East Hokkaido Cranes

The East Hokkaido Cranes () are a professional ice hockey team based in Kushiro, Japan. They are a members of the Asia League Ice Hockey and play their home games at the Kushiro Ice Arena.
==History==
The East Hokkaido Cranes formed in April 2019, as a phoenix club following the demise of the Nippon Paper Cranes franchise. The Paper Cranes had previously existed for 70 years; however, their owners, Nippon Paper Industries, announced in December 2018 that the team would be put up for sale as a result of corporate streamlining and declining revenues. No buyer was found, and as a result the team folded. 
The East Hokkaido Ice Hockey Club LLC, led by Tanaka Shigeki, announced that they had secured ¥125 million of founding, enabling the establishment of the new team. Asia League Ice Hockey chairman Sumio Kobayashi announced on 23 April 2019 that the new franchise would join the league, replacing the Paper Cranes, whilst retaining 15 players and playing out of the same arena.
The Cranes played their first regular season game on 31 August 2019, losing 3–2 to the Nikkō Ice Bucks, with forward Taiga Irikura scoring the first goal in franchise history.
==Roster== 
Updated December 11, 2019.
Goaltenders	Goaltenders	Goaltenders 	Goaltenders	Goaltenders	Goaltenders
Number 	 	Player 	Catches 	Acquired 	Place of Birth
33 	 	Jānis Auziņš 	L 	2019 	Riga, Latvia
39 	 	Yusuke Kinoshita	L 	2019 	
1 	 	Yuya Wakimoto 	L 	2019 	
Defencemen	Defencemen	Defencemen 	Defencemen	Defencemen	Defencemen 	Defencemen
Number 	 	Player 	Shoots 	Acquired 	Place of Birth 	
7 	 	Edmunds Augstkalns 	L 	2019 	Riga, Latvia 	
3 	 	Kengo Ito 	L 	2019 	Kushiro, Japan 	
29 	 	Shinnosuke Kato 	R 	2019 	 	
23 	 	Kazunari Koizumi 	R 	2019 	Tomakomai, Japan	
52 	 	Kenta Matsukane (A)	R 	2019 	 	
65 	 	Keigo Minoshima 	L 	2019 	Obihiro, Japan 	
79 	 	Yuki Yamazaki 	L 	2019 	Kushiro, Japan 	
77 	 	Shinya Yanadori 	L 	2019 	Kushiro, Japan 	
Forwards	Forwards	Forwards 	Forwards	Forwards	Forwards	Forwards
Number 	 	Player 	Shoots 	Position	Acquired	Place of Birth
92 	 	Ikki Ikeda 	R 	F 	2019 	Tomakomai, Japan
8 	 	Taiga Irikura 	R 	C 	2019 	Tomakomai, Japan
14 	 	Shoma Izumi 	R 	F 	2019 	Tomakomai, Japan
40 	 	Takuma Kawai 	L 	LW 	2019 	Eniwa, Japan
47 	 	Naoya Kubo 	R 	F 	2019 	Tomakomai, Japan
11 	 	Masahito Nishiwaki	R 	LW//RW 	2019 	Kushiro, Japan
10 	 	Kosuke Otsu (A) 	R 	F 	2018 	Nikkō, Japan
91 	 	Takeshi Saito 	R 	RW 	2019 	Kushiro, Japan
18 	 	Shunsuke Shigeno 	L 	F 	2019 	Kushiro, Japan
36 	 	Yokuto Takami 	L 	F 	2019 	Kushiro, Japan
48 	 	Hiroki Ueno (C) 	L 	LW/RW 	2019 	Nagano, Japan
9 	 	Matsuno Yuta 	 	F 	2019 	
==References==
==External links==
* East Hokkaido Cranes official website 
Category:Asia League Ice Hockey teams
Category:Established in 2019
Category:Ice hockey teams in Japan