Hockey adventure in Iceland?

SR re-established it’s women’s team before 2020-2021 season. On the roaster we have a combination of young and promising players mixed with older experienced. 

We are looking for 2-3 experienced foreign players from Europe to strengthen our teams core!

The SR women’s hockey team, has rapidly evolved into a formidable force, both in terms of strength and numbers. Fuelled by a passionate group of players and dedicated coaches and staff, this team has overcome challenges with the aim to put a significant mark on the Icelandic hockey scene.

The teams head coach is a seasoned player and coach Miloslav Racansky (Elite Prospects). He has been head coach of the club’s Youth Program since 2017. Milos is from Czech but moved to Iceland 10 years ago and became a Icelandic citizen a few years ago. Assistant coach is Sölvi Freyr Atlason (Elite Prospects).

SR is one the of oldest sport clubs in Iceland with history dating back to 1893. It runs all age groups from U8 (under 8 years old) up to men’s and women’s senior teams.

Genders are mixed in the youth program and are only fully separate in senior teams. SR ice hockey is now 7 years into rebuilding the club from ground up. We have grown our youth program (18 and younger) by 130% since 2017.

We have put special focus on getting more girls into hockey and now our youth program consist of 35% girls – and that number is rising. Our aim is to have between 40%-50% of our club female players.

Our rink is called Laugardalur Ice Rink, or ‘Skautahöllin í Laugardal’ in Icelandic. It had it’s fifteen minutes of fame in True Detective: Night Country, starring Jodie Foster, where it was the backdrop for the ‘corpsicle’ scenes.

The rink is situated in the heart of Laugardalur valley only a few minutes from the city center. It’s next to all major sport facilities in the country (swimming pool, gym, national soccer field, national handball/basketball hall). It’s also next to the family park and botanic gardens of Reykjavik in the center of Laugardalur Park.

The ice hockey league in Iceland is  an amateur league so there is no salary to players – neither men’s or women’s team. But at SR senior team players don’t pay any practise fees, games and trips are paid for and all players get a membership at Reykjavik’s biggest gym. The women’s team has its own locker room.

The players get professional head shots and team photo. Every game is streamed on Icelandic Hockey Federation Youtube channel and every game results is covered on our social media platforms; Facebook and Instagram.

 

Players joining our team would have to find work and housing – but the Club will assist in any way it can with both. Ice hockey is a small sport in Iceland and the club is run by volunteers so it does not have the resources to pay for players, housing or other cost.

Wages are relatively high in Iceland and basic jobs (hotel, tourism, cleaning, service, shops and ect.) are fairly easy to get. The most popular job site Alfred has currently over 1000 job adverts.

 

Iceland has two major universities, University of Iceland and University of Reykjavik  + a few other smaller. If you want to play hockey and study in Iceland it’s good possibility. We have good universities with low admission fees. Information about universities and foreign students here.

The Icelandic ice hockey league consists of three teams, SR and Fjölnir in the capital Reykjavik and SA up north in Akureyri. The division is usually 16 games per team from October to March + playoffs for the two best teams in a best of 5 games series.

Videos of the teams games are available on Icelandic Ice Hockey Federation Youtube Channel.
Here is a Youtube stream from our home game against Fjölnir January 2024.

Our national women’s team ranks 27th in the world. It got gold at World Championship, division IIB, in 2022. It’s now in division IIA.

Iceland has a lot to offer. It ranks high among the world in many of life’s key aspects: 

• Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world for the 12th time according to World Economic Forum.
• Iceland is the safest country in the world according to the Global Peace Index
• Iceland is the 17th least corrupted country according to Transparency International
• Iceland is the second most democratic country according to The Economist.
• Iceland also scores high in quality of life according to OECD

„Iceland performs well in many measures of well-being relative to most other countries. Iceland ranks at the top in jobs and earnings, environmental quality and social connections, and above the average in income and wealth, subjective well-being, health status, personal security, civic engagement, and education and skills.“

The population of the country is about 360.000 people. The island is approximately 100.000 km2 (about 40.000 sq mi) – similar in size as Ireland, England, Czech or Greece. The country is famous for exceptional nature and vibrant culture. It has volcanos, geyser, waterfalls, glacier and much more to catch the eye.

Reykjavik is Iceland’s capital city with a population of 131.000 people but with 6 surrounding municipalities the population of the Reykjavik Greater area is around 230.000 people. It is the center of Iceland’s cultural, economic, and governmental activity, and is a popular tourist destination.