Supreme Hockey League Championship

The Supreme Hockey League Championship (VHL-B) (, Pervenstvo Vysshaya hokkeinaya liga) is an ice hockey league in Russia. It stands at the third-tier of the Russian ice hockey pyramid, below the second-level VHL and the top-tier KHL.
==History==
Since 1992, it was the First League of the Russian Ice Hockey Championship. During the 2010–11 season, it was known as the Championship of Russia between the club teams of regions (, Pervenstvo Rossii sredi klubnykh komand regionov), which was considered a feeder league to both the KHL and the VHL. A majority of the teams were simply junior versions of their professional counterparts. During the era of the Soviet Championship League, it was referred to as "Class B"
The league in 2010–11 featured clubs from the 2009–10 season of the Pervaya Liga and also clubs from the 2009–10 season of the Vysshaya Liga that were not accepted into the VHL for 2010–11.
On August 23, 2011, the FHR announced the creation of the Russian Hockey League that replaced the Pervaya Liga. The league had 2 divisions. The West Division featured teams from both the Central and Povolzhie divisions of the Pervaya Liga. The East Division featured teams from the Ural and West Siberia division as well as teams from the Siberian and Far East division. The Russian Hockey League was also the same name of the organization responsible for organizing the top-tier hockey league of Russia at the time that existed from 1996 and 2008, when it was rebranded and reorganized as the Kontinental Hockey League.
Prior to the beginning of the 2014-15 season, there was a big decrease in league members (with seven teams either leaving to join a different league or disbanding altogether). In connection with this number of losses, FHR officials who ran the league were forced to combine the two territorial divisions into one league table.
After the 2014-15 season and prior to the 2015-16 season, the FHR transferred the organization of the RHL (which had seen its membership numbers plummet from 24 teams in 2011/12 to nine in 2014/15) to the Supreme Hockey League, with the hope of developing a better third-tier competition with an eventual promotion/relegation system with the second-level league thus creating the Supreme Hockey League Championship.
==Prospects for expansion==
It is planned to replenish the league from the following sources:
* VHL teams, for financial reasons, leaving the league.
* Foreign clubs. For example, interest to the league has been shown by representatives of Latvia.
* Teams from different cities of Russia.
* Independent teams of the MHL and/or the NMHL who left due to reorganization.
==Teams for 2019–2020==
Team 	City 	Arena 	Capacity	Founded	Joined league
Dinamo-Altai Barnaul	Barnaul 	Titov Sports Palace 	3,800 	2006 	2011
HC Cheboksary 	Cheboksary 	Cheboksary-Arena 	7,500 	2016 	2016
HC Chelny 	Naberezhnye Chelny	Ice Palace Naberezhny Chelny 	1,500 	2004 	2016
HK Orenburg 	Orenburg 	Unknown 	- 	2019 	2019
Junior Kurgan 	Kurgan 	Paryshev Ice Palace 	2,500 	2012 	2017
Krasnoyarskie Rysi 	Krasnoyarsk 	Arena Sever 	2,600 	2011 	2018
Kristall 	Saratov 	Ice Sports Palace Saratov 	5,000 	1946 	2017
Mordovia Saransk 	Saransk 	Ice Palace of the Republic of Mordovia	3,300 	2011 	2011
==Teams no longer in the league==
Team 	City 	Arena 	Capacity	Fate of the team
Angel Sibiri 	Tobolsk 	Crystal Sports Complex 	Unknown 	Unknown
Avangard-Yugra 	Kogalym 	Iceberg Sports Complex 	Unknown 	Originally joined, but ultimately did not participate; possibly disbanded
Buran Voronezh 	Voronezh 	LDS Jubileiny 	3,200 	Joined the VHL in 2012
Burevestnik Yekaterinburg 	Yekaterinburg 	KRK Uralets 	5,570 	Withdrew during 2013-14 season; later disbanded due to connection with financial problems
Burevestnik-1976 	Tomsk 	Crystal Sport Palace 	Unknown 	Currently, the club performs in the Siberian Student Hockey League
CSK VVS Samara 	Samara 	CSK VVS Sport Palace 	3,500 	Joined the VHL in 2017
HC Belgorod 	Belgorod 	Oranzevjy led 	1,200 	Joined the NMHL (then MHL-B) in 2012 due to financial issues
HC Bryansk 	Bryansk 	Desna Stadium 	1,000 	Joined the NMHL (then MHL-B) in 2014
HC Lipetsk 	Lipetsk 	Zvezdny Sports Complex 	2,000 	Joined the VHL in 2013; later withdrew in 2015
HC Rostov 	Rostov-on-Don 	Ice Arena 	600 	Joined the VHL in 2019
HC Tambov 	Tambov 	Crystal Ice Palace 	1,200 	Joined the VHL in 2018
Junior-Sputnik 	Nizhny Tagil 	Sotnikov Ice Sports Palace	4,200 	Club skips season due to financial problems
Kedr Novouralsk 	Novouralsk 	Novouralsk Ice Palace 	1,200 	Disbanded
Kristall Elektrostal 	Elektrostal 	Kristall Sport Palace 	3,500 	Disbanded
Kristall-Yugra Beloyarsky 	Beloyarsky 	Palace of Sports 	450 	Possibly disbanded
Krylya Sovetov Novosibirsk	Novosibirsk 	Unknown 	- 	Disbanded
Neftyanik Almetyevsk-2 	Almetyevsk 	Yubileyny Sports Palace 	2,000 	Changed name to Sputnik; joined the MHL in 2012 as farm club of Neftyanik (Almetyevsk) (VHL)
Progress Glazov 	Glazov 	Progress Sports Palace 	4,300 	Joined the NMHL (then MHL-B) in 2014; became farm club of Izhstal (Izhevsk) (VHL)
Rubin Tyumen-2 	Tyumen 	Sports Palace Tyumen 	3,300 	Unknown
Shakhtyor Prokopyevsk 	Prokopyevsk 	Snowflake Sports Complex 	3,150 	Due to financial problems, the club decided to go to the Siberian Student Hockey League in 2013
Slavutych Smolensk 	Smolensk 	Ice Palace SGAFKST 	1,080 	Left league in 2017 due to financial problems
Sokol Novocheboksarsk 	Novocheboksarsk	LD Sokol 	3,000 	Disbanded
Soyuz 	Zarechny 	Sports Palace Soyuz 	Unknown 	Possibly disbanded
THK Tver 	Tver 	Ice Palace Yubileyny 	1,980 	Joined the VHL in 2012; later declared bankruptcy and ceased in 2017
Yamal Sterkhi 	Noyabrsk 	KSK Fakel 	Unknown 	Disbanded
Yantar Seversk 	Seversk 	SK North 	Unknown 	Withdrew from league after 2011-12 season; later disbanded due to financial issues in 2013-14
Yuzhny Ural-Metallurg Orsk	Orsk 	Unknown 	- 	Disbanded
Zauralje Kurgan-2 	Kurgan 	Ice Sports Palace Mostovik	2,500 	Changed name to Junior and became a youth team joining the MHL and then the NMHL (then MHL-B) in 2012; currently still member of the league
==Champions==
 	
{| cellpadding="0" width="900px" style="font-size: 90%;"	 	 	 	
Season 	Champion 	Finalist 	SeriesResult	Bronze Medalist 	Regular season winner
2011–12	Slavutych Smolensk	Buran Voronezh 	RR 	THK Tver 	Buran Voronezh
2012–13	Mordovia Saransk 	Yamal Sterkhi 	3–2 	Slavutych Smolensk 	Slavutych Smolensk
2013–14	Slavutych Smolensk	Mordovia Saransk 	[NK] 	Altai Barnaul & Yamal Sterkhi[*] 	Slavutych Smolensk
2014–15	HC Rostov 	CSK VVS Samara 	3–0 	Mordovia Saransk & Slavutych Smolensk[*]	Slavutych Smolensk
2015–16	HC Tambov 	HC Rostov 	4–1 	Mordovia Saransk 	HC Rostov
2016–17	HC Rostov 	Slavutych Smolensk	4–1 	Mordovia Saransk 	HC Rostov
2017-18	HC Tambov 	HC Cheboksary 	4–0 	Mordovia Saransk 	HC Rostov
2018-19	HC Rostov 	Mordovia Saransk 	4–0 	HC Cheboksary 	HC Rostov
*[*]: Both losing semifinalists received bronze medals
*[NK]: Result not known
==See also==
*Kontinental Hockey League
*VHL
*Junior Hockey League
*NMHL
==References==
==External links==
* VHL-B Official website
* Inter-Regional Coordinating Council Siberia–Far East, responsible for the Siberia–Far East Division of Pervaya Liga
* Inter-Regional Coordinating Council Northwest, responsible for the Northwest Division of Pervaya Liga
* Inter-Regional Coordinating Council Povolzhye, responsible for the Povolzhye Division of Pervaya Liga
* Inter-Regional Coordinating Council Ural–West Siberia, responsible for the Ural–West Siberia Division of Pervaya Liga
* Euro Hockey
 
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