WORLD LEAGUE CHANGES
Outside of European and North American play, NHLX includes several new or enhanced domestic club “super leagues” that expand the reach and interest of hockey around the world. While these leagues may not have the reputation or finances of some of their stronger, more established counterparts – they provide an exciting challenge for those wanting to explore a new frontier of hockey. Combined with NHLX’s more robust international play – now even these non-traditional regions provide plenty to do! These revised leagues include:
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Asia Super League (ASL)
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Tasman Ice Hockey League (TIHL)
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Superliga Latinoamericana (SLA)
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ASIA SUPER LEAGUE (ASL)
The ASL is the successor league to the real-life Asia Ice Hockey League (AIHL). While the AIHL has existed in some form for decades now – it has never really provided a stable or large enough platform for hockey to take off in East Asia – even though the population, demographics and climate seem ideal for this area to be successful as hockey’s new hotbed. The KHL has seen the potential and tried to tap into it with the Kunlun franchise and a variety of VHL and MHL attempts. But Kunlun has been something of a nightmare – poor in quality, heavily subsidized and a logistical nightmare with the team not even playing large stretches of time at home in Beijing. And the other minor league and junior projects have all failed. The AIHL itself has undergone constant changes and periods of inactivity.
So the new ASL is a more concentrated attempt to breakthrough. The centerpiece of this new league is in fact Kunlun – who move from the KHL in real life to the ASL in NHLX. This allows Kunlun and China’s recent attempt to break into world hockey’s top tier to move from being something of a sideshow and afterthought in the Russian pyramid to the showcase “prestige” club of the new ASL. Joining them are the current AIHL clubs which include some long-running franchises and some expansion teams – including new clubs in the heart of Tokyo and Seoul designed to be “glamour” clubs in world capital cities. The end result is a 16-team league that has been divided into 2 conferences.
Reputation and finances for the league and teams are around the level of the ICEHL in Central Europe. So slightly below the top European leagues but with enough pull and money available to be able to pull in some quality foreign players to help bolster the teams as their home nations work on developing their junior development programs.
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TASMAN ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE (TIHL)
While both Australia and New Zealand have domestic hockey leagues – the quality is very low, the seasons short and it’s a very niche sport in these countries. IN NHLX these leagues have combined forces and taken the name of the body of water that separates the two countries to provide an elevated identity and competition. A few expansion teams have also been added for a 16-team league divided into 2 conferences.
The new TIHL has a reputation and finances similar to the lowest level European professional leagues like the BeNe League or similar to the low-level professional league in North America like the FPHL, SPHL and WPHL (this trio is explained more in the North American leagues section). While this certainly doesn’t make it an elite competition, it is definitely a step up from what exists today and a better platform for hockey development in these two nations.
It should be noted that this is the Southern Hemisphere so in real life, hockey season would be in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere summer (June, July, etc). Because of the mechanics of EHM’s hard-coded scheduling – it is not possible to make this league entirely functional with a June/July league schedule. So the TIHL follows the typical September through April season that other leagues do.
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SUPERLIGA LATINOAMERICANA (SLA)
With the SLA, ice hockey is making a major expansion in the Western Hemisphere - introducing the coolest game on Earth to a huge new audience in the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking regions of the Americas. The league folds the current domestic Mexican league in with new teams in Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Brazil. The league HQ is in Chile. Teams have generally been located in either cold-climate regions of these countries where possible or areas with heavy European influence...along with a few major cities. The league configuration is as an 18-team league with two divisions of 9 each (North has 6 Mexican clubs and 3 Colombian, South has 3 each from Argentina, Chile and Brazil).
The SLA has a reputation and finances similar to the TIHL above and some of the lower-level professional leagues in Europe and North America,
It should be noted that this is the Southern Hemisphere so in real life, hockey season would be in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere summer (June, July, etc). Because of the mechanics of EHM’s hard-coded scheduling – it is not possible to make this league entirely functional with a June/July league schedule. So the SLA follows the typical September through April season that other leagues do.
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NON-PLAYABLE LEAGUES
The following real league is in NHLX with a bit of expansion - but are not currently playable and exist only as background leagues. I may toggle them to be playable at some point in the future or add other new leagues.
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South African Super League
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