Georgia
| Georgia | |
 | |
| Continent | Eurasia |
| Population | 4,469,200 |
| Registered players | 207 |
| Referees | 4 |
| Rinks | 3 |
| National teams | Men's |
| National federation | Georgian Ice Hockey Federation |
| IIHF since | May 8, 2009 |
| IIHF ranking | N/A |
| Top league | Georgian Ice Hockey League |
| Current champion | Bakurianis Mimino |
Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Tbilisi is the capital and largest city. Georgia was part of the Soviet Union until 1991.
Overview
National Teams
Domestic Teams
See Category:Ice hockey teams in Georgia
Arenas
See Category:Arenas in Georgia
Competitions
| Competition | Founded | Folded | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgian Ice Hockey League | 2007 | - | Top-level national competition |
History of hockey in Georgia
When the country was part of the Soviet Union, the Georgian SSR Championship was staged in Bakuriani for five years during the early 1960s. Piveli Mertskhali from Tbilisi, led by captain Gogi Natroshvili, won the championship during that period. Hockey in Georgia developed further during the 1980s with their participation in "Zolotaya Shaiba" junior tournaments, founded by the legendary Anatoly Tarasov, which featured teams from many of the Soviet republics. Tarasov also held a series of trainings for Georgian teams at the beginning of a tournament, and held their abilities in high esteem, noting they could achieve good results if adequate training was provided. The following teams participated in the aforementioned Georgian SSR tournament: Pirveli Mertskhali Tbilisi, Mziuri Tbilisi, Paravani Bagdanovkai, Chirahdani Akhaltsikhe, Tsiskari Akhaltsikhe, and Kohta Bakuriani.
The first ice hockey coach, Nodar Donadze, was conducting training sessions for his Pirveli Mertskhali club at the N 23 Public School located in Tbilisi. For the first two years, players of Pirveli Mertskhali practiced with roller skates on an asphalt surface. Nodar Donadze repeatedly made requests to the management of the figure skating school to allow them to train on the ice but he was refused each time. Donadze also took up the issue to the Central Committee of Komsomol of Georgia. After much persuasion in the Komsamol Central Committee, the team was allowed on the ice for the first time. Ice time was allocated to hockey players for two days a week from 10PM to 11PM.
Pirveli Mertskhali soon played its first games in Moscow, where they played three games (achieving a draw and a win). Georgian hockey players were awarded with the cup and hockey sticks autographed by Anatoly Tarasov and Anatoly Firsov. Nodar Donadze had some talented players who were immediately noticed at the "Zolotaya Shaiba" tournaments, including Nodari Chikhlidze, Sergo Chilashvili, Kote Mikeladz, and Konstantin Bakhutashvili. Zaza Aptsiauri, the forward and the captain of Pirveli Mertskhali, became the top scorer of the tournament. Donadze was helped by former hockey players from the 1960s who joined the coaching process – Omar Donadze, Temur Gigineishvili, and Gogi Natroshvili. Anatoly Firsov noticed the goaltender Konstantin Bakhutashvili, who was repeatedly the best goaltender at the tournaments, and he was invited to play for CSKA Moscow. Bakhutashvili continued his career with them and also played for the Soviet junior team from 1985 to 1989.
Tournaments were held during the winter on the outdoor ice rink in Baukriani. The Georgian SSR Championship was re-started and contested from 1982 to 1986. Tarasov and many other famous players applied pressure to the Manage of Sport to build ice arenas in Georgia, but were unsuccessful. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, hockey in Georgia died out and was not revived again until 2007.[1]
The Georgian Ice Hockey League was first held during the 2007-08 season, with Rukhi Mglebi (Tblissi Grey Wolves) winning the championship. The league was not played from 2008-2010, but was restarted for the 2011-12 season. The Ice Knights Tbilisi were league champions in 2012 and 2013, while the Grey Wolves Tbilisi and Bakurianis Mimino claimed the 2014 and 2015 championships.
The Georgian Ice Hockey Federation, founded in 2004, is the governing body for ice hockey in the country. Georgia joined the IIHF on May 8, 2009.[2] Denis Davydov (the first president of the GIHF) was a key figure in the revival of hockey in Georgia, as was GIHF General Secretary Lasha Tsagareishvili. Davydov tragically died in a car accident on the way to the 2009 IIHF World Congress.
The Georgian National Team, representing the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, first participated in the 1962 Soviet Winter Spartakiad, held in Sverdlovsk. Their first game was a 31-0 defeat against Leningrad. They subsequently lost to the Lithuanian SSR 10-2 and 7-2, the Kazakh SSR 11-3, the Kirghiz SSR 1-0, the Estonian SSR 11-1, and the Latvian SSR 13-0. The team's only positive result was an 11-2 win over the Armenian SSR.[3]
The national team did not play in an international game again until April 2010, when they played friendly games against South Africa and Armenia in Yerevan. The Georgians lost both games - 8-1 to South Africa and 22-1 to Armenia. In 2012, Georgia made its debut in the World Championship program, competing in the 2013 Division III Qualification tournament being held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. They lost all three games en route to a last place finish and failed to qualify for the tournament.
Georgia played in the 2014 Division III tournament, losing all five games. They enjoyed more success in 2015, recording a 4-1 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina and a 5-4 shootout victory against the United Arab Emirates. This was good enough for a fifth place finish out of seven teams.
