HL Anyang, previously winning the regular season, has also won the playoff becoming the Asia League champion in six years.




On March 26th at Anyang Ice Rink, HL Anyang (head coach Chi-sun Paek) won the fifth game of the 2022-23 Asia League Ice Hockey playoff finals. After 80 minutes of intense battle, Yoonseok Kang shot the puck with the assist from his teammate Ingyo Oh to score the final goal during the second overtime period, bringing to his team a 2-1 victory against Red Eagles Hokkaido. With this victory, HL Anyang became the league champion with a series score of 3-2.

Having won the series this year, HL Anyang became the seven-time champion (in 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2023) in Asia League, setting a record of being the most-winning team after the foundation of the Asia League Ice Hockey.

This win is evaluated as the most valuable among HL Anyang's 7 championships, since they overcame the handicap that lasted for 31 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.



During the 2019-20 season playoff in February 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck the league and players, abruptly canceling the season. After this bad news, HL Anyang had to suffer from all kinds of bad news.

Players with dual citizenship, who were the basis of the team’s defense, retired one after another. The team could not do anything but watch as its native veterans leave the team. On top of this, Minho Cho, the team’s tactical and mental anchor, passed away in June 2022 from lung cancer. Sanghoon Shin, the team’s goalkeeper, also left the team to join an American professional hockey league early in the season.

Kim Won-joon, one of the last remaining veterans before the playoffs, was injured as the pressure to fill the vacancy of foreign defenders and domestic veterans with inexperienced rookies acted as a huge burden on the players.

Despite these unfortunate circumstances, HL Anyang won the league and the league playoff, proving to everyone that they are the best team in Asia League Ice Hockey. Winning the championship was the outcome of veterans and rookies’ excellent synergy.

The veterans Kisung Kim, Sangwook Kim, Dongu Lee, and Sangwoo Shin led the team’s offense and defense. The rookies Jongmin Lee, Jonghoon Song, Juhyung Lee, Kunwoo Kim, and Ingyo Oh put vitality to the plays.




The game-winning goal of this playoff final by HL Anyang was the pinnacle of the synergy. Sangwook Kim, a veteran who joined the team in 2010, passed the puck to Ingyo Oh, a rookie defenseman who entered the team just last year. Oh gave a centering pass to Yoonseok Kang, who joined the team in 2018, and Kang shot the decisive goal to end a 90-minute-and-13-second game.