Bulgaria men's national ice hockey team

The Bulgarian national ice hockey team (Bulgarian: Национален отбор по хокей на лед на България, Natsionalen otbor po khokeĭ na led na Bŭlgariya) is the national men's ice hockey team of Bulgaria. The team is controlled by the Bulgarian Ice Hockey Federation and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). As of 2018, Bulgaria is ranked 38th in the IIHF World Ranking and competes in Division III of the Ice Hockey World Championships.

Bulgaria
The coat of arms of Bulgaria is the badge used on the players jerseys.
AssociationBulgarian Ice Hockey Federation
Head coachRobert Kalaber
AssistantsJuraj Dušička
Ivaylo Velev
CaptainMartin Boyadjiev
Most gamesMalin Atanasov (143)
Most pointsAlexei Yotov (149)
Team colors     
IIHF codeBUL
Ranking
Current IIHF40 2 (24 April 2020)[1]
Highest IIHF30 (first in 2003)
Lowest IIHF40 (2017)
First international
Bulgaria  4–2 Yugoslavia
(Bucharest, Romania; 17 January 1942)
Biggest win
Bulgaria  20–0  Turkey
(Pretoria, South Africa; 28 March 1998)
Biggest defeat
Kazakhstan  31–0  Bulgaria
(Poprad or Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia; 25 March 1994)
Ukraine  31–0  Bulgaria
(Poprad or Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia; 26 March 1994)
IIHF World Championships
Appearances42 (first in 1963)
Best result14th (1970)
Olympics
Appearances1 (first in 1976)
International record (W–L–T)
135–252–23

The team has participated once at the Olympic Winter Games. This happened in Innsbruck in 1976, when Bulgaria fell to the Czechoslovak team 14–1 in the first round. After a few more losses the team finished last in the tournament.

Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, hosted the games of Division II, Group B of the 2009 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. Bulgaria's opponents at the tournament were Belgium, Mexico, Spain, South Africa and South Korea. In 2011, Bulgaria was also in Division II, with Croatia, Romania, China, Ireland and Iceland.

Historically, the team has played in the second highest level four times, with their highest placement being 14th in 1970. However, the only year that they ever earned promotion (by placing 1st or 2nd in Pool C) was in 1975, which also qualified them for the 1976 Olympics. The only year that they won any games in Pool B was 1992 (at that time it was contested between nations ranked 13th to 20th), defeating Japan, China and Yugoslavia.

Goaltender Konstantin Mihailov played in 28 Ice Hockey World Championships with Bulgaria, and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2019, as a recipient of the Torriani Award to recognize his international hockey career.[2]

World Championship record
The Bulgarian national team during a qualification match for the 2006 Winter Olympics in 2004.
YearCityCountryResult
1963StockholmSweden4th place in Group C (19th)
1967ViennaAustriaBronze in Group C (19th)
1969SkopjeYugoslavia5th place in Group C (19th)
1970BucharestRomania8th place in Group B (14th)
1971Several citiesthe Netherlands5th place in Group C (19th)
1972Miercurea CiucRomania4th place in Group C (17th)
1973six citiesthe Netherlands4th place in Group C (18th)
1974Grenoble, Gap, LyonFranceBronze in Group C (17th)
1975SofiaBulgariaSilver in Group C (16th)
1976Aarau and Biel/BienneSwitzerland8th place in Group B (16th)
1977Copenhagen and HørsholmDenmarkBronze in Group C (20th)
1978Las PalmasSpain5th place in Group C (21st)
1979BarcelonaSpain4th place in Group C (22nd)
1981BeijingChina6th place in Group C (22nd)
1982JacaSpain6th place in Group C (22nd)
1983BudapestHungary6th place in Group C (22nd)
1985Megève, Chamonix, Saint-GervaisFrance6th place in Group C (22nd)
1986PuigcerdàSpainBronze in Group C (19th)
1987Copenhagen, Herlev, HørsholmDenmark7th place in Group C (23rd)
1989SydneyAustralia5th place in Group C (21st)
1990BudapestHungary6th place in Group C (22nd)
1991Brøndby MunicipalityDenmark4th place in Group C (20th)
1992KlagenfurtAustria5th place in Group B (17th)
1993Eindhoventhe Netherlands8th place in Group B (20th)
1994Poprad and Spišská Nová VesSlovakia7th place in Group C1 (27th)
1995SofiaBulgaria9th place in Group C1 (29th)
1996Kaunas and ElektrėnaiLithuania6th place in Group D (34th)
1997CanilloAndorra7th place in Group D (35th)
1998Krugersdorp and PretoriaSouth AfricaGold in Group D (33rd)
1999Eindhoven TilburgSouth Africa8th place in Group C (32nd)
2000BeijingChina9th place in Group C (33rd)
2001BucharestRomania4th in Division II Group B (35th)
2002Novi SadYugoslavia4th in Division II Group B (35th)
2003SofiaBulgariaBronze in Division II Group B (34th)
2004ElektrėnaiLithuania4th in Division II Group B (36th)
2005ZagrebCroatia4th in Division II Group A (35th)
2006SofiaBulgariaSilver in Division II Group A (32nd)
2007ZagrebCroatia5th in Division II Group A (38th)
2008Miercurea CiucRomania5th in Division II Group A (38th)
2009SofiaBulgaria4th in Division II Group B (36th)
2010NaucalpanMexico4th in Division II Group A (35th)
2011ZagrebCroatia5th in Division II Group B (38th)
2012SofiaBulgariaBronze in Division II Group B (37th)
2013İzmitTurkey6th in Division II Group B (40th)
2014LuxembourgLuxembourgGold in Division III (41st)
2015Cape TownSouth Africa4th in Division II Group B (38th)
2016Mexico CityMexico6th in Division II Group B (40th)
2017SofiaBulgariaSilver in Division III (42nd)
2018Cape TownSouth AfricaSilver in Division III (42nd)
2019SofiaBulgariaGold in Division III (41st)
2020ReykjavíkIcelandCancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[3]
2021ReykjavíkIcelandCancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[4]

Roster

Roster for the 2018 IIHF World Championship.[5]

Goaltenders
# Player Catches Height Weight Date of birth Club
1 Dimitar Dimitrov L 180 cm 75 kg (1997-10-07) 7 October 1997 Irbis-Skate SK Sofia
1 Alexander Georgiev L 185 cm 82 kg (1996-02-10) 10 February 1996 New York Rangers
Defencemen
# Player Shoots Height Weight Date of birth Club
4 Nikolay Bozhanov L 186 cm 80 kg (1994-12-06) 6 December 1994 Irbis-Skate SK Sofia
5 Reymand Mladenov L 188 cm 90 kg (1998-11-25) 25 November 1998 HK Maribor
6 Bogdan Stefanov R 180 cm 85 kg (1990-12-14) 14 December 1990 Irbis-Skate SK Sofia
7 Martin Gyurov L 180 cm 85 kg (1975-03-03) 3 March 1975 Irbis-Skate SK Sofia
12 Ivaylo Georgiev L 182 cm 85 kg (1998-06-03) 3 June 1998 Slavia Sofia
17 Konstantin Dikov L 170 cm 65 kg (2002-05-10) 10 May 2002 Okanagan Hockey Academy
18 Aleks Stoilov L 175 cm 75 kg (2000-03-05) 5 March 2000 Grey Highlands Hawks
Forwards
# Player Shoots Height Weight Date of birth Club
8 Yanaki Gatchev R 175 cm 76 kg (1997-08-27) 27 August 1997 Irbis-Skate SK Sofia
9 Stanislav Muhachev L 187 cm 95 kg (1985-02-25) 25 February 1985 Irbis-Skate SK Sofia
10 Ivan Hodulov R 178 cm 78 kg (1994-09-04) 4 September 1994 CSKA Sofia
11 Tomislav Georgiev R 183 cm 90 kg (1997-06-08) 8 June 1997 Connecticut Nighthawks
13 Veselin Dikov L 178 cm 73 kg (1998-02-21) 21 February 1998 Connecticut Nighthawks
16 Martin Nikolov R 176 cm 78 kg (1994-02-12) 12 February 1994 Avesta BK
19 Daniel Dilkov R 187 cm 73 kg (1998-05-25) 25 May 1998 MsHK Žilina
21 Lyubomir Stoyadinov R 182 cm 85 kg (1976-07-18) 18 July 1976 Slavia Sofia
22 Miroslav Vasilev L 170 cm 65 kg (2000-01-19) 19 January 2000 BK Mlada Boleslav
23 Georgi Iskrenov R 186 cm 85 kg (1990-04-02) 2 April 1990
24 Martin Boyadjiev L 178 cm 83 kg (1987-05-11) 11 May 1987 Irbis-Skate SK Sofia

References
  1. "IIHF Men's World Ranking". IIHF. 24 April 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  2. Podnieks, Andrew (6 February 2019). "Hall of Fame Class of 2019 named". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  3. "Men's Division II, III cancelled". IIHF. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  4. "IIHF – IIHF Council announces more cancellations". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  5. "2017 World Championships Division 3 Team Bulgaria. (Men)" (PDF). International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
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