The Bulgarian women's national ice hockey team (Bulgarian: Женски национален отбор по хокей на лед на България, romanized: Zhenski natsionalen otbor po khokeĭ na led na Bŭlgariya) represents Bulgaria in the IIHF Women's World Championship. The women's national team is controlled by Bulgarian Ice Hockey Federation. As of 2020, Bulgaria had 53 female players registered with the IIHF, down from 65 players in 2016.[2][3] The Bulgarian women's national team ranked 38th in the world in 2020.
 The coat of arms of Bulgaria is the badge used on national team jerseys. | |
| Association | Bulgarian Ice Hockey Federation |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Borislav Blagoev |
| Assistants | Vasil Piperevski |
| Captain | Stefani Stoyanova |
| Most games | three players (36) |
| Top scorer | Mirela Zareva (15) |
| Most points | Mirela Zareva (29) |
| Team colors | |
| IIHF code | BUL |
| Ranking | |
| Current IIHF | 33  1 (28 August 2023)[1] |
| Highest IIHF | 23 (2011) |
| Lowest IIHF | 39 (2021) |
| First international | |
Italy  41–0  Bulgaria(Liepāja, Latvia; 2 September 2008) | |
| Biggest win | |
Bulgaria 6–1  Ireland(Izmir, Turkey; 8 December 2012) | |
| Biggest defeat | |
Slovakia  82–0 Bulgaria(Liepāja, Latvia; 6 September 2008) | |
| World Championships | |
| Appearances | 12 (first in 2011) |
| Best result | 33rd (2011) |
| International record (W–L–T) | |
| 9–45–0 | |
Qualification tournament for the 2010 Olympics edit
The Bulgaria participated in the women's qualification tournament for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. They played four games, facing Slovakia, Croatia, Italy, and Latvia. The team lost all four games in blowouts: 0–39 against Latvia, 1–30 against Croatia, 0–41 against Italy, and a record-setting 0–82 loss to Slovakia, which remains the highest goal differential ever recorded in an IIHF sanctioned match as of 2020.[4] Tallied in the game against Croatia, the only goal was scored by forward Olga Gospodinova and assisted by the defensemen Elina Milanova and Sofiya Iliycheva.[5]
World Championship record edit
In 2011, the Bulgarian women's national team debuted at their first IIHF Women's World Championship tournament, competing in Division V. They were scheduled to compete in the 2009 Division V tournament in Gdańsk Poland, but the tournament was cancelled for financial reasons.[6]
| Year | Division | Result | Overall rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 |
Division V | 3rd | 33rd |
 2013 |
Division II B | 2nd | 34th |
 2014 |
Division II B | 3rd | 35th |
 2015 |
Division II B | 4th | 36th |
| 2016 |
Division II B | 4th | 36th |
 2017 |
Division II B | 4th | 36th |
| 2018 |
Division II B | 5th | 38th |
 2019 |
Division II B | 5th | 39th |
| 2020 |
Division III | 4th | 38th |
 2021 |
Division III | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[7] | |
| 2022 |
Division III | 3rd | 34th |
 2023 |
Division III | 5th | 37th |
 2024 |
Division III | 6th | 40th |
References edit
- ^ "IIHF Women's World Ranking". IIHF. 28 August 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
- ^ http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/countries/bulgaria.html Archived 27 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "IIHF Member National Association Bulgaria". IIHF. Archived from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ^ "No Mercy". The Locker Room. 16 February 2010. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ^ "Pre-Olympic Qualification Tournament, Women – Round Robin Game 3 – Game Summary, CRO – BUL 30–1 (8–0, 13–0, 9–1)" (PDF). IIHF. 3 September 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ "2009 IIHF Championship Program". IIHF. 30 July 2008. Archived from the original on 30 July 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ Steiss, Adam (18 November 2020). "IIHF Council announces more cancellations". IIHF. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
