2020–21 ZhHL season

The 2020–21 ZhHL season was the sixth season of the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) since the league was established in 2015. It was the 26th season in which the women's ice hockey Russian Championship was contested.
== Teams ==
Team 	Location 	Home venue
7.62 	Voskresensk 	Podmoskovie Ice Palace
Agidel 	Ufa 	Ice Palace Salavat Yulaev
Biryusa 	Krasnoyarsk 	LD Sokol
Dinamo-Neva 	Saint Petersburg	Sports Palace "SPBGBU CFMC and VO"
KRS Vanke Rays	Shenzhen 	Shenzhen Dayun Arena
KRS Vanke Rays	Stupino* 	Ice Palace V.M. Bobrova*
SKIF 	Nizhny Novgorod 	Trade Union Sport Palace
SKSO 	Yekaterinburg 	Kurganovo Sports Complex/KRK Uralets
Tornado 	Dmitrov 	Dmitrov Sports Complex
*Temporary relocation for 2020–21 season
== Standings ==
The regular season began on 3 October 2020 and concluded on 27 February 2021, with the four most successful teams securing playoff berths.
Pos	Team 	Pld	W 	OTW	OTL	L 	GF 	GA 	GD 	Pts	Final Result
1 	KRS Vanke Rays	28 	24	2 	0 	2 	130	29 	+101	76 	Clinch playoffs
2 	Agidel 	28 	19	1 	1 	7 	127	47 	+80 	60 	Clinch playoffs
3 	SKIF 	28 	17	4 	1 	6 	83 	37 	+46 	60 	Clinch playoffs
4 	Biryusa 	28 	13	2 	4 	9 	81 	79 	+2 	47 	Clinch playoffs
5 	Dinamo-Neva 	28 	12	1 	3 	12	74 	64 	+10 	41 	Do not qualify
6 	Tornado 	28 	10	1 	2 	15	90 	88 	+2 	34 	Do not qualify
7 	7.62 	28 	2 	2 	0 	24	25 	143	−118	10 	Do not qualify
8 	SKSO 	28 	2 	0 	2 	24	25 	148	−123	8 	Do not qualify
The KRS Vanke Rays claimed their first regular season championship title after registering an exceptional 76 point season with a 26-2–0 win–loss record. The KRS Vanke Rays victory decisively ended the three-season reign of Agidel Ufa as regular season champs, with Agidel finishing sixteen points behind the Vanke Rays with a 20-7-1 record. SKIF Nizhny Novgorod improved from sixth place in the 2019–20 regular season to claim third place in 2020–21 and were the only team to pose a legitimate threat to Agidel's position in second, ultimately tying Agidel with 60 points and winning more games overall but prevented from higher ranking by an excess of overtime wins in relation to relegation victories. Biryusa Krasnoyarsk claimed fourth place in a repeat of the previous season and trailing the other top ranked teams, with 47 points and a 15-9-4 record. 
==Playoffs==
===Bracket===
=== Semifinals ===
==== (1) KRS Vanke Rays vs. (4) Biryusa ====
All game times in Moscow Time (UTC+03:00)
==== (2) Agidel Ufa vs. (3) SKIF ====
All game times in Moscow Time (UTC+03:00)
=== ZhHL Cup Final ===
Originally scheduled to be begin on 13 March 2021, the ZhHL announced a postponement of the Zhenskaya Hockey League Cup finals following a positive COVID-19 test for an Agidel player. On 22 March, the league announced that the finals would be postponed until after the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship Top Division tournament, which had been rescheduled to be held from 6–16 May in Nova Scotia, Canada. The delay became necessary as the required quarantine for Agidel would have created conflicts with the preparations of several national teams for the World Cup. Both teams had a number of national team players: Agidel had several players representing Russia and one player representing the Czech Republic, and the KRS Vanke Rays had players representing the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, the United States, and several Canadian prospects. At the time of announcement, dates for the rescheduled finals had not been determined. 
Ultimately, the 2021 World Championship in Nova Scotia was canceled and the tournament was relocated to Calgary and played during 20–31 August. As promised, the ZhHL Championship Finals were played following Worlds and began on 7 September. This created an unusual situation in which the KRS Vanke Rays participated in the playoff final with a roster of twelve or more players who had not played in the 2020–21 regular season or first round of the playoffs and lost several key players, including captain Alex Carpenter. In contrast, Agidel Ufa added only one player – 15 year old Maria Mikaelyan – and participated in the final with a nearly identical roster to the 2020–21 season.
All game times in Moscow Time (UTC+03:00)
== References ==
== External links ==
* Official website
Category:2021 in ice hockey