The British Ice Hockey Superleague (BISL, also known as the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague from 1998–99 for sponsorship reasons) was a professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2003.
 Devised in 1995, it replaced the premier division of the British Hockey League at the end of 1995–1996 season; following the major reshuffle of the league and the split between the first and second tier divisions; with the British National League becoming the new second tier division.
 It was disbanded after the 2002-03 season and replaced by the Elite Ice Hockey League.
 Unlike its North American counterparts, the Superleague was not divided into conferences; teams competed in a single division.
Robert Lachowicz (lac-o-vich) (born 8 February 1990) is an English professional ice hockey left winger who is currently a playing in the EIHL.
 Lachowicz has spent the last eight seasons playing with the Nottingham Panthers in the Elite Ice Hockey League where he has won nine trophies, he also had a brief stint with Manchester Phoenix in 2009, playing in the English Premier Ice Hockey League before returning to play in Nottingham.
 He is also a member of the Great Britain national ice hockey team.
Frederick "Doc" Doherty (June 15, 1887 – February 12, 1961) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player.
 Doherty played hockey for several professional ice hockey teams from 1908 until 1916, including a stint with the Toronto Ontarios in the National Hockey Association (NHA).
 He also played in the Maritime Professional Hockey League and the Ontario Professional Hockey League.
 After returning from World War I duty, he played one game in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens to end his career.
 He played on several league champions, leading to play in several Stanley Cup championships, but was not a member of a Stanley Cup-winning team.
Premier Ice Hockey League will become one of two professional ice hockey leagues in the United Kingdom (the other being the Elite Ice Hockey League).
 It will replace the English Premier Ice Hockey League and the inaugural season will take place in 2017-18.
Karl Johan Marcus Vinnerborg (born 8 August 1972) is a Swedish professional ice hockey referee, currently working in the Swedish Hockey League—Sweden's premier ice hockey league—and with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
 Vinnerborg has won Guldpipan (English: the gold whistle ) three times, awarded to the premier official in Elitserien as voted by the players.
 Vinnerborg has officiated at seven IIHF sanctioned events, among them four consecutive World Championships between 2006—2009, and at the 2010 Olympics.
 He has officiated the World Championship gold medal game twice, 2007 in Moscow and 2008 in Québec.
 In 2010, Vinnerborg made history when he became the first European referee to officiate in the National Hockey League (NHL).
The English Premier Ice Hockey League (EPIHL) was an ice hockey league of 10 teams, all of which were based in England.
 Headquartered in Blackpool, the EPIHL was one of two professional ice hockey leagues in the United Kingdom (the other being the Elite Ice Hockey League).
 A total of 27 teams played in the league at one time or another.
 Swindon Wildcats were the only team to have consistently featured in the EPIHL since its inaugural season in 1997-98.
 In 2017, the league was disbanded, with its teams either joining the Elite Ice Hockey League or the National Ice Hockey League.
The National Hockey League (NHL; French: "Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH" ) is a professional ice hockey league currently comprising 31 teams: 24 in the United States and 7 in Canada.
 Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.
 The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.
The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) (Russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya hokkeynaya liga ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008.
 It comprises 27 member clubs based in Belarus, China, Finland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Russia, and Slovakia and it is planned to expand to more countries.
 It is widely considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in Europe and Asia, and second in the world behind the NHL.
 KHL has the third highest average attendance in Europe with 6,121 spectators per game in the regular season, and the highest total attendance in Europe with 5.32 million spectators in the regular season.
The 2016–17 Minnesota Wild season was the 17th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 25, 1997.
The British National League (BNL) was the second tier of the professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2005.
 Although no formal promotion and relegation existed during its period of existence, it was considered to have been a standard below that of the Ice Hockey Superleague (later replaced by the Elite Ice Hockey League) and above that of the English National Ice Hockey League and the Scottish National League (and later, following its creation, the English Premier Ice Hockey League).
 Fife Flyers and Guildford Flames were the only two teams to consistently feature in the BNL during every season of the league's history.

Question: What year was the premier professional ice hockey league in the world established?
Answer: 1997