Inter-National League

Inter-National League
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	2012; 12 years ago
CEO	Dieter Kalt
No. of teams	9
Country	Austria (6 teams); Slovenia (3 teams)
Most recent champion(s)	Bregenzerwald (2015–16)
Most titles	Bregenzerwald (2 titles)
Official website	Inter-National League

The Inter-National League is an international ice hockey league that is a partnership between the national federations of Austria and Slovenia. It was created as a solution to semi-professional hockey in both Austria and neighboring Slovenia.

History

The Inter-National League was founded on July 14, 2012 with seven teams joining the inaugural season. In Austria, seven out of 11 teams from last year’s second tier Austrian National League had left the league. Two teams, Dornbirner and TWK Innsbruck, were accepted into the Austrian Hockey League (also referred to as the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga due to sponsorship reasons.) The remaining teams either folded or chose to play in lower local leagues.

Acroni Jesenice was confirmed to become an inaugural member. However, due to financial problems the team informed the league that they would be folding effective August 31, 2012 (two weeks before the start of the season.)^[1]

On June 8, 2013, the league's 2013–14 season was decided and it saw the league jump from six teams to 15. After the late fold of Acroni Jesenice, Team Jesenice participated in the league this season as one of four new Slovenian clubs. The other three Slovenian newcomers were Bled, Maribor and Celje. The league also welcomed Italian sides SV Caldaro/Kaltern, Eppan Pirates, Merano Junior, Neumarkt-Egna Wildgoose and Gherdëina. For the 2013–14 season, the teams were allowed four imports (two U-22, and two with no age limit). These imports may not be exchanged between teams in the league.^[2]

Scheduling

The inaugural INL season started on September 15, 2012, while the last game in the regular season took place on March 2, 2013. The INL playoffs semi-finals and finals were all played in best-of-five format.^[3]

The scheduling for the INL was designed to keep the travel costs at a minimum. Each team played a total of 36 games in a set of six rounds (three home games, three away against all six opponents.) The league featured a "double weekend", where opponents were played on back-to-back games during the weekend.^[2]

Scoring

INL games are scored with the "three-point rule": three points for the winner after regular time, two points if teams win after overtime or shootout, and one for the loser after regular time.^[2]

Trades and transfers

Transfers are permitted during the season, but only if both teams reach an agreement.^[2]

Teams

Team	City/area	Arena	Capacity	Founded
Current teams
Bregenzerwald	Bregenz Forest	Alberschwerde	4,270	1985
Celje	Celje	Golovec Ice Hall	500	1998
Feldkirch	Feldkirch	Vorarlberghalle	5,200	1945
Jesenice	Jesenice	Podmežakla Hall	4,500	2013
Kitzbühel	Kitzbühel	Sportpark Kapserbrucke	1,700	1910
KSV Eishockey	Kapfenberg	Sportzentrum Kapfenberg	4,000	2015
Lustenau	Lustenau	Rheinhalle Lustenau	2,200	1970
Slavija	Ljubljana	Zalog Ice Hall	1,000	1964
Zell am See	Zell am See	Eishalle Zell am See	2,600	1928
Former teams
Bled	Bled	Bled Ice Hall	1,000	1999
Eppan Pirates	Eppan	Eisstadion Eppan	1,400	1981
Gherdëina	Sëlva	Pranives Ice Stadium	2,000	1927
Kaltern	Kaltern	Palaghiaccio Kaltern	850	1962
Maribor	Maribor	Tabor Ice Hall	1,000	1993
Merano	Merano	Meranarena	1,000	2001
Neumarkt-Egna	Neumarkt	Würth Arena	3,500	1963
Steelers Kapfenberg	Kapfenberg	Sportzentrum Kapfenberg	4,000	2014
Triglav Kranj	Kranj	Zlato Polje Ice Hall	1,000	1968