HHL Eesti

Harrastajate Hokiliiga from its early years to 2012

Harrastajate Hokiliiga — HHL — is a non-profit organization that brings together amateur ice hockey players regardless of age and playing ability, provided that they do not play in the youth or adult championships of Estonia or any other country. The aim of the league is to ensure continuity in hockey and to organize competitions for different skill levels. In addition, through regular training and competitions, the league helps every hockey enthusiast strengthen their health, supporting longevity and high working capacity.

Creation of the league and its first founders

The idea of creating the league came from a group of ice hockey activists led by Nikolai Lopassov, Ants Jürman and Jüri Norbak-Nurbach. The founding agreement of MTÜ Harrastajate Hokiliiga was signed on 30 January 2000 by Nikolai Lopassov, Ants Jürman, Jüri Norbak-Nurmbah, Meelis Karu, Rauno Parras, Sergei Urusov, Valle Vilimäe, Andres Kaljuste, Allan Pihlak, Peep Koitlepp and Toivo Viinapuu. Initially, Ants Jürman and Toivo Viinapuu were entered as members of the board, and by order of the Government of the Republic No. 624-k of 25 July 2000, MTÜ Harrastajate Hokiliiga was also included in the list of non-profit associations and foundations eligible for income tax benefits. However, it soon became clear that the appointed board members Jürman and Viinapuu had done this behind the backs of most of the founders. Based on a submitted complaint, on 30.08.2000, assistant judge Inge Ruus of the Tallinn City Court approved a new board consisting of Nikolai Lopassov, Jüri Norbak-Nurmbah, Rauno Parras and Meelis Karu. The previous board members Toivo Viinapuu and Ants Jürman were removed from the board.

Development of ice arenas and the growth of opportunities for amateur hockey

The formation of HHL came at the right time, because until 2000 it had been practically impossible: amateur hockey players had no available ice time. Winter sports enthusiasts had access to the Talleks open artificial ice rink and the Tallinn city ice hall, but almost all training hours were fully rented by local sports school figure skating and ice hockey groups. This meant that ordinary amateurs had absolutely no opportunity to play ice hockey, as there were simply no free training hours available. However, in the autumn of 2000, hockey fans were delighted by the opening of the Jeti ice hall on Suur-Sõjamäe Road in Tallinn, with three ice rinks, two of which were intended specifically for hockey. When, two years later, the Premia ice hall did the same, the ice problem in the capital was solved overnight. There was now enough ice for hockey players, figure skaters, curlers and ordinary skating enthusiasts alike. Just come to the ice hall and skate as much as your heart desires.

The first championships and participating teams

Seven teams registered for the first Harrastajate Hokiliiga championship: six from Tallinn and one from Kehra. In the following year, 2001, the number of participants remained the same, with only the capital’s Waiters team being replaced by SK Pedja from Jõgeva, Estonia’s “cold capital”. Competitions continued with largely the same number of teams for the next two years and were held under the name Eesti Harrastajate Hokiliiga.

Growth of the league and formation of competition groups

A turning point came in the autumn of 2003, when, for the 2004 championship, a surprising double number of teams — as many as 15 — registered. Now that the number of teams had doubled, it became necessary to separate the stronger from the weaker, which meant organizing competitions according to playing level, directly based on ice hockey skills, in two different groups. Group I consisted of teams whose players had already been familiar with hockey for many years in terms of skill, but whose abilities — mainly due to age — no longer allowed them to compete for the Estonian championship title, although they still wanted to continue practicing their beloved sport. The second, significantly weaker group included teams whose players were only beginning to take their first steps on the hockey field. As the number of HHL teams and competitions had grown considerably, the league now needed more professional management. Therefore, Jaan Ahi, the former long-time secretary general of the Estonian Ice Hockey Federation, who had recently retired from there, was brought in to serve as the secretary general of Harrastajate Hokiliiga.

By 2005, the popularity of Harrastajate Hokiliiga had grown so much that teams had to be divided by playing strength into three different groups. The upward trend continued until 2010. The number grew to around two dozen teams, and in some seasons around 200 official games were played. The economic downturn also had its effect here, and in recent years the total number of participating teams has remained around twenty.

The spread of amateur hockey leagues across Estonia

While in the early years of HHL some teams from other Estonian regions joined the Tallinn HHL league, eventually it was understood that local HHL leagues could also be formed. This led to the creation of amateur leagues in Virumaa, Narva and Tartu. The largest of these is Virumaa Harrastajate Hokiliiga, where teams from Sillamäe, Kohtla-Järve, Narva, Rakvere and Uudeküla play.

Renewal of the board and league management

In 2007, due to the relocation of one of the founders of Harrastajate Hokiliiga, Nikolai Lopassov, to the United States of America, the former board was also renewed. Tõnu Tuulas was elected chairman of the board, with the rank of president, and Andres Koger, Aivar Saidla, Jaan Väinsalu and Jüri Norbak were elected as members. Nikolai Lopassov became an honorary member. Jaan Ahi was confirmed as secretary general.

Reasons for the popularity of amateur hockey

The answer to the question of what has caused the massive growth of amateur hockey players throughout the country in recent years — while, as we know, the number of teams playing in Estonian Ice Hockey Association competitions has in places decreased almost to a minimum or disappeared entirely — lies in the desire of the leaders of Harrastajate Hokiliiga to organize both training sessions and competitions of different levels for all hockey enthusiasts, from schoolchildren to pensioners, former athletes, current businessmen, workers and ordinary active people, throughout the entire season. The availability of free ice time in ice halls has also played an important role.

HHL as a health center and promoter of an active lifestyle

HHL can be called a true health center, because where else can ordinary sports enthusiasts train and compete year-round, from September to June, two to three times a week? The proper organization of competitions also plays an important role. While in the early years of the league training sessions and games were held without much attention to the result, now every game is played for victory, and nobody wants to lose. To maintain players’ interest and competitive tension, the top three teams in every group are awarded cups, while players receive medals of different colors. Special prizes are awarded to the best goalkeeper, defender, forward and top scorer in each group. The best coaches and referees are also recognized.

The protocols of all games held during the season, together with comments, are available online on the Harrastajate Hokiliiga website at www.hhl.ee. In earlier years, a particularly passionate hockey fan, Aleksandr Koltovski, covered not only HHL competitions and protocols on estonianhockey.net at his own expense, but also all competitions held in Estonia and involving Estonian hockey teams. Whether a game took place on Lake Peipus or, as in 1946, on the Pedja River in Jõgeva, everything was recorded and made available to all hockey enthusiasts. Since Aleksandr is a true ice hockey fanatic and a real maximalist, after the Estonian Ice Hockey Association refused to provide him with data, he took offense, and Estonianhockey.Net ended its active work last autumn, although the total number of visitors to the website reached tens of thousands of hockey enthusiasts. Today, the gap has at least minimally started to be filled by www.hhl.ee, opened by HHL shortly before last Christmas, because rapid information sharing is no longer possible otherwise. In addition to game protocols and game comments, the site also includes game calendars, league tables and player scoring statistics.

Well-known athletes and public figures in HHL

Many former Estonian champions and medalists play in HHL, some already of retirement age. It is interesting to note that many representatives of other sports also take part. Who does not know athletes such as Rein Tölp or footballers Dzintar Klavan, Sergei Bragin and Igor Prins? A couple of years ago, football referee Margus Kotter, cyclist Martin Aun, floorball players Rene Bernhard, Risto Tammeorg and Vahur Põder were active on the hockey rink — the latter are still playing — as well as Olympic skiers Pavo Raudsepp and Olympic medalist in Nordic combined Allar Levandi, among many others.

For many years, the Musicians’ team played in the league with a core lineup including Pearu Paulus, Kalle Tetsmann, Raul and Robi Vaigla, Mati Vaarman, Emil Rutiku and others. Representatives of sports journalism on the ice included Tiit Lääne and Peep Pihv. Well-known business figures included Andres Koger and Aleksei Karuzki, while attorneys included Raino Paron and Tõnu Tuulas. Harrastajate Hokiliiga was also enriched by the participation of Estonia’s most famous hockey player with NHL experience, Toomas Edur, who played for the Jõgeva Pedja team in the 2001 championship. In the Tartu Harrastajate Hokiliiga, the Veskioru Pullid team, coached for years by the well-known and respected coach Märt Räli, has even included medical professors Ants Peetsalu, Andres Kullat and Joel Starkof, as well as doctors Peeter Tähepõld, Margus Ulst and Riho Tapfer. There are also enough local former and current well-known hockey players to fill several teams. HHL is a kind of ice hockey center, both for young players aspiring to future Estonian championships and for those returning from there — players still in their golden middle age who have finished playing in the Estonian championship series, but whose spirit and energy do not allow them to end their relationship with hockey. They have remained loyal to their beloved sport primarily for the sake of health, to stay healthy, cheerful, active and useful in their second youth.

HHL as a transit station of Estonian ice hockey

HHL is a kind of transit station for Estonian ice hockey: players either move from here to the Estonian championship or come here from it. An interesting fact occurred last year when multiple Estonian champions and even former national team players, led by the brothers Olle and Pelle Sildre, Cristian Adami, Veiko and Jarmo Süvaoja, Jaanus Sorokin, Paul Sillandi, Jussi Nieminen and others, played in HHL and won first place in Group I under the name Elion / Ericsson. Last autumn, almost the same lineup returned to the Estonian championship, where they proved to be equal opponents to any team.

New players, foreigners and the role of coaches

It should also be mentioned that almost 30% of all HHL players are people who first became acquainted with ice hockey at an age when they were already around 25. Many of them started literally from the hockey ABC. A vivid example is the capital’s HK Volume Design club, which began under the name NordicStars in 2005 at the initiative of two young men from Saaremaa, Risto Alt and Edvin Ollin. They invited their friends and acquaintances to the Jeti ice hall for their first introduction to hockey. It all began with rented skates and hockey sticks, and some men had to use the boards for support during their first ice training sessions just to stand and skate. Today, however, these grown men, through persistent training, have reached the level of real players and even won first place in Group 3 of the Tallinn HHL championship.

The participation of many foreign players working or studying in Estonia, mainly from Finland, has added positivity, freshness and skill to league games. It should be noted that these men had not played in amateur leagues in Finland. Now in Estonia, many of them, despite their age, are serious players in Eesti Harrastajate Hokiliiga. In the Elion Sports Club, for example, there are twin brothers Tero and Janne Tenhonen; in HK Purikad, Niklas Mullo and several others. There are more such players than can be counted on two hands. Most of them are Finns, but there are also individual players from Sweden and even Canada, Latvia and Russia. There are also Estonians born in Finland, such as Rauno Essaul, son of former Estonian sports workers Irja and Rein Essaul and now a student at Tallinn Maritime School, or Marko Kumm, who moved from Saaremaa to Finland at a young age and received a solid hockey education there, more than equivalent to secondary level. He played in the Finnish SM league at youth and junior level. The rise in the league’s skill level is also due to professional coaches, most of whom, alongside their main work, have extended a helping hand to ordinary amateurs. For years, some clubs have trained under experienced and recognized coaches such as Aleksei Smirnin, Olle Sildre, Dmitri Kisselevits, Gennadi Korobov, Juri Tsepilov, Marek Sorokin, Märt Räli, Aleksandr Romantsov, Tõnu Eapost, Kaido Poom and others.

The importance of referees in the functioning of the league

Since the number of games played in the league during a season approaches two hundred, the role of referees is especially important. Fortunately, there is work for referees of all ages, from young officials to veterans. Among the older referees, the most active are Enno Eerme, Vjatseslav Baranov, Viktor Goliusov, Igor Tsernõsov and Igor Hromov. Among the younger ones are Oleg Fandjusin, Andrei Lukin and Märt Eerme, the latter of whom completed an international IIHF referee training seminar in Vierumäki in the summer of 2011, after which he was awarded the title of international referee.

HHL operating without state support

Harrastajate Hokiliiga, which has been operating for more than ten years, has done so without any state support. All costs, whether related to training or competitions, are paid by the participating players out of their own pockets. Since they are all true sportsmen who have said no to tobacco and alcohol, it is jokingly said that all of this is funded at the expense of alcohol and tobacco.

The impact of Harrastajate Hokiliiga on Estonian ice hockey

While the Estonian Ice Hockey Association, which governs ice hockey in the country, has through its inability caused a decline in Estonian hockey both in mass participation and skill level, HHL — operating practically on a voluntary basis in Tartu, Ida-Virumaa, Jõgeva, Tallinn and Narva — has through its active work spread the hockey bug to more than three quarters of a thousand amateur hockey players. Players of every caliber come from here, mainly into the ranks of health-oriented recreational athletes, although individual top-level players are not excluded.

The rise of HHL’s skill level and player success stories

It is pleasing to note that the skill level of Harrastajate Hokiliiga has risen to such a level that Mihkel Võrang, who played for SK Tiigrid a few years ago, and Ilja Urusev, who won the HHL Cup last year with the Tornaado team, are playing successfully for the Estonian national team at the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group A tournament in Iceland.

The 10th anniversary and obstacles to further development

Since Harrastajate Hokiliiga celebrated its first mini-jubilee — its 10th anniversary — in 2010, that year has a particularly detailed overview of all HHL competitions held across the country. The further, even wider and more massive spread of Harrastajate Hokiliiga in the country is hindered by the insufficient number of ice halls and unpredictable weather.