 The 2004 – 05 season was the first full season for the league , and was seen by some to be the inaugural season . Before the season began , there was already interest by the National Hockey League ( NHL ) in China 's hockey program . In addition to the five teams which took part in the tournament the year before , the league added Golden Amur from Russia as well as Harbin and Qiqihar from China . The first season had a schedule of 42 games . Teams played each other six times during the season . In December 2004 there was speculation by the South Korean media that North Korea could potentially field a team in the league , but that never materialized . The league also had an all @-@ star game which took place on 22 and 23 January 2005 in Kushiro . The league was broken up into two teams , the Blue Orion and Red Antares . Fans voted on their favorite players and coaches . The most popular vote was for the forward position on the Blue Orion which received over 45 @,@ 000 votes . Masatoshi Ito received the most votes with <unk> . The skill competition and game were both won by the Blue Orion . The regular season finished with the Nippon Paper Cranes and Kokudo both having 98 points . After applying the league 's tie @-@ breaking procedure , the Nippon Paper Cranes were ranked first . The Nippon Paper Cranes also won the points race holding the top three spots in goals scored with Masatoshi Ito taking top honours at 33 goals . Darcy <unk> , also from the Cranes , took top spot in assists with 44 and points with 69 . The playoffs saw the top four teams advance . The Golden Amur were swept in three games by Kokudo and the Cranes beat the Oji Paper in a close series , three games to one . The final was between the Cranes and Kokudo . While the Cranes won the first game , Kokudo won three games straight and won the playoffs . Chris Yule of Kokudo acquired ten points in the playoffs to lead the league while Chris Lindberg of the Cranes led the league in goals scored with six . Several players from Kokudo and the Cranes all had five assists . The 2005 <unk> Awards were held in Tokyo and announced in April . Among the awards Kikuchi Naoya a goaltender for Kokudo was voted Most Valuable Player ( MVP ) and Matsuda Keisuke of the <unk> Ice Bucks was voted Young Guy of the Year . 
