Bulgaria men's national ice hockey team
Association | Bulgaria Ice Hockey Federation |
---|---|
Head coach | Daniel Cuomo |
Assistants | Stanislav Kanchev |
Captain | Martin Boyadjiev |
Most games | Malin Atanasov (143) |
Most points | Stoyan Batchvarov (103) |
IIHF code | BUL |
IIHF ranking | 39 |
Highest IIHF ranking | 30 (first in 2003) |
Lowest IIHF ranking | 39 (first in 2014) |
Team colors | |
First international | |
Bulgaria 4–2 Yugoslavia (Bucharest, Romania; January 17, 1942) |
|
Biggest win | |
Bulgaria 20–0 Turkey (Pretoria, South Africa; March 28, 1998) |
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Biggest defeat | |
Kazakhstan 31–0 Bulgaria (Poprad or Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia; March 25, 1994) Ukraine 31–0 Bulgaria (Poprad or Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia; March 26, 1994) |
|
IIHF World Championships | |
Appearances | 41 (first in 1963) |
Best result | 14th (1970) |
Olympics | |
Appearances | 1 (first in 1976) |
International record (W–L–T) | |
135–247–23 |
The Bulgarian men's national ice hockey team is ranked 39th as of the 2015 IIHF World Ranking and competes in Division IIB at the Ice Hockey World Championships.
The team has participated once at the Olympic Games. This happened in Innsbruck in 1976, when Bulgaria lost to the Czechoslovak team 1-14 in the first round. After a few more losses the team finished last in the tournament.
Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, hosted the games of Division II, Group B of the 2009 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. Bulgaria's opponents at the tournament were Belgium, Mexico, Spain, South Africa and South Korea. In 2011 Bulgaria was also in Division II, with Croatia, Romania, China, Ireland and Iceland.
Historically, the team has played in the second highest level four times, with their highest placement being 14th in 1970. However the only year that they ever earned promotion (by placing 1st or 2nd in Pool C) was in 1975, which also qualified them for the 1976 Olympics. The only year that they won any games in Pool B was 1992 (at that time it was contested between nations ranked 13th to 20th), defeating Japan, China, and Yugoslavia.
World Championship record
- 1963 – Finished in 19th place (4th in "Pool C")
- 1967 – Finished in 19th place (3rd in "Pool C")
- 1969 – Finished in 19th place (5th in "Pool C")
- 1970 – Finished in 14th place (8th in "Pool B")
- 1971 – Finished in 19th place (5th in "Pool C")
- 1972 – Finished in 17th place (4th in "Pool C")
- 1973 – Finished in 18th place (4th in "Pool C")
- 1974 – Finished in 17th place (3rd in "Pool C")
- 1975 – Finished in 16th place (2nd in "Pool C")
- 1976 – Finished in 16th place (8th in "Pool B")
- 1977 – Finished in 20th place (3rd in "Pool C")
- 1978 – Finished in 21st place (5th in "Pool C")
- 1979 – Finished in 22nd place (4th in "Pool C")
- 1981 – Finished in 22nd place (6th in "Pool C")
- 1982 – Finished in 22nd place (6th in "Pool C")
- 1983 – Finished in 22nd place (6th in "Pool C")
- 1985 – Finished in 22nd place (6th in "Pool C")
- 1986 – Finished in 19th place (3rd in "Pool C")
- 1987 – Finished in 23rd place (7th in "Pool C")
- 1989 – Finished in 21st place (5th in "Pool C")
- 1990 – Finished in 22nd place (6th in "Pool C")
- 1991 – Finished in 20th place (4th in "Pool C")
- 1992 – Finished in 17th place (5th in "Pool B")
- 1993 – Finished in 20th place (8th in "Pool B")
- 1994 – Finished in 27th place (7th in "Pool C1")
- 1995 – Finished in 29th place (9th in "Pool C1")
- 1996 – Finished in 34th place (6th in "Pool D")
- 1997 – Finished in 35th place (7th in "Pool D")
- 1998 – Finished in 33rd place (Won "Pool D")
- 1999 – Finished in 32nd place (8th in "Pool C")
- 2000 – Finished in 33rd place (9th in "Pool C")
- 2001 – Finished in 35th place (4th in "Division II, Group B")
- 2002 – Finished in 35th place (4th in "Division II, Group B")
- 2003 – Finished in 34th place (3rd in "Division II, Group B")
- 2004 – Finished in 36th place (4th in "Division II, Group B")
- 2005 – Finished in 35th place (4th in "Division II, Group A")
- 2006 – Finished in 32nd place (2nd in "Division II, Group A")
- 2007 – Finished in 38th place (5th in "Division II, Group A")
- 2008 – Finished in 38th place (5th in "Division II, Group A")
- 2009 – Finished in 36th place (4th in "Division II, Group B")
- 2010 – Finished in 35th place (4th in "Division II, Group A")
- 2011 – Finished in 38th place (5th in "Division II, Group B")
- 2012 – Finished in 37th place (3rd in "Division II, Group B")
- 2013 – Finished in 40th place (6th in "Division II, Group B")
- 2014 – Finished in 41st place (1st in "Division III")
- 2015 – Finished in 38th place (4th in "Division II, Group B")
Roster
From the 2015 IIHF World Championship Division IIB
# | Name | Pos | Date of Birth | Club |
---|---|---|---|---|
22 | Georgi Blagoev | F | 5 September 1997 | MšHK Prievidza |
4 | Nikolay Bozhanov | D | 6 December 1994 | CSKA Sofia |
24 | Martin Boyadjiev | F | 11 May 1987 | CSKA Sofia |
19 | Atanas Chompolov | F | 21 July 1998 | CSKA Sofia |
17 | Veselin Dikov | F | 21 February 1998 | Ontario Hockey Academy |
8 | Daniel Dilkov | F | 25 May 1998 | HC Topolcany |
1 | Dimitar Dimitrov | G | 12 October 1997 | CSKA Sofia |
14 | Yanaki Gatchev | F | 27 August 1997 | CSKA Sofia |
2 | Atanas Genkov | F | 22 May 1998 | HC Slavia Sofia |
12 | Tomislav Georgiev | F | 8 June 1997 | Ontario Hockey Academy |
10 | Ivan Hodulov | F | 4 September 1994 | HC Zalgiris Vilnius |
7 | Petar Mihov | D | 25 January 1992 | CSKA Sofia |
16 | Martin Nikolov | F | 12 February 1994 | United States |
20 | Nikola Nikolov | G | 27 May 1993 | CSKA Sofia |
9 | Aleksandar Panev | F | 14 May 1996 | CSKA Sofia |
21 | Kristian Semkov | D | 25 April 1997 | CSKA Sofia |
5 | Bogdan Stefanov | D | 14 December 1990 | CSKA Sofia |
23 | Petar Tchaliov | F | 3 May 1997 | CSKA Sofia |
13 | Georgi Tsitselkov | D | 3 August 1998 | CSKA Sofia |