2020–21 ZhHL season
| League | Zhenskaya Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration |
|
| Number of games | 28 |
| Number of teams | 8 |
| TV partner(s) | KHL TV YouTube |
| Regular season | |
| ' | KRS Vanke Rays |
| Runners-up | Agidel Ufa |
| Season MVP | Valeria Merkusheva (SKIF) |
| Top scorer | Alex Carpente] (Vanke Rays) |
| Playoffs | |
| Playoffs MVP | Olga Sosina (Agidel) |
| Finals champions | Agidel Ufa |
| Runners-up | KRS Vanke Rays |
The 2020–21 ZhHL season was the sixth season of the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) since the league was established in 2015. It was the 26th season in which the women's ice hockey Russian Championship was contested.
Teams
| Team | Location | Home venue |
|---|---|---|
| 7.62 |  Voskresensk
|
Podmoskovie Ice Palace |
| Agidel | Ufa
|
Ice Palace Salavat Yulaev |
| Biryusa | Krasnoyarsk
|
LD Sokol |
| Dinamo-Neva | Saint Petersburg
|
Sports Palace "SPBGBU CFMC and VO" |
| KRS Vanke Rays |  Shenzhen
|
Shenzhen Dayun Arena |
| Stupino*
|
Ice Palace V.M. Bobrova* | |
| SKIF | Nizhny Novgorod
|
Trade Union Sport Palace |
| SKSO | Yekaterinburg
|
Kurganovo Sports Complex/KRK Uralets |
| Tornado | Dmitrov
|
Dmitrov Sports Complex |
*Temporary relocation for 2020–21 season
Standings
The regular season began on 3 October 2020 and concluded on 27 February 2021, with the four most successful teams securing playoff berths.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KRS Vanke Rays | 28 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 130 | 29 | +101 | 76 | Clinch playoffs |
| 2 | Agidel | 28 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 127 | 47 | +80 | 60 | |
| 3 | SKIF | 28 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 83 | 37 | +46 | 60 | |
| 4 | Biryusa | 28 | 13 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 81 | 79 | +2 | 47 | |
| 5 | Dinamo-Neva | 28 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 74 | 64 | +10 | 41 | Do not qualify |
| 6 | Tornado | 28 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 90 | 88 | +2 | 34 | |
| 7 | 7.62 | 28 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 25 | 143 | −118 | 10 | |
| 8 | SKSO | 28 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 24 | 25 | 148 | −123 | 8 |
The KRS Vanke Rays claimed their first regular season championship title after registering an exceptional 76 point season with a 26-2–0 win–loss record. The KRS Vanke Rays victory decisively ended the three-season reign of Agidel Ufa as regular season champs, with Agidel finishing sixteen points behind the Vanke Rays with a 20-7-1 record. SKIF Nizhny Novgorod improved from sixth place in the 2019–20 regular season to claim third place in 2020–21 and were the only team to pose a legitimate threat to Agidel's position in second, ultimately tying Agidel with 60 points and winning more games overall but prevented from higher ranking by an excess of overtime wins in relation to relegation victories. Biryusa Krasnoyarsk claimed fourth place in a repeat of the previous season and trailing the other top ranked teams, with 47 points and a 15-9-4 record.
Playoffs
Bracket
| Semifinals | Finals | |||||||
| 1 | KRS Vanke Rays | 2 | ||||||
| 4 | Biryusa Krasnoyarsk | 0 | ||||||
|
KRS Vanke Rays | 1 | ||||||
|
Agidel Ufa | 2 | ||||||
| 2 | Agidel Ufa | 2 | ||||||
| 3 | SKIF Nizhny Novgorod | 1 | ||||||
Semifinals
(1) KRS Vanke Rays vs. (4) Biryusa
| Vanke Rays – Biryusa 2–0 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 March 2021 | Vanke Rays | Biryusa | 3-0 |
| 4 March 2021 | Biryusa | Vanke Rays | 2-4 |
| KRS Vanke Rays won the series in two games. | |||
All game times in Moscow Time (UTC+03:00)
| 3 2021 09:00 |
Biryusa Krasnoyarsk | 0–3 (0–1, 0–1, 0–1) |
KRS Vanke Rays | Fakel Ice Palace, Krasnoyarsk Attendance: 68 |
| Game reference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darya Gredzen | Goalies | Kimberly Newell | Referees: Darya Abrosimova Darya Ermak Linesmen: Anastasia Vasilyeva Diana Mokhova | |
| 0–1 / 0–2 / 0–3 | 08:23 – Llanes (Bozek, Miller) / 28:08 – Miller (Bozek) (PP) / 51:15 – Llanes (Mills) | |||
| 6 min | Penalties | 10 min | ||
| 19 | Shots | 34 | ||
| 4 2021 09:00 |
Biryusa Krasnoyarsk | 2–4 (0–1, 1–2, 1–1) |
KRS Vanke Rays | Fakel Ice Palace, Krasnoyarsk Attendance: 55 |
| Game reference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darya Gredzen | Goalies | Kimberly Newell | Referees: Darya Abrosimova Darya Ermak Linesmen: Anastasia Vasilyeva Diana Mokhova | |
| Zenchenko (Kuznetsova) – 39:11 / Mitrofanova – 50:58 | 0–1 / 0–2 / 0–3 / 1–3 / 2–3 / 2–4 | 16:06 – Costales (Hanson, Tse) / 20:27 – Carpenter (Bozek, Miller) (PP) / 31:26 – Mills (Lum, Tougas) / 56:15 – Miller (Bozek, Llanes) (PP) | ||
| 14 min | Penalties | 10 min | ||
| 15 | Shots | 46 | ||
(2) Agidel Ufa vs. (3) SKIF
| Agidel – SKIF 2–1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 2021 | SKIF | Agidel | 3-2 GWS |
| 4 2021 | Agidel | SKIF | 2-1 GWS |
| 7 2021 | Agidel | SKIF | 3-2 GWS |
| Agidel won the series 2–1. | |||
All game times in Moscow Time (UTC+03:00)
| 3 2021 13:00 |
SKIF Nizhny Novgorod | 3–2 GWS (1–1, 1–1, 0–0) (OT: 0–0) (SO: 1–0) |
Agidel Ufa | Trade Union Sport Palace, Nizhny Attendance: 100 |
| Game reference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valeria Merkusheva | Goalies | Maria Sorokina | Referees: Yana Zueva Arina Ustinova Linesmen: Polina Danilova Julia Lavelina | |
| Kulishova (Provorova, Bratischeva) (PP2) – 09:15 / Provorova (Starovoitova) – 38:06 | 0–1 / 1–1 / 1–2 / 2–2 | 00:37 – Sosina (Makhmutova) / 35:19 – Markova (Shibanova) | ||
| 4 min | Penalties | 6 min | ||
| 20 | Shots | 25 | ||
| 6 2021 11:00 |
Agidel Ufa | 2–1 GWS (1–1, 0–0, 0–0) (OT: 0–0) (SO: 1–0) |
SKIF Nizhny Novgorod | Ice Palace Salavat Yulaev, Ufa Attendance: 180 |
| Game reference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maria Sorokina | Goalies | Valeria Merkusheva | Referees: Yana Zueva Arina Ustinova Linesmen: Polina Danilova Julia Lavelina | |
| Rodnova (Sosina) – 09:35 | 0–1 / 1–1 | 08:14 – Ananyina (Likhachyova) | ||
| 6 min | Penalties | 10 min | ||
| 42 | Shots | 27 | ||
| 7 2021 11:00 |
Agidel Ufa | 3–2 GWS (0–2, 0–0, 2–0) (OT: 0–0) (SO: 1–0) |
SKIF Nizhny Novgorod | Ice Palace Salavat Yulaev, Ufa Attendance: 220 |
| Game reference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maria Sorokina | Goalies | Valeria Merkusheva | Referees: Yana Zueva Arina Ustinova Linesmen: Polina Danilova Julia Lavelina | |
| Rodnova (Sosina, Sviridova) – 55:17 / Sosina (Korzhakova, Shibanova) (EA) – 59:40 | 0–1 / 0–2 / 1–2 / 2–2 | 14:05 – Falyakhova (Kulishova, Shchukina) / 18:06 – Tejralová (Likhachyova, Starovoitova) | ||
| 4 min | Penalties | 4 min | ||
| 50 | Shots | 29 | ||
ZhHL Cup Final
Originally scheduled to be begin on 13 March 2021, the ZhHL announced a postponement of the Zhenskaya Hockey League Cup finals following a positive COVID-19 test for an Agidel player.[1] On 22 March, the league announced that the finals would be postponed until after the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship Top Division tournament, which had been rescheduled to be held from 6–16 May in Nova Scotia, Canada. The delay became necessary as the required quarantine for Agidel would have created conflicts with the preparations of several national teams for the World Cup. Both teams had a number of national team players: Agidel had several players representing Russia and one player representing the Czech Republic, and the KRS Vanke Rays had players representing the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, the United States, and several Canadian prospects. At the time of announcement, dates for the rescheduled finals had not been determined.[2]
Ultimately, the 2021 World Championship in Nova Scotia was canceled and the tournament was relocated to Calgary and played during 20–31 August. As promised, the ZhHL Championship Finals were played following Worlds and began on 7 September. This created an unusual situation in which the KRS Vanke Rays participated in the playoff final with a roster of twelve or more players who had not played in the 2020–21 regular season or first round of the playoffs and lost several key players, including captain Alex Carpenter. In contrast, Agidel Ufa added only one player – 15 year old Maria Mikaelyan – and participated in the final with a nearly identical roster to the 2020–21 season.
All game times in Moscow Time (UTC+03:00)
| 7 2021 14:00 |
Agidel Ufa | 5–2 (3–1, 1–0, 1–1) |
KRS Vanke Rays | Ufa Sports Palace Attendance: 180 |
| Game reference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anna Prugova | Goalies | Kimberly Newell | ||
| Sviridova (Korzhakova) – 00:34 / Sosina – 02:42 / Lucák-Čupková (Batalova, Sosina) (PP) – 09:21 / Luchnikova (Markova, Pechnikova) – 24:44 / Markova (Lucák-Čupková, Rodnova) (ENG) – 58:39 | 1–0 / 2–0 / 2–1 / 3–1 / 4–1 / 4–2 / 5–2 | 07:06 – Karvinen (Cava, Nordin) / 48:01 – Mills (Tapani) | ||
| 2 min | Penalties | 6 min | ||
| 30 | Shots | 38 | ||
| 10 2021 14:00 |
KRS Vanke Rays | 4–1 (0–1, 1–0, 3–0) |
Agidel Ufa | Mytishchi Arena Attendance: 147 |
| Game reference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimberly Newell | Goalies | Anna Prugova | ||
| Karvinen (Tse) – 29:57 / Tapani (Houston) – 43:06 / Karvinen (Houston) – 45:36 / Mills (Tapani, Houston) (PP) – 51:11 | 0–1 / 1–1 / 2–1 / 3–1 / 4–1 | 11:24 – Mitrofanova | ||
| 12 min | Penalties | 10 min | ||
| 41 | Shots | 21 | ||
| 11 2021 13:00 |
KRS Vanke Rays | 2–3 GWS (1–1, 0–0, 1–1) (OT: 0–0) (SO: 0–1) |
Agidel Ufa | Mytishchi Arena Attendance: 158 |
| Game reference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimberly Newell | Goalies | Maria Sorokina | ||
| Lum (Tiessen, Cava) – 14:14 / Mills (Cogan) – 45:05 | 0–1 / 1–1 / 2–1 / 2–2 | 12:05 – Mikaelyan (Korzhakova, Sviridova) / 56:45 – Markova (Luchnikova, Rodnova) | ||
| 4 min | Penalties | 8 min | ||
| 42 | Shots | 32 | ||
References
- ↑ "Финал Кубка ЖХЛ перенесен на более поздний срок" (in ru). KHL. 2021-03-10. http://whl.khl.ru/article/3439-final-kubka-zhhl-perenesen-na-bolee-pozdniy-srok.
- ↑ "Финал Кубка ЖХЛ состоится после женского чемпионата мира" (in ru) (Press release). KHL. 2021-03-22. http://whl.khl.ru/article/3449-final-kubka-zhhl-sostoitsya-posle-zhenskogo-chempionata-mira.
External links
| Russian Women's Hockey League seasons |
|---|
| 1995–96 - 1996–97 - 1997–98 - 1998–99 - 1999–2000 - 2000–01 - 2001–02 - 2002–03 - 2003–04 - 2004–05 - 2005–06 - 2006–07 - 2007–08 - 2008–09 - 2009–10 - 2010–11 - 2011–12 - 2012–13 - 2013–14 - 2014–15 - 2015–16 - 2016–17 - 2017–18 - 2018–19 - 2019–20 - 2020–21 - 2021–22 - 2022–23 - 2023–24 |
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