The Alpenliga was an international professional ice hockey league which existed between 1991 and 1999. It was contested by club teams from Austria , Italy and Slovenia .
23-949: In 1994-95 and 1995–96, the Alpenliga was part of a larger competition called the Six Nations Tournament (sometimes called Europäischer Ligacup or Coupe des Ligues Européennes ), which pitted its top teams against members of the Atlantic League, another crossborder loop composed of French, Dutch and Danish clubs. After 1999, the Alpenliga was replaced with the International Ice Hockey League (often shortened to Interliga ), first contested 1999–2000. Eight clubs from Austria, Hungary and Slovenia including, HC Alba Volan, HK Acroni Jesenice, Dunaferr SE, Erste VEU Feldkirch, EC Klagenfurter, HK Olimpija Ljubljana, VSV Villach and WEV Wiener played
46-512: A regular season, and table leader Rouen HC fully expected some kind of post season confrontation between the best Atlantic and Alpine teams for the Six Nations crown. A late agreement was reached between Rouen HC and Alpenliga playoff champion VEU Feldkirch to play a grand final for the unified title. Rouen HC took both games of the home and home series to win the second and final edition of the competition. The Atlantic League did not play
69-572: A stage finish 22 times. In 2007 , the town was the finish of the 159.5 km (99.1 mi) stage 9 on 17 July from Val-d'Isère crossing the Col de l'Iseran , the Col du Télégraphe and the Col du Galibier with a 37 km (23 mi) downhill finish to Briançon. The Diables Rouges de Briançon play in the Ligue Magnus , the French top league. Briançon is situated around the confluence of
92-507: Is twinned with: Briançon has often hosted starts and finishes of stages of the Tour de France , Giro d'Italia and Dauphiné Libéré . In 2017 stage 18 of the Tour de France started here. As Briançon has regularly featured as a stage town in the Tour de France , it is a popular base for cyclists. Since 1947, the town has been the start point for a stage of the Tour 22 times, and has also been
115-398: Is a strongly fortified town, built by Vauban to defend the region from Austrians in the 17th century. Its streets are very steep and narrow, though picturesque. Briançon lies at the foot of the descent from the Col de Montgenèvre , giving access to Turin, so a great number of other fortifications have been constructed on the surrounding heights, especially towards the east. The Fort Janus
138-469: Is no less than 1,200 m. above the town. The parish church, with its two towers, was built 1703–1726, and occupies a very conspicuous position. The Pont d'Asfeld, east of the town, was built in 1734, and forms an arch of 40 m span, thrown at a height of 56 m across the Durance. The modern town extends in the plain at the southwest foot of the plateau on which the old town is built and forms
161-659: Is the sole subprefecture of the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France . It is the highest city in France at an altitude of 1,326 metres (4,350 feet), based on the national definition as a community containing more than 2,000 inhabitants. Its most recent population estimate is 11,084 (as of 2018) for the commune . Briançon has been part of
184-678: The Fortifications of Vauban UNESCO World Heritage Sites since they were established in 2008. Briançon was the Brigantium of the Romans and formed part of the kingdom of King Cottius . Brigantium was marked as the first place in Gallia after Alpis Cottia ( Mont Genèvre ). At Brigantium the road branched, to the west through Grenoble to Vienna (modern Vienne ), on the Rhone ; to
207-775: The Italian border , in the Serre Chevalier ski area. It is built on a plateau centred on the confluence of the Durance and the Guisane rivers. Briançon station has rail connections to Gap, Marseille, Valence and Paris. Due to its elevation, Briançon features a warm-summer humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfb ), bordering on an oceanic climate ( Cfb ) under the Köppen system . Summers are warm with cool nights, and winters are cold and snowy. The historical centre
230-689: The 1040s it came into the hands of the counts of Albon and thenceforth shared the fate of the Dauphiné . The Briançonnais included not only the upper valley of the Durance (with those of its affluents, the Gyronde and the Guil) but also the valley of the Dora Riparia (Césanne, Oulx, Bardonnèche and Exilles) and that of the Chisone (Fénestrelles, Pérouse, Pragelas). The glens all lay on the eastern slope of
253-616: The Asfeld Bridge. Along with Briançon, 11 other sites of fortified buildings in France were classified. Among them is the place-forte of Mont-Dauphin , also in the Hautes-Alpes department. These pieces of art were designed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633–1707), a military engineer of King Louis XIV . The following people were either born in Briançon or lived there for a significant portion of their lives. Briançon
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#1732797498128276-838: The Durance river and its tributary the Guisane which are fed with snow melt in the Spring. Tourists come from around Europe to kayak and raft on the resultant whitewater rivers and their tributaries, including the Onde, the Gyronde, the Guil , the Rabioux, the Ubaye and others; often basing themselves in Briançon. Popular white water rivers in the Alps are mainly medium volume glacier -fed rivers with long continuous rapids and few big drops. The season
299-665: The Netherlands and Denmark The Danube League for teams from Eastern Austria and Slovenia. Top ranked teams from the four leagues met in a joint tournament, which ended with HC Bolzano of Italy (led by star winger Jaromír Jágr ) defeating Rouen HC of France in a 2-legged final. In 1995, the Adriatic League and the Danube League were merged back into the Alpenliga, losing teams from the French Alps in
322-505: The adjacent nations of Austria and Slovenia. In 1994, the Alpenliga was temporarily merged into the newly created Six Nations Tournament. The Alpenliga (or Alpine League in English) retained teams from Northwestern Italy and Western Austria, and added teams from the French Alps. 3 new leagues were created: The Adriatic League for teams from Northeastern Italy and Southern Austria. The Atlantic League for teams from Northern France,
345-850: The army (France then used a compulsory military service). The now defunct Bataillon de Joinville was a unit designed to house athletically gifted servicemen. Its headquarters were in the Paris suburbs. Previously, Joinville servicemen in need of ice time had used the Palais des Sports de Paris. For practical reasons, the Bataillon de Joinville Six Nations Tournament team used Patinoire René Froger in Briançon , as its primary venue. The young squad went winless in its only season of competitive hockey. Brian%C3%A7on Briançon ( French: [bʁijɑ̃sɔ̃] , Occitan: [bɾjanˈsun] )
368-517: The chain of the Alps. However the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) handed all of those valleys to Savoy in exchange for that of Barcelonnette, on the west slope of the Alps. In 1815 Briançon successfully withstood a siege of three months at the hands of the Allies, a feat commemorated by an inscription on one of its gates, Le passé répond de l'avenir ("The past guarantees the future"). Briançon is located near
391-640: The first season. The league winners were Villacher SV, and playoff champions were Klagenfurter EC. After just one season, Austrian teams quit the International Ice Hockey League, and were replaced with Croatian clubs. Yugoslavian, Slovak and Polish organizations also made appearances over the years. The Interliga ceased operations following the 2006–07 season. ¹ Six Nations Tournament Six Nations Tournament (ice hockey) The Six Nations Tournament ( Italian : Torneo Sei Nazioni , German : Sechs-Nationen-Turnier )
414-575: The following season and never resumed operations. The Alpenliga remained active until 1998-99 before morphing into the Interliga , another crossborder competition with an increased focus on Central European Slavic nations. Among French-based organizations that joined the Alpine League for the 1994-95 season was the Bataillon de Joinville , a short-lived team consisting of players serving in
437-616: The natural limits of the Segusini. Walckenaer (vol. i. p. 540) justifies Ptolemy in this matter by supposing that he follows a description of Italy made before the new divisions of Augustus , which we know from Pliny . Walckenaer also supports his justification of Ptolemy by the Jerusalem Itinerary , which makes the Alpes Cottiae commence at Rama (near modern La Roche-de-Rame ) between Embrun and Briançon. In
460-432: The process. Thus the Alpenliga became an Italian-Austrian-Slovenian affair again. Meanwhile, the Atlantic League continued with its lineup of teams from Northern France, the Netherlands and Denmark. For the 1995-96 season, the Alpenliga announced that it would hold its own playoffs again, and resurrect the Alpenliga title. The news came to the surprise of Atlantic League members. The Atlantic League schedule only consisted of
483-726: The south through Ebrodunum (modern Embrun ), to Vapincum (modern Gap ). Both the Antonine Itinerary and the Table give the route from Brigantium to Vapincum. The Table places Brigantium 6 M.P. from Alpis Cottia. Strabo mentions the village Brigantium on a road to Alpis Cottia, but his words are obscure. Ptolemy mentions Brigantium as within the limits of the Segusini , or people of Segusio (modern Susa ), in Piedmont ; but it seems, as D'Anville observes, to be beyond
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#1732797498128506-575: The suburb of Ste Catherine. Briançon is close to the Parc National des Ecrins and the Vallée de la Clarée . On 8 July 2008, several buildings of Briançon were classified by the UNESCO as World Heritage Sites , as part of the " Fortifications of Vauban " group. These buildings are: the city walls, Redoute des Salettes, Fort des Trois-Têtes, Fort du Randouillet, ouvrage de la communication Y and
529-555: Was an international ice hockey club competition that took place during the 1994–95 and 1995-96 seasons. The event was sometimes called Cup of the European Leagues ( Italian : Europa Ligacup , German : Europäischer Ligacup , French : Coupe des Ligues Européennes ). The Six Nations Tournament is an offshoot of the Alpenliga , an international league created in 1991, featuring teams from Northern Italy and
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