 After a season with little change to the make @-@ up of the league , the 2009 – 10 saw further change . The San Jose Sharks ended their association with the Chinese team . They pulled out all coaches and players they had sent . The Chinese Ice Hockey Association took over the team and brought in new import players and coaches to replace those lost . The team also changed its name from China Sharks to China Dragon . Mid @-@ way through the previous season the Seibu Prince Rabbits announced that due to financial difficulties they would withdraw from the league at the end of the 2008 – 09 season . They were unable to find a buyer and the team folded . However , another team from Japan joined the league in the off @-@ season . The Tohoku Free Blades were able to hire enough players and imports to join the league in time for the beginning of the season . This again left the league with seven teams . The league left the amount of games played at 36 , marking the first time that the league didn 't adjust the schedule from the previous year . The league also introduced a couple of rules changes . All face @-@ offs will take place on one of the nine face @-@ off dots as well teams will no longer be allowed to change after an icing . Anyang Halla repeated as the regular season champions finishing with 79 points and 23 wins . The team also set the record for the most goals by a team in a 36 @-@ game season with 180 . Alex Kim and Tim Smith lead the points race . Both finished with 75 points on the season , with Kim taking the goal scoring race with 29 and Smith taking the assists race with 48 . The League further reduced the amount of teams making the playoffs to only four . As well they brought in referees from outside the league to assist in officiating . The two Korean teams faced each other in one semi @-@ final guaranteeing for the first time that a Korean team would appear in the final . Halla defeated High1 in four games after a loss on home ice . The Cranes similarly defeated the Eagles in four games . The final was a close series , needing all five games and with four of the five games only being decided by a single goal . In the final game , Halla tied the game with 17 seconds remaining and in over @-@ time the team captain , Kim Woo @-@ jae scored to give Halla a victory and mark the first time a non @-@ Japanese team had won the cup . In the play @-@ offs Brock Radunske led with six goals and 13 points overall while Darcy Takeshi <unk> led with 8 assists . Patrik Martinec took regular season MVP honors , and Cho Min @-@ ho , also from Halla , was named Young Guy of the Year . 
