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

Association	Bulgarian Ice Hockey Federation
General manager	Stoyan Batchvarov
Head coach	Tomáš Ceperko
Assistants	Svetlin Stoev Ivaylo Velev
Captain	Yanaki Gatchev
Most games	Stoyan Batchvarov (96)
Top scorer	Alexei Yotov (77)
Most points	Alexei Yotov (163)
Team colors
IIHF code	BUL
Ranking
Current IIHF	36 1 (28 May 2023)[1]
Highest IIHF	30 (first in 2003)
Lowest IIHF	40 (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, Slovakia; 25 March 1994) Ukraine  31–0  Bulgaria (Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia; 26 March 1994)
IIHF World Championships
Appearances	51 (first in 1963)
Best result	14th (1970)
Olympics
Appearances	1 (first in 1976)
International record (W–L–T)
149–268–24

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]