Iran men's national ice hockey team

The Iranian national ice hockey team (Persian:تیم ملی هاکی روی یخ ایران) is the national ice hockey team of Iran. The team was founded in June 2016, is controlled by the Islamic Republic of Iran Skating Federation, and on 26 September 2019, became an associate member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
==History==
===Ice hockey in Iran===
Back in the 1970s, ice hockey was played as a recreation sport by the general public at the "Ice Palace" () which was located in Pahlavi Street before Vanak Square, there was also another ice rink located in Aryamehr Sport Complex which was only used for ice skating. As a result of Iranian Revolution, ice hockey and skating became banned, hence ice rinks got closed down.
Farzad Houshidari is among the first Iranians who played ice hockey abroad. Houshidari became the first player who has started ice hockey in Iran and played professionally abroad. Although there were or currently are many notable players of Iranian-origin across the globe, Daniel Rahimi, Mika Zibanejad and Rhett Rakhshani all were selected in the NHL Entry Draft, with Zibanejad and Rakhshani playing in the NHL. Both Rahimi and Zibanejad have represented Sweden in international competitions while Rakhshani represented the United States. Currently there are two players of Iranian-origin in Oman, Mustafa Hamedi and Ali Reza Rasoli. Umut Taherzadeh have represented Turkey internationally. Other notable players are Mark Ardelan, Ryan Mior, Farzad Khojasteh and Arian Ali-Zade. Also a Canadian player, Calvin Crowe was born in Tehran.
There are currently four Ice Rinks which are Aramis Sports Complex (Tehran), Damoon Shopping Center (Kish Island) and Padide Shandiz Shopping Center (Mashhad),http://www.تورکیش-تورمشهد.com/mashhad-tour/pist-eskeit-ru-yakh-padide-shandiz-mashhad/ which were respectively opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015. There is a standard Ice Rink called Ice Box, located in Iran Mall, Tehran, that was opened in 2019.
In July 2015, Taylan Aytac from Turkey, taught in Iran's first ice hockey workshop which was held in Aramis Sports Complex in Tehran, which was also attended by Iranian trainee-instructors Pooya Ghandali and Saman Goodarzi.
On 1 October 2016, the first ice hockey match was played between two Iranian club teams in a friendly in Padide Ice Rink in Mashhad, Padide defeated Khorasan Razavi 5–4. Both teams have been training twice a day since September 2016.
===National team===
As of 2015, Iran decided to form a national ice hockey team with the intension of participating at the 2017 Asian Winter Games. A team was formed in the first quarter of 2016 after Iran made a campaign of recruiting players of Iranian heritage who live abroad. In order to fast track the creation of a national team, the coaching staff decided that it would be best to select players from the Iranian inline hockey national team powered by hockey players of Iranian-origin from abroad. In 2016, three national camps were held, 26–28 June in Asiago (Italy),
20–27 August in Almaty (Kazakhstan) and 21–24 December in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). In each camp players were coached by three different instructors, Christian Müller from Germany, Former head coach of Kyrgyzstan and Yenbek Almaty, Sergei Shavernev from Kazakhstan, and head coach of Dubai White Bears, Troy Kahler from Canada.
On 23 August 2016, Iran national team played its first match against a non-Iranian team. Iran won 5–4 over Kazakh team HC Almaty in the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan.
Iran was supposed to participate at the 2017 Asian Winter Games, but was disqualified after a number of Iranian players were deemed ineligible to compete in the regional games. Reported concerns leading to the disqualification includes some players failing to reside in Iran for at least three years despite having Iranian heritage, and claims of some players having represented other countries. Games were supposed to be the team's first tournament.
The Olympic Council of Asia allowed Iran to play its scheduled games at the Asian Winter Games but the matches were considered exhibition games and results did not count in the competition standings. Iran's first official match against other national team was a 7–1 loss to Macau in Sapporo, Japan. The game was supposed to be Iran's first match at the Asian Winter Games if they were not disqualified. They won 10–3 in their second exhibition game against Indonesia.
==Tournament record==
===Asian Winter Games===
Year 	Host 	Result 	 	 	 	 	
1986 through 2011	1986 through 2011	Did not enter	Did not enter	Did not enter	Did not enter	Did not enter	Did not enter
2017 	Sapporo 	Disqualified 	Disqualified 	Disqualified 	Disqualified 	Disqualified 	Disqualified
Total 	Total 	0/1 	– 	– 	– 	– 	–
==Team==
===Current roster===
The following players are current active players who have played in Iran's First Ice Hockey Tournament (Ramadhan Cup) in 2019 or have been in contact with Iran's Ice Hockey coaching staff via various national team programs. 
# 	Name	 	 	Height	 	
? 	 	G	-	 	 	Former: IK Pantern U20
? 	 	G	L	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	G	L	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	-	 	-	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	-	 	-	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
81	+C 	F	R	 	 	GCK Lions II
? 	 	F	L	 	 	Elmira Enforcers
? 	 	F	R	 	 	Former: : Lund Giants HC
? 	+A 	F	R	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	F	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	F	-	 	 	Former: EC Wedemark Scorpions
? 	 	F	L	 	 	Former: UTEP Miners
? 	 	F	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	F	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
Legend: +A, Assistant captain, +C Captain, +R Reserve player
===Extended roster===
The following players had either attended the various national team camps in 2016 and 2017 or were selected for the 2017 Asian Winter Games.. Others expressed their interest or had either been invited to join the national team.
# 	Name	 	 	Height	 	
? 	 	G	-	 	-	Uedesheim Chiefs
1 	 	G	-	 	 	Dubai Falcons
80	 	G	-	 	 	Reston Raiders HC, Virginia
78	 	G	-	 	-	Iran Inline Hockey NT
87	 	D	-	 	 	Former: Kölner EC II
? 	 	D	L	 	-	Former: UCSD Tritons
18	 	D	-	 	-	Unattached
10	 	D	-	 	-	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	-	 	-	Former: Cobra Kai
? 	 	D	-	 	-	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	-	 	 	Qazvin Inline Hockey Team
? 	 	-	-	 	-	?
? 	 	-	-	 	-	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	D	L	 	 	Former: SCU Broncos
66	 	D	-	 	 	Former: Dubai Mighty Camels
26	 	D	R	 	 	Former: West Island Royals
? 	 	-	-	 	 	Enghelab Skating Academy
28	+A 	D	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	+A 	F	R	 	 	Krefeld Pinguine
82	 	F	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
9 	 	F	L	 	 	Former: Gottéron U20
7 	 	F	-	 	 	Club Olympique de Courbevoie
22	 	F	-	 	 	Former: TNT
16	 	F	R	 	 	Former: Barley Kings
4 	 	F	L	 	 	Former: Solna SK
61	 	F	L	 	 	Former: South Muskoka Shield
30	 	F	-	 	-	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	F	-	 	-	Former: Hacettepe University Ice Deers
? 	 	F	-	 	 	Former: Bad Beat
36	 	F	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	F	-	 	-	Former: Rebel Scrum
? 	 	C	-	 	 	Former: Dubai White Bears
99	 	F	-	 	-	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	F	-	 	-	Former: SCU Broncos
8 	 	F	-	 	 	Dubai Falcons
00	 	F	-	 	 	Iran Inline Hockey NT
? 	 	F	L	 	 	SDE HF
? 	 	F	-	 	 	Former: Edinburgh Phoenix
? 	 	F	R	 	 	Washington Little Capitals U16
===Current staff===
*General manager: Kaveh Sedghi (کاوه صدقی)
*Head coach: Christian Müller
*Assistant coaches: vacant
*Physical trainer: vacant
===Managerial history===
*Head of Iran ice hockey and inline hockey national teams: Kaveh Sedghi (کاوه صدقی) (2016–2017, 2019–present)
*Acting head coach: Christian Müller (2016–2017, 2019–present)
==All-time record against other nations==
Last match update: 24 February 2017
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	
align="left"	1	1	0	0	10	3
align="left"	1	0	0	1	1 	7
align="left"	1	1	0	0	8 	3
align="left"	1	0	0	1	2 	12
Total 	4	2	0	2	21	25
==References==
==External links==
*National Teams of Ice Hockey
*Facebook
*Instagram
Category:National ice hockey teams in Asia