Nippon Paper Cranes

Nippon Paper Cranes
City	Kushiro, Hokkaidō
League	Asia League Ice Hockey
Founded	1949 (1949)
Home arena	Kushiro Ice Arena (capacity 3,000)
Colors
Owner(s)	Nippon Paper Industries
General manager	Kaoru Shimanuki, Osamu Ono
Head coach	Syunji Tanaka
Website http://www.np-g.com/cranes/

The Nippon Paper Cranes (日本製紙クレインズ, Nippon Seishi Kureinzu^?) are an Asia League Ice Hockey team based in Kushiro City in Hokkaidō, Japan.

The club were founded as Jūjō Paper Kushiro Ice Hockey Club in 1949. They adopted the new name Nippon Paper Cranes in 1994 when Jūjō Paper and Sanyō Kokusaku Pulp merged to form Nippon Paper.

They won the inaugural Asia League Ice Hockey championship in the 2003-04 season. They also won the All-Japan Ice hockey Championship (in 2006), for the first time in their history.

Honours

• Asia League:
  • Winners (3): 2003-04, 2006–07, 2008–09

• All Japan Championship:
  • Winners (4): 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011

Current roster

Kiyokawa Kazuhiko in goal for the Paper Cranes wearing the away jersey.

updated September 10, 2009^[1]

Goaltenders
#	Country	Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
31		Ohsima Ryousuke	L	2006	Tokyo, Japan
42		Kiyokawa Kazuhiko	L	2008	Tomakomai, Japan
61		Ishikawa Hisashi	L	2004	Tochigi, Japan

Defencemen
#	Country	Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
2		Tonosaki Jun – A	L	2006	Sapporo, Japan
3		Itoh Kengo	R	1997	Kushiro, Japan
4		Sakata Shun	L	2010	Kushiro, Japan
5		Ebina Masahiro	L	2010	Hachinohe, Japan
13		Ray Dilauro	L	2011	Bensalem, Pennsylvania, USA
15		Sato Ikuya	R	2011	Kushiro, Japan
23		Osawa Hideyuki	R	2001	Tomakomai, Japan
33		Kito Toshiyuki	L	2006	Makubetsu, Japan
77		Yanadori Shinya	L	2009	Kushiro, Japan

Forwards
#	Country	Player	Position	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
1		Imamura Yutaro	C/W	L	2007	Tomakomai, Japan
8		Tyler Mosienko	C	L	2011	West St. Paul, Manitoba, Canada
11		Nishiwaki Masahito – A	LW	R	2004	Kushiro, Japan
14		Ebata Hayato	C	L	2010	Kushiro, Japan
16		Obara Daisuke– C	C	L	2009	Kushiro, Japan
17		Iimura Yoshinori	C/W	R	2006	Obihiro, Japan
19		Sato Hiroshi	C/W	L	2002	Kushiro, Japan
21		Sakai Takayuki	C	R	2002	Kushiro, Japan
24		Iizuka Hiroo	W	L	1996	Kushiro, Japan
47		Kubo Naoya	C/W	R	2008	Tomakomai, Japan
50		Kokubo Hidenao	LW	L	2009	Kushiro, Japan
75	[2]	Chris Yule	C/W	L	2008	Edmonton, Canada
79		Sakagami Tomoki	RW	R	2010	Kushiro, Japan

Year-by-year record

complete records for previous seasons^[3]

Season	GP	W	W(OT)	W(GWS)*	T	L(GWS)*	L(OT)	L	GF	GA	PTS	Finish	Playoffs
2003–04	16	13	0	—	0	—	0	3	80	49	39	1st/5	No Playoffs due to shortened season
2004–05	42	31	0	—	5	—	0	6	206	85	98	1st/8	Lost in finals
2005–06	38	30	2	—	1	—	0	5	240	66	95	1st/9	Lost in finals
2006–07	34	27	1	—	1	—	2	3	198	79	86	1st/8	Won championship
2007–08	30	15	1	—	2	—	1	11	97	85	50	4th/7	Lost in finals
2008–09	36	18	3	2	—	2	3	8	120	95	69	4th/7	Won championship
2009–10	36	18	3	3	—	2	0	10	128	101	68	3rd/7	Lost in finals

*prior to the 2008–2009 season, there were no shoot-outs and games ended in a tie

Past import players

• Joel Dyck 2003-2009, D
• Chris Lindberg 2004-05, LW (Former Flames/Nordiques)
• Derek Plante 2005-07, D (Former Sabres/Stars/Blackhawks/Flyers)
• Jamie McLennan 2007-08, G (Former Islanders/Blues/Wild/Flames/Rangers)
• Tyson Nash 2007-08, LW (Former Blues/Coyotes)
• Kelly Fairchild 2008-09, C (Former Leafs/Stars/Avalanche)
• Brad Tiley 2008-09, D (Former Coyotes/Flyers)
• Pierre-Olivier Beaulieu 2009-10, D
• Ash Goldie 2010-11, FW
• Mike Madill 2010-11, D

References

1. ^ "選手 Team Roster". alhockey.com. http://www.alhockey.jp/teamguide/cranes/index.html. Retrieved 10 September 2009. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ 石田英恒/Hidetsune Ishida. /hot_sports/hone/1030.html "ユール・クリス(アイスホッケー)". Pia Corporation. http://www.pia.co.jp /hot_sports/hone/1030.html. Retrieved 26 September 2009. 
3. ^ "Archive Record". Alhockey.com. http://www.alhockey.com/schedule_record/archive_record/index.html. Retrieved 12 January 2009. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• (Japanese) Official website