During the past eight seasons and with the help of a large number of people the Amateur Hockey League (AHL) has been built up. The AHL is currently made up of two divisions with 27 teams competing last season. Next season the AHL will have two divisions (AHL1 and AHL2) and will be part of the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation.
The HIHF federation at down with a number of representatives of teams that had participated in the AHL during the 2017-18 season. The pluses and minuses of the AHL being brought under the HIHF was discussed.
By joining the HIHF the AHL teams will have to have the proper paperwork handed in such as medical clearance for each player and the games will have to have all the requirements that all games played under the HIHF are required to have. All statistics and standings will also be run by the federation.
A league competition can only be written and set up if the league fits all the requirements of the HIHF. This clearly costs money for each club to have all the proper paperwork to enter the league, with this being taken into consideration the HIHF will have a lower entry fee for the AHL1 and AHL2 compared to the higher leagues. The teams will also have access to the online administration portal that all the pro and youth teams have access to.
The AHL has been split into two levels for eight seasons, AHL1 having 11 teams and the AHL2 having 17 teams with over 600 players playing in the two leagues.
After the meeting the teams voted on entering the HIHF fold and the vote passed. Currently the HIHF is putting together the upcoming seasons schedule and helping the teams take care of all the proper paperwork.
