Anyang Halla The Anyang Halla are a professional ice hockey team based in Anyang City in Gyeonggi - do , South Korea . They are one of the founding and current members of the Asia League Ice Hockey ( AL ) . Formed in 1994 , they are the oldest professional ice hockey team , and one of only two professional teams , in South Korea . The Halla Group contributes three billion won annually to run the club . At its inception the team was based out of Mok - dong , Seoul and named the Mando Winia . In 1998 the team took the name of Mando ' s parent company , Halla . After the collapse of the Korean Ice Hockey League in 2003 they were the only team to survive . They joined four Japan ese teams to create the new Asia League Ice Hockey . In 2005 the team relocated and took the name of their new hometown as their own , playing all current home games out of the Anyang Sports Complex Arena . After two years of finishing in 5th place , they became the first non - Japanese team to finish first in the regular season in 2008 – 2009 . However , they failed to defeat the Nippon Paper Cranes in the semi - finals . In the following season Halla again finished in first and managed to win the semi - final and final series giving them their first play - off series win and first Asia League Championship . The city of Anyang was named ' The Best Hockeytown ' twice , in 2006 & 2010 . Team history . 1994 – 2003 : pre - Asia League Ice Hockey . The team was originally founded in 1994 by the Halla Group to help promote hockey in Korea . The Halla Group also felt that by creating an ice hockey team , it would help them to fulfill their role as a responsible corporation by providing something to the community . The team was originally named " Mando Winia " . It was so named because Mando is a subsidiary company of Halla and Winia is a brand of air conditioner sold by the company . As a member of the Korean Ice Hockey League the team won the championship five times . During this time , the team also changed their name from " Mando Winia " to " Halla Winia " . The team first looked at adding foreign players to their roster in late 2001 with other members of the Korean League . In 2003 , the team was one of the founding members of Asia League Ice Hockey . 2003 – Present : Asia League Ice Hockey . While the team participates primarily in the Asia League , they also play in tournaments like the All Korea Ice Hockey Championship each year . In the inaugural year of Asia League Ice Hockey , Halla played a shortened seasons of only 16 games , and failed to break . 500 . In the following year they brought Esa Tikkanen , a veteran player of 20 NHL seasons , on board . He was brought on primarily to coach the players but he also played during the team ' s games . Tikkanen felt that as the players played against more skilled teams their own skill level showed greater improvement . He also felt that they should play more games and that the season was too short . That year the team was also noted for showing great improvement over the first year ' s effort . Halla finished the season winning 18 games out of 42 with 5 ties . Their top offensive player , Marco Poulsen , finished 5th in the overall points race , however they didn ' t reach their goal that year of making the playoffs , finishing in 5th place one spot out of the playoffs . In the off - season the team changed their name from Anyang Halla Winia to Anyang Halla with the expiration of the sponsorship contract . As well they hired Otakar Vejvoda to be the team ' s new coach . Vejvoda was considered a legend in the Czech Extraliga both for his skill as a player and a coach . In the 2005 – 2006 season Halla improved on the previous year ' s performance finishing in second place . The league saw a reduced season of only 38 games . Song Dong - Hwan was the leader in goals for the league with 31 and Patrik Martinec ranked 2nd in assists with 44 . Martinec ranked number 2 on the total points list while Song finished in fourth place . Halla also scored the most short handed goal s of any team in the league with 11 . The city of Anyang won an award for being " The best Hockey Town in Asia " . The team made the play - offs for the first time since the league ' s formation . They received a bye in the first round and played Kokudo , the winner of the 3rd place and 6th place match - up . Anyang managed to win only a single game out of the first three which were played on home ice . They were eliminated in the 4th game which was played in Kokudo ' s home rink by a score of 5 – 1 . Kokudo went on to be the league champions for the second year in a row . After the conclusion of the ' 05 – ' 06 season there were some roster changes . Two of the team ' s top players , Song Dong - Hwan and Jang Jong - Moon , had to report for compulsory military service . Starting goaltender , Kim Sung - Bae , retired after the previous season . Even though they were missing these players they were noted for having more players with more than 10 goals and 10 assists than in the previous season . With the departure of Song offensive output dropped slightly , the team ' s top offensive player finished 7th overall in goals with 21 . However Martinec won the assists race with 53 and the overall points total with 71 . The team shared top spot in the short handed goals with 2 other teams scoring 10 over the course of the season . With a further shortened season of only 34 games the team finished in 5th place and faced the other Korean team , Kangwon Land in the quarter finals . During the regular season Kangwon won 6 of 7 meetings , and the quarter finals were no different . Kangwon swept Halla in 3 games , the final game ending in 3 – 2 with a last minute desperate bid by Halla to tie the game . The next season saw the AL further reduce the amount of games played to just 30 . In the pre - season Halla won the Anyang Cup , which is a pre - season tournament held in Anyang . The team ' s record in the regular season remained relatively the same and they finished again in 5th place . Lee Yu - Won was the top offensive player with 16 goals and was tied for 4th place with 3 other players . Martinec continued to contribute many assists to the team and finished in second place with 29 , one point off first . He finished in 4th place in the overall point totals . Halla did not have another player in the top 10 . The team once again lead the league in short handed goals and gave up the fewest short handed goals against along with the Oji Eagles . In the playoffs the Halla faced the Nippon Paper Cranes in the first round . During the regular season the two teams split their series each winning 2 games . The playoffs told a different story and Nippon swept Halla in 3 games . Halla lost each game by a single goal . Vejvoda praised Nippon ' s goalie for his excellent play and commended his players for their effort . Following the defeat in the post - season Halla replaced Vejvoda as head coach with Shim Eui - Sik . Shim had spent his entire professional career playing for Halla and during the 2007 – 2008 season he was the coach of Little Halla . As a player Shim had 30 points in 80 games . He vowed to reorganize the team and set his sights on a league championship . The team ' s general manager also hired Samuel H . Kim , then an analyst for SBS Sports and previously an NHL reporter from Vancouver , as a scout for the organization . Halla moved away from the heavy Czech influence which had previously dominated the team and filled 3 of the 4 spots for foreign players on the team with players from North America . Brock Radunske , Brad Fast and Jon Awe became the first three players from North America to play for the team . They also arranged for Eric Thurston , the head coach of University of Alberta ' s team , to spend the first 3 weeks of the training camp assisting the new coach and new North American players . Martinec was the only Czech player to remain on the team . In addition to the new foreigner players Song Dong - Hwan and Jang Jong - Moon returned from military service . In the 2008 pre - season Anyang Cup , Halla finished 4th out of 5 teams . The AL increased the number of regular season games for the 2008 – 2009 season to 36 . In September head coach Shim was suspended for 5 games for refusal to play . The incident stemmed from a goal that was scored as the final buzzer sounded during a September 21 game against High1 . Halla entered the dressing room and refused to return to the ice . The league considered the game a forfeit . Anyang Halla finished the season in first place with a total of 76 points . Their defeat of their rivals High1 in the final game of the season marks the first time a non - Japanese team had finished first place in the Asia League . Brock Radunske captured the titles for both the most goals scored with 29 and most points on the season with 57 . Martinec finished in second place for the second year in a row in the assists category with 47 . Overall the team finished with 5 players in the top 10 in the overall points tally . For the first time the team ended the season with the number one powerplay scoring 54 goals . In contrast to earlier seasons the team did not lead the league in short handed goals , ranking in the middle of the pack both in goals for and against . They were the only team not shutout during the regular season . After receiving a bye in the first round of the play - offs Halla had to face the Nippon Paper Cranes in the semi - final . They returned to Anyang for game 6 of the series leading 3 – 2 . They were expected to win the series but Nippon ' s Ilmura scored two game winning goals and the Japanese club defeated Anyang in 7 games . Halla opened the 2009 – 10 season with a loss on home ice , but at the mid - point of the season they were tied for first place with the Oji Eagles . The league maintained the number of games at 36 . The first half of the season saw Halla plagued with injuries . Particularly hard hit were the team ' s foreign imports . After the third game of the season John Awe was diagnosed with a sports hernia that required surgery and was scheduled to miss 8 – 12 weeks . On November 29 , Brad Fast received a knee injury that will sideline him for 4 – 6 months , ending his season . Brock Radunske was also on the injury list with a concussion , while Patrik Martinec was day to day with a lower - body injury . Halla replaced Awe quickly with Dustin Wood , who has played in both the American Hockey League and Deutsche Eishockey Liga . Fast was replaced by Lee Don - ku from Yonsei University . Halla also had several other regular players injured including Kim Won - jun , Kim Kyu - hun , and Lee Seung - yup . After 18 games Halla led the league with 94 goals . On January 31 , 2010 Halla defeated the Oji Eagles in overtime by a score of 4 - 3 clinching first place for the second year in a row . The win also set - up a semi - final match - up against Korean rivals High1 , guaranteeing that a Korean team would appear in the final for the first time in league history . Halla won all of their series against opposing teams , except against their rival High1 . Of 18 possible points available in their six games series , Halla took only eight . They were the only team to win a series against the Nippon Paper Cranes . The team led the league in goals scored with 180 . Individually , Kim Ki - sung led the team in goals scored with 22 , while Patrik Martinec again led with 40 assists and 51 points . Halla finished with five players in the top ten point list . The team also led in both powerplay goals for , with 57 , powerplay percentage , with 34 . 97 % , and shorthanded goals for , with 10 . In the annual end of season Awards , Patrik Martinec took the award for Most Valuable Player and Best Playmaking . Cho Min - ho took the award for Young Guy of the Year . Anyang city won the award for Best Hockey Town for the second time for their spirit and sell - out crowds . Anyang Halla defeated High1 by a score of 5 - 2 to win the semi - finals three games to one winning their first play - off series and becoming the first Korean team to play for the Championship Cup . Halla faced the Cranes , who had knocked them out of the playoffs twice , in the final . The series went to the full five games and four of the games went to overtime . Brock Radunske scored two overtime winners and assisted Kim Woo - Jae in scoring the overtime winner in game five making Halla the first non - Japanese team to win the Asia League Championship . Radunske was named MVP while head coach Shim was named " Coach of the Year " . After retiring as a player , Martinec signed a 1 - year deal to work as an assistant coach on the team . Community contributions . As a team and organization the Halla have engaged in charitable work . In 2008 they had two charity games on December 27 and 28 . The admission fee was waved and instead fans were asked to make donations . The proceeds were donated to the poor children of Anyang city as well as the sick children ' s hospital . From mid - November 2008 to mid - January 2009 the team gave free tickets to any students who took the College Scholastic Ability Test ( CSAT ) to promote rest and comfort after the difficult exam . In 2009 Halla repeated the offer to students who took the CSAT and offered free admission from early December 2009 to early February 2010 . On December 19 , 2009 The Anyang Halla organization donated 20 , 000 won for each goal that had been scored in the season to charity , totaling just over 2 million won . Media . The Anyang Halla Hockey Club launched a new radio broadcast deal in 2007 with Afreeca . com . Former Halla forward Bae Sang - wun calls the play - by - play , and he is joined with colour commentary by Samuel H . Kim . Former hockey player Oh Sol - gil is currently the main TV commentator for the Anyang Halla . On May 11 , 2009 , SBSsports acquired a 5 year broadcast contract with the club . Arena . The Anyang Sports Complex Arena ( ) was opened November 24 , 2000 . It seats 1284 in the hockey arena . The Arena also contains a basketball court and is home to the Anyang KT & G Kites professional team . It has seating for 6690 . The ice rink is also used for short track and figure skating among other sports . The team previously used the Mok - dong Ice Rink . Team colors and mascots . Logo . The Anyang Halla logo features a black triangle in the background surrounded by a white and black border . A growling polar bear is shown protruding from the top half of the triangle and underneath the team name " Halla " is shown in stylized gold letters . Below the team name is a semicircular shape which contains the city name " Anyang " in white letters on a blue background . Jerseys . As the team changed its name from the Winia to the Halla the uniforms had minor changes made to them . The logo changed names and the uniforms had colored shoulders removed from them . The current home jerseys feature a solid blue background with yellow stripes on the cuffs and bottom of the body as well as a number of blue rough shapes behind the gold trim as well as sponsor logos on the shoulders . The away jerseys feature a solid white background with dark blue striped borders on the cuffs and bottom of the body , it also contains the same rough blue shapes behind the trim . The Halla put the first name of Korean players on the jerseys to avoid confusion as several players share the same family name . Mascots . The teams mascots are a male and female polar bear . The male polar bear wears the Halla home jersey and the female polar bear wears the away jersey . She also wears a white skirt and has red eyes . No name has been released for either of the polar bears . Past import players . Prior to the 2008 – 2009 season Halla drew most of their imports from the Czech Republic , including their head coach of 3 seasons .