Ukrainian league still has uncertainties

The PHL began in the 2011/2012 season with eight clubs in a hope to grow the sport and bring a solid Championship to the country. The off-season saw the leagues clubs take bigger known players from the much stronger and well established BOL (Belarus Open League) and Kazakh League, it seemed the clubs had major backings that would become a very strong league. The first year the league was pretty spread out, you knew who was who and the only real surprise was Donbass knocked off top ranked Sokil to become the first Champions.

The second season of the league saw financially troubled Haydamaky Vinnytsia removed themselves but the remaining seven clubs kept on signing big name players from their neighbour leagues. The season kicked and saw a much more balanced and hard fought league, Berkut pushed out infront, Bila Tserkva struggled really bad but kept within their spending means, everything was looking great for Ukrainian hockey. However, on 18.December, 2012, the PHL announced they cancelled matches through the holiday, players started to leave the league saying they were not paid and soon everything started to become very clear as the PHL began to fall apart. The league locked out its clubs until they paid off their league fees, one after the other, the league began to pick up again. At the start of the Second Phase, Phase One leaders Berkut Kyiv was kicked out of the league for non-paymant. Second Phase went off without any major problems before the Bronze series between Dynamo Kharkiv and Sokil Kyiv where the Best of three was changed several times, the clubs refused to play until the PHL changed it to a single match. Moved again because of weather, the clubs where suppose to play at 20h according to the league, however the clubs broke the time, played without telling anybody, no fans, no ice cleans, short breaks and changed the rules finished the match.

For the 13/14 season, the first reports on 30.July, 2013 had nine clubs in the league, with Vinnytsia getting two clubs and Ivano-Frankivsk/Kulash getting one. By June, CEO of the league Yuriy Zahorodniy had stepped down from the position, by July, Berkut Kyiv announced they would not take part in the league. After they announced they were looking to move to Belarus but nothing major ever came from that. By mid-July, the league was suppose to have their meeting with none of the clubs willing to show up and telling Dynamo Kharkiv and Levy L'viv they need to give their answer if they are going to play in the league. At this point, the Ivano-Frankivsk club had started to fade out of the picture but somebody from Luhansk was starting to become an option, along with Druzhkivka and Sevastopol. End of July and Patriot Vinnytsia is now gone, the club who pushed themselves as well for Belarus couldnt even get off the ground, the deadlines for Kharkiv and Levy L'viv have come and pass with still no leader for the league.

The start of September, two weeks before the start of the league, with no leader and no idea who was going to play in the league, Dynamo Kharkiv has folded and Sokil Kyiv is left on life support. By the end of the month, only two clubs in the country were playing hockey, Kompanion-Naftogaz who picked staying in Ukraine over jumping to Belarus where they were accepted and Bila Tserkva. They played friendlies against each other and against amateur side Generals Kyiv. Gone were all the rumours about those cities, those clubs, the PHL has died and the FHU has once again taken over the Championship.

The FHU said they would have seven clubs and everything would be finalized by 7.October, in the league would be Bila Tserkva, Kompanion-Naftogaz, Generals Kyiv, Sokil Kyiv, Avangard Kharkiv, Levy L'viv and a club from Simferopol. Once again Ukrainian hockey was left down, 7.October has passed, no news on the league, Simferopol has announced their project is over for the time being as they couldnt find any players to build a solid squad. Levy L'viv though while in the league, is looking to get away from Novoyavorivsk, they seem to think there is nothing to gain by staying in the city, Bila Tserkva has a brand new rink so the club will be trying to move there.

The PHL did more damage to Ukrainian hockey then it solved, it had great intentions, great ideas for new clubs in brand new cities and wanted to help put Ukrainian hockey back on the map. However, it left it in ruins, a lack of leadership, lack of vision and lack of self control cut the project off at the knees. Berkut is gone, Kharkiv is gone, Vinnysta stays gone, Sokil even though announced they will play this season have not a single person on staff, and the while the FHU has control of the league again, they havent been able to stick to dates either. Nobody knows who and when the league will start, all that is clear is Ukranian hockey needs help and a lot of it.

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