Spanish Ice: The State of Hockey in Spain

Originally published in Rinkside in 2002

By Lucas Aykroyd

Bullfighting, bolero, castles and cathedrals are not the only glories of Spain. This nation of 40 million citizens grabbed the sports world spotlight ten years ago when Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympics. There, roller hockey featured as a demonstration sport, and Spain has competed successfully against the likes of Portugal and Italy for years.

Unfortunately, when it comes to international ice hockey, the Spanish usually vanish. It’s not hard to see why.

The most popular sports in Spain include soccer, basketball, European handball, and motorcycle racing. Soccer is number one by a long shot. The leading club team FC Barcelona attracts more than 100,000 spectators to watch superstars like Ronaldo and Romario. You see a tenth that many at events for other sports.

But the cramped hockey arenas accommodate just 1,500 to 2,000 fans, and there’s no guarantee of sellouts until the playoffs start. The media tends to focus on sensational aspects like fights or injuries. The Spanish Winter Sports Federation faces a public relations battle as it tries to promote hockey.

The elite division of Spanish hockey is known as the Super League. For 2002-03, it includes six clubs scattered around the country: CH Txuri Urdin (San Sebastian), CH Madrid (Villalba), CH Gasteiz (Vitoria), CH Jaca (Jaca), C.G. Puigcerda (Puigcerda) and FC Barcelona’s hockey team, which wrested the national championship from Jaca’s grasp last year in a tight best-of-five final.

This year, each team will start with 10 regular season games (five home, five away). Based on their rankings, they’ll play another five for a total of 15. The top four teams qualify for the playoffs, but hope is not lost for the fifth and sixth-place finishers.

While the better clubs battle through their semi-finals and finals, the non-playoff teams practice or play exhibitions for about three weeks. While the finals are on, the semi-finals losers take on the bottom two in the King’s Cup, a tournament played in honor of King Juan Carlos I. After the preliminary best-of-three’s, both playoff finalists meet the survivors in a one-game sudden-death format round to determine the King’s Cup champion. Last season, the king attended the deciding game.

Spanish hockey fans may not be numerous, but they support their teams as noisily as anyone. Munching on potato and onion tortillas and drinking Rioja wine, they go crazy when the referee makes a controversial call and when the final buzzer sounds victory.

Even if the volume doesn’t match the din in the old Chicago Stadium, there’s no doubting the Latin passion. You have to stay up late to see live hockey in Spain. In recent years, games ran from 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturday nights. But the Super League administration is aiming for some earlier starts this season.

Regardless of the time of day, the sizzling heat presents a challenge to Spanish ice makers, who lack the expertise, equipment and favorable conditions that you’d find, say, in Edmonton, Alberta.

“The arenas are affected by the heat quite strongly,” admits Frank Gonzales of the Spanish Winter Sports Federation. “When most of the rinks were built, they probably thought that the coldness of the ice and the compressors they use would be more than enough to keep the surfaces in perfect condition. However, the heat penetrates through all the doors and crevices unless the arenas have some proper insulation. Also, the water used in certain rinks contains lime due to the treatment by the city sewage systems.”

No single region of Spain dominates the hockey scene. Players hail from Aragon, Catalonia, Castilla and the Basque country. Of late, the Basque have distinguished themselves in all sports in Spain.

But realistically, the talent pool is sparse. No Spanish player has ever been taken in the annual NHL Entry Draft. While Scott Gomez of the New Jersey Devils has gained attention in North America as the first Hispanic individual to crack an NHL roster, he’s the son of Mexican and Colombian parents and can’t be considered a presence in Spain.

Thus, foreigners are essential to keeping up the level of Spanish hockey. The majority of the imports come from Ukraine, Slovakia, Sweden, France, Yugoslavia and North America. It’s similar with the coaches, who often bring in players they know from their domestic leagues, easing the transition to the new culture and on-ice system.

FC Barcelona is among the clubs who have taken full advantage of talent across Europe. Coached by a Slovak, Peter Ovitz, the team also features a Swede, two Slovaks and two Ukrainians. Viktor Goncharenko and Alexei Kuznetsov have put up Wayne Gretzky-like numbers in the Super League, each averaging more than two points per game.

One example of a North American player who parlayed a stint in Spain into a NHL opportunity was Lyle Rolling. At age 21, the right winger from Collingwood, Ontario scored 19 goals and 17 assists in 19 games with CH Majadahonda in 2000-01. Rolling’s strong work ethic impressed the Minnesota Wild, who offered him a tryout last fall.

Not surprisingly, Spanish hockey salaries lag far behind those in the NHL and major European leagues. Very few domestic players are paid at all. The imports earn about $2,000 US per month, plus room and board. Though not big money, it’s more than some players from Eastern Europe or Canadian universities would make otherwise.

As it happens, the greatest player ever to grace a Spanish hockey rink was not paid for his performance. Kent Nilsson suited up for six regular season games (8-12-20) and two playoff contests (3-8-11) with Majadahonda in 1997-98. Coming out of retirement briefly at age 42, the former Swedish superstar proved dominant as his team based near Madrid powered its way to the title that year.

“One of my friends played there and asked me to come down and play,” says Nilsson, a Stanley Cup champion in 1987. “I would just fly down Friday night, play a Saturday game and be home in Stockholm by Sunday again.” The deal with the Swedish team owners was that Nilsson could bring his whole family down for a sunny vacation whenever he chose.

This wasn’t the first unusual comeback for Nilsson. Nicknamed “Magic Man” in the 1980’s, the 6-1 center racked up 686 points in 553 career NHL games with Atlanta, Calgary, Minnesota and Edmonton. Gretzky once said Nilsson was the most talented player he had ever seen.

In 1994-95, eight years removed from the NHL, Nilsson tried to return to the Edmonton lineup but had to bow out after six games. A few years later, his European scouting job with the Oilers gave him the flexibility to show Spain flashes of the old magic.

“When I was scouting that year, I was lucky,” Nilsson says. “I’d fly out to watch a Czech league game Thursday, and Friday night I flew to Spain. After playing on Saturday, I flew back to the Czech Republic on Sunday. It was good.”

Would he consider a second go-round in Spain if invited? “If I got organized, I might do it,” Nilsson chuckles. “But I’m too old now and too fat. Still, I had a great time there. The people in Spain are very nice.”

The history of Spanish hockey does not paint an equally nice picture, but large blank spaces prevent this canvas from being as ugly as a Goya portrait.

Open-air rinks in the Pyrenee Mountains and Madrid first hosted the sport about one hundred years ago. Canadian and British players participated in some exhibition games that attracted attention.

In 1923, the Spanish Winter Sports Federation was established, and it took charge of the nascent hockey association that had previously functioned under the umbrella of field hockey. Spain gained membership in the International Ice Hockey Federation that same year, and Madrid was selected to host the 1924 European Championships.

The Spanish dropped their international opener 12-0 to Switzerland and finished fifth out of six teams. Two years later, they came last among nine teams in the same tournament, scoring five goals and allowing 20 in their four games.

These paltry results contributed to the virtual disappearance of Spanish hockey for the next quarter-century, despite the construction of the first indoor rink in Madrid in the 1930’s. With the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and the tumult of World War II (1939-45), sports in general fell by the wayside. A small revival occurred in the early 1950’s with teams like Atletico Madrid and Club Alpine Nurin. But from 1954-55 to 1971-72, there was no national championship held in Spain.

The early 1970’s were momentous times in the world of hockey, and apparently the winds of change were sweeping across the Iberian Peninsula too. 1971 saw the opening of Spain’s first truly modern indoor arena in San Sebastian, followed by FC Barcelona’s “Palao de Hiel” the next year. When Real Sociedad captured the first official national championship in 1972-73, a new era in Spanish hockey had begun.

Relatively speaking, Spanish hockey enjoyed its peak in the late 1970’s. The national team achieved a milestone by qualifying for Pool C of the 1977 IIHF World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. That squad also boasted several of the finest Spanish players of all time: forward Antonio Capillas, defenseman Frank Gonzalez and goaltender Inaki LeClerc.

Capillas was affectionately known to his teammates as “Capi,” and he proved his worth in 49 games for his country, scoring 19 goals and 18 assists. In 1993, the Jaca native assumed the coaching reins for the national team. Gonzalez piled up 41 points in his international career from 1977 to 1986 and began refereeing afterwards, which he still pursues in tandem with his duties at the federation. LeClerc, hailing from San Sebastian, made 40 appearances between the pipes for Spain.

On the domestic front, Txuri Urdin San Sebastian first established itself as a force in the 1970’s, becoming a perennial championship contender. “They have a sporting attitude and a keenness to better themselves in every aspect of life, including sports,” Gonzalez says. The team went on to capture five titles in the 1990’s alone.

Another notable club of the 1970’s was Casco Viejo Bilbao, which achieved a three-peat from 1977 to 1979. Better still, it beat the French champions from Grenoble one year in the IIHF Continental Cup. This was a big upset. Before the series, Grenoble was so confident that it had already printed flyers advertising its second-round games against the Fenstra Flyers from the Netherlands.

But the conquistadors who played on these teams now have their own families. It’s time for a new generation of Spanish hockey heroes to emerge. Otherwise, the nation may remain stuck in Division II of the World Championships. In 2003, Spain will take part in the IIHF tournament in Seoul, Korea from April 5 to 11, facing Korea, Yugoslavia, Australia, South Africa and Mexico.

“Spain does not have a junior development program, which is a big drawback for our sport,” says Gonzalez. “But we are trying to change this with the help of the IIHF and its president, Mr. René Fasel. We need to get our own hockey federation, independent of the Winter Sports Federation. We need a good technical staff, people we can trust who do not just want to make a buck but want results as much as we do. We think that with the right tools we can at least come close to the goal of being able to compete with the well-known hockey powers.

“This country is not just sunshine, great beaches, good wine and lovely ladies,” Gonzalez continues. “We are willing to share our culture and friendship in many respects, just as other countries have done for us. We hope that this interchange of good relations will continue in the future between us and our children and the future hockey players of the world.”

If that passionate appeal reflects the true spirit of Spanish hockey, it’s not so far-fetched to believe that someday a Spanish player will skate in an NHL game.