Latin hockey league system
The Latin hockey league system, also known as the Latin hockey pyramid, is a series of interconnected professional and semi-professional leagues for men's ice hockey, with 4 teams in Lyncanestria and 1 team in Lihnidos also competing. The system includes promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, potentially allowing for the smallest teams to reach the very top of the league system. There are more than X teams across 6 divisions. Divisions one, and two require all teams are professional, while divisions three features semi-professional teams.
While the league system exists below division three, the structure is not regarded as definitive and typically features amateur teams that vary from year to year.
Structure
Liga Magna is the top division league of the Latin hockey system, often called "top flight", containing 22 teams, all of which have been based in Latium since 2001. There is one Lyncanestrian team that has reached the league. Immediately below Liga Magna is Liga Latii Campionata, which is the oldest ice hockey league in Latium and features 18 teams. Before the establishment of Liga Magna in 1955, Liga Campionata served as the top flight hockey league, though league operations were suspended from 1948 until 1966. The lowest level professional league in the system is Liga de Hockey Nationale, hosting 16 teams. Liga Nationale was founded in 1988, and requires teams to be professional or semi-professional in order to participate.
Level five is a purely amateur division, and varies in the number of teams participating from year to year. As of 2018, there are five regional amateur leagues and 80 teams.
Promotion and relegation
- Liga Magna (level 1, 22 teams): Top ten teams in regular season qualify for post-season playoffs. The bottom three teams are relegated.
- Liga Campionata (level 2, 18 teams): Top two teams are promoted, next three teams and bottom three teams from LMH enter promotion playoffs, with playoff champion earning promotion. The bottom three teams are relegated.
- Liga Nationale (level 3, 16 teams): Top two teams are promoted, next three teams and bottom three teams from LMH enter promotion playoffs, with playoff champion earning promotion. The bottom four teams are relegated.
- SuperLiga–Gelona and Liga Auster (level 4, 21 teams total, running in parallel): Champions of each division earn promotion, the next four teams enter promotion playoffs with champion earning promotion. The bottom two teams are relegated if qualifying teams in level 5 are eligible for promotion; if none are eligible, no relegation.
Cup eligibility
Members of Liga Magna, Liga Campionata and Liga Nationale are eligible to compete in Copa Glaciei every season. Copa Glaciei is the oldest ice hockey competition in Latium and is a single elimination tournament that runs from the initial qualifying rounds in October to the final round in March.
Teams participating in division five play in Copa Latii Aperio, which begins in November and runs as a single elimination tournament. Tournament games are played in a home and home series as teams advance by aggregate score throughout the two game series.
System
Men's
|
Level |
League(s)/Division(s) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Liga Magna | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
2 |
Liga Campionata | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
3 |
Liga Nationale | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
4 |
Liga Septentrio |
Liga Auster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
5 |
(All divisions run in parallel) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Women's
|
Level |
League(s)/Division(s) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Liga Campionata Feminae | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Academy
|
Level |
League(s)/Division(s) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Maior Iuventus Academia Liga | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
2 |
Minor Iuventus Academia Liga | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||