and were eventually relegated to "D" Pool for 1997. They quickly returned to "C" Pool by winning the 1997 "D" Pool competition in Andorra. After back-to-back fifth place finishes the team won the silver medal in 2000. A prominent figure in the recent development of Croatian hockey has been former referee Ivan Megedis.


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