Asia League Ice Hockey (Japanese: アジアリーグアイスホッケー; Korean: 아시아리그 아이스하키) or ALIH (AL) is an association which operates a professional ice hockey league based in East Asia, with teams from Japan, South Korea, and formerly China and Russia.

[14] In addition to the five teams which took part in the tournament the year before, the league added Golden Amur from Russia as well as Harbin and Qiqihar from China.

In December 2004 there was speculation by the South Korean media that North Korea could potentially field a team in the league, but that never materialized.

[25] However, only a few weeks later, they withdrew their application because it was felt their team wasn't strong enough to enter the league.

[27] In late July, the league announced that Kangwon Land had acquired some imports and strengthened the team.

Even though there were more teams than in the previous season the league reduced the number of games from 42 to 38, which resulted in an uneven schedule.

At the end of the regular season, the Nippon Paper Cranes had captured first place for a second year in a row with 95 points.

[7] While the Cranes had a very strong showing in the point rankings, the top goal scorer was Song Dong-hwan from Anyang Halla with 31.

In the first round, Kokudo swept the Ice Bucks while Oji Paper defeated the Vikings three games to one.

Joel Prpic was the top goal scorer with nine, Kiyoshi Fujita had the most assists with 12 and Takahito Suzuki had the most points with 18.

[37] With the previous year's goal leader not participating the scoring race went to Tim Smith of Kangwon Land.

Harbin and Qiqihar combined into a single team and became owned and operated by the San Jose Sharks.

After three years of dominance, the Nippon Paper Cranes slipped to fourth place and the regular season was won by the Prince Rabbits.

High1 couldn't repeat their success from the previous year by winning a series and were swept by Oji in three games.

Early in the season the Halla coach, Shim Eui-sik was suspended for refusal to play after a disputed goal against High1.

[53] Halla was forced to forfeit the game, but at the end of the regular season they had finished in first place with 76 points, becoming the first non-Japanese team to do so.

After the previous year's record setting playoff run, Oji found themselves swept by the Rabbits in four games.

The Chinese Ice Hockey Association took over the team and brought in new import players and coaches to replace those lost.

The Tohoku Free Blades were able to hire enough players and imports to join the league in time for the beginning of the season.

In the final game, Halla tied the game with 17 seconds remaining and in over-time the team captain, Kim Woo-jae scored to give Halla a victory and mark the first time a non-Japanese team had won the cup.

[66] Patrik Martinec took regular season MVP honors, and Cho Min-ho, also from Halla, was named Young Guy of the Year.

After two years of leading the league, Halla slipped to fourth place and Oji Eagles took the regular season honors with 76 points.

[68] Shunhei Kuji of Oji lead the league with 24 goals, while his teammate Yosuke Kon led with 45 assists.

[9][10] Beginning in the 2020–21 season, the Yokohama Grits joined the league, becoming the first ALIH team to play in the Greater Tokyo Area since the Seibu Prince Rabbits folded in 2009.

The table below gives the final regular-season ranks for all teams, with the playoff performance encoded in colors.

Each Asia League Ice Hockey regulation games are played between two teams and are 60 minutes long.

[11] In the early seasons, the China Dragon was provided with western players from the San Jose Sharks as part of the sponsorship deals,[77] and the two Chinese teams were provided Swedish players when the Nordic Vikings were active in the league.

[78] Several former National Hockey League players have played in the league, including Chris Allen, Greg Parks, Esa Tikkanen, Chris Lindberg, Tavis Hansen, Shjon Podein, Jason Podollan, Derek Plante, Steve McKenna, Jarrod Skalde, Joel Prpic, Tyson Nash, Jamie McLennan, Shane Endicott, Wade Flaherty, Kelly Fairchild, Brad Tiley, Ben Walter, Ricard Persson, Bryan Young, Claude Lemieux, Brad Fast, Ric Jackman and Cole Jarrett.

[citation needed] Early in its existence, the league hoped to quickly expand to twelve teams,[13] but could not due to financial difficulties.

The late summer and early autumn parts consist of training camps and exhibition play.