North Macedonia
| North Macedonia | |
 | |
| Continent | Europe |
| Population | 2,055,044 |
| Registered players | N/A |
| Referees | N/A |
| Rinks | 1 |
| National teams | Men's |
| National federation | Macedonian Ice Hockey Federation |
| IIHF since | October 4, 2001 |
| IIHF ranking | N/A |
| Top league | Macedonian Championship |
| Current champion | HK Metalurg Skopje |
North Macedonia (officially the Republic of Macedonia) is a country on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Skopje is the capital and largest city.
Overview
National Teams
Domestic Teams
See Category:Ice hockey teams in Macedonia
Arenas
See Category:Arenas in Macedonia
Competitions
| Competition | Founded | Folded | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Macedonian Championship | 2013 | - | National championship |
| Balkan League | 2007 (2013 MKD) | - | Multi-national league |
| Total TV Hockey League | 2011 | 2012 | Defunct multi-national league |
History of hockey in North Macedonia
The Macedonian Ice Hockey Federation is the governing body of ice hockey in the country. Macedonia became an IIHF member on October 4, 2001.[1]
The first hockey club in Skopje was formed in 1959. The founding assembly was held on February 3, 1959, at the premises of the Sports Union of Skopje, when the board of the new club HC Skopje was elected, headed by the first president Kiro Cvetkovski and the vice president Pance Leov. The team was coached by Trajko Trpcevski and Lazo Musmanovski, returnees from Czechoslovakia, originally from Aegean Macedonia. There were no ice rinks in Skopje at the time, so the team conducted practices on the frozen pond in the City Park. There equipment was very rudimentary, with the players using hand-made sticks. Not everyone had skates, so they made some out of thick wires, which they tied to their shoes so they could slide. The goals were borrowed from the auxiliary field of the City Stadium, where the Vardar players trained at indoor soccer. At first, various rubber and solid objects were used. They played in sweaters, with woolen hats on their heads. The first hockey players were Trajko and Tome Trpcevski, Mito Panzov, Stojce Kostenev, Petre Bozarov, Lazo Musmanovski, Gjorgji Golovski, Dushko Samolov, Bosko Atanasov, Aleksso Popovski, and Nikola Stavrevski.
The first propaganda match was held on March 1, 1959 on the frozen Mavrovo Lake. There were about 300 spectators who came to watch the game. According to the writings of Nova Makedonija the match ended 9:9. The Skopje hockey players were divided into two teams. The following individuals competed in the game: Dushko Mijovski, Dupjachanovski, Nikolovski, Petrovski, Stoilkovski, Mitevski, Rusev, Halvarinov, Kole Stavrevski, Mitko Dinev, Lazo Shumanov, Maksim Duklevski, Maksim Dukanovski, Maksim Dukanovski.
In 1959-60 HK Vardar Skopje competed in a Qualification tournament for the 1960-61 Yugoslav Ice Hockey League season. They lost all three of their games by a combined score of 53:3.
The first unofficial ice hockey match in Skopje was played on February 16, 1962 at then "Brothers Ribar" primary school, today "Dimitar Miladinov". They poured water on the concrete surface of the basketball court to create the rink. It was written in "Nova Makedonija" that more than 1,000 spectators attended the game, the result of which was not published. This time all the hockey players had original skates; they were much better equipped because some hockey equipment was donated by Partizan Belgrade.[2]
Skopje hosted the 1969 World Championship Pool C tournament. HK Skopje and HK Vardar Skopje both participated in the Yugoslav Ice Hockey League in some years from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Hockey activities died out for a while after the breakup of Yugoslavia, but began again in 2011 after the opening of a new ice rink, the Boris Trajikovski Sports Center, in Skopje.
HK Skopje participated in three games in the multi-national Total TV Hockey League in the 2011-12 season. More games were originally scheduled to be played, but the season was not completed. The Macedonian Championship was contested for the first time in 2014. HK Metalurg Skopje became the first national champions. Metalurg has also played in the Balkan League since 2013-14, winning the league title in 2015.
The national team played its first game on March 27, 2011, against Red Star Sofia of Bulgaria in Skopje. Macedonia ended up losing the game by a score of 4-1. In December 2014 Macadonia played two exhibition games against the Bulgarian Junior National Team (U20) in Skopje. They lost the first game 6-5 in overtime and won the second 4-3 following a shootout, recording the teams first ever win.[3]
The national team has not yet debuted at the World Championships. However, the national inline hockey team (composed mostly of ice hockey players) has participated in the IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship Qualification tournament since 2011-12.
