Top Ice Hockey Leagues

 
All top both professional and national leagues are governed by a 74-member International Ice Hockey Federation(IIHF).

Most of the regions where Ice Hockey tournaments are played consist of North America, Eastern Europe and Russia because of the cold winters.

Below is a list of some of the most sought out tournaments with lucrative Ice hockey betting opportunities

NHL (National Hockey League)

The NHL is the most popular professional league in Ice hockey in the entire world. The league is stationed in north America (United States of America and Canada).

The league is made up of 30 teams both from Canada and USA which is later split in to conferences of a group of 14 teams and a group of 16 teams which are Western and Eastern conferences respectively.

So in these conferences teams face off to make the cut to the Stanley Cup Final 

The NHL season usually runs from early October to mid-April on a regular.

Only teams from Canada and the United states of America participate in the NHL.

 IIHF World Championships 

The world champions league is held on an international level and it’s held very year and it features the top 16 national teams from every part of the world. The IIHF world championships league was originally founded in 1920 and the league is only a men’s league and only IIHF member countries participate.

The tournament categorizes teams in to 4 divisions for the competition to take off which can be seen on the IIHF ranking on the IIHF.com  

Kontinental Hockey League 

 The Kontinental Hockey League formerly known as the Russian super league is the most popular league in Eastern Europe and Asia. And it’s also the second most popular professional league after the National Hockey League (NHL) although it was only founded in 2008.

The KHL consists of 23 teams from countries like Russia, China, Finland, Latvia just to name a few with the winner taking the Gagarin Cup.

The matches of the season are scheduled for early march to Late April 

American Hockey League(AHL)

The American Hockey League is another professional league for the Canadian and United States of American teams. The league is made up of 31 teams and the final winner team is handed a Calder cup.

The AHL also have affiliations with NHL and provides the NHL with very best younger players and they operate the same exact 30 teams with two conferences and 76 games.

Winter Olympics 

The Winter Olympics is remains the highest achievement for any of the Ice hockey players since the 1920s. The winter Olympics is held every after 4 years and all top ice hockey teams made up from all other professional leagues are to participate to represent their countries at national level.

Swedish Hockey League(SHL)

In Sweden, the most popular sport up to date is ice hockey and their national team is probably one of the best teams in the world. The SHL was founded in1975 and consists of 14 teams with the winner granted the Le Mat Trophy with the regular season kicking off with 52 games starting in late September to Early March and the play offs from March to April.