Cambridge University | |
---|---|
City | Cambridge, England |
League | BUIHA |
Founded | 1885 |
Home arena | Cambridge Ice Arena |
Colours | Light blue and white |
Owner(s) | University sports club |
General manager | Simrat "Sim" Sodhi & Martin "Marty" Limback-Stokin |
Head coach | Prof. Bill Harris |
Website | CUIHC |
Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, is one of the oldest ice hockey teams in the world.
While the team claims a history dating back to 1885, the first strong evidence for their existence comes on 16 March 1900, when they played Oxford University Ice Hockey Club in the first Ice Hockey Varsity Match, at Princes Skating Club in London, losing 7–6. This match was played, on Oxford's insistence, with bandy sticks and a lacrosse ball. The Cambridge team was led by J. J. Cawthra, who later played for England. The following day, the two universities joined together to play Princes Ice Hockey Club. [1]
Cambridge played a second varsity match at Princes in 1901, this time winning 6–5. In 1903, they entered the first ice hockey league in Europe, but came last out of the five teams competing. [1]
The squad then switched to playing European tours, popularising the sport, and from 1909 to 1913 and 1920 onwards playing an annual varsity match. From 1932, these matches were played in England, and although no longer able to compete with the top professional sides, they were watched by over 10,000 supporters. [2]
In 1931, the club joined the English League, but when it finished in 1936 they did not follow most of the teams into the English National League, instead joining the lower-level London and Provincial League in 1938. In 1948, they played a season in the Southern Intermediate League, and in the 1970s they played two seasons in the Southern League. They then joined the Inter-City League and finally played in the inaugural season of the British Hockey League. Since then, they have contested an annual varsity match and compete in Division One of the British Universities Ice Hockey Association. [3] Until 2019, when the Cambridge Ice Arena was completed, [4] the team had to travel to Planet Ice Peterborough to train. This new full-size rink is the team's first permanent home, located adjacent to the Newmarket Road Park & Ride site. [5]
Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.
The Manchester Storm were an ice hockey team from Manchester, England. The team formed in 1995, playing their home games at the then newly built NYNEX Arena, but they folded during the 2002–03 season.
The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to internationally as the British Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey Superleague, it is the highest level of ice hockey competition in the United Kingdom.
Matthews Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the world's oldest multi-purpose athletic building still in use, as well as the oldest arena in use for ice hockey.
The Slough Jets are an ice hockey team from Slough, Berkshire, England playing in the NIHL South Division 1. The team was founded in 1986 after the construction of the Slough Ice Arena in Montem Lane in Slough and joined the first division of the British League. With the help of Gary Stefan who had previously been with Streatham Redskins, the Slough Jets were formed.
In London, a diverse array of athletics stretching from football to tennis have further granted its city the spotlight throughout the world. London has hosted the Olympic Games in 1908, 1948, and most recently in 2012, making it the most frequently chosen city in modern Olympic history. Other popular sports in London include cricket, rowing, rugby, basketball, and most recently American Football.
Lacrosse in England is an amateur sport played mainly by community based clubs and university teams. Field lacrosse was introduced to England in 1876 by William George Beers and other Canadians who toured the country playing exhibition matches. A second tour was arranged in 1883; by then England had 60 clubs playing regular fixtures in Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Middlesex and Yorkshire.
College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America.
Prince's Skating Club was an ice rink in the Knightsbridge area of London, England. It saw a number of firsts for ice hockey in Britain and Europe.
Princes Ice Hockey Club were one of the most influential early European ice hockey teams and is sometimes considered the first ice hockey club in Britain.
The Oxford University Ice Hockey Club (OUIHC) is home to the Men’s and Women’s Blues ice hockey teams of the University of Oxford, England. The Men's Blues, also known as Oxford University Blues, is one of the world's oldest ice hockey teams. Tradition places the origin of the team in 1885, when a match is said to have been played against Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club in St Moritz, Switzerland. This date is recognised by the Hockey Hall of Fame, and prior to the 1985 Ice Hockey Varsity Match, the International Ice Hockey Federation formally recognised the 1885 game as the first ice hockey match played in Europe. However, there is no contemporary evidence that this match took place, and Oxford now claims that this was a bandy match.
The Ice Hockey Varsity Match is a longstanding competition between the Cambridge and Oxford University Ice Hockey Clubs.
Blackpool Seagulls are an English ice hockey team, founded in 1951, who played at the Pleasure Beach Ice Rink, Blackpool. They folded in 1993.
The British Universities Ice Hockey Association was founded in spring term 2003 by a group of hockey players from the universities of Oxford, London, Nottingham and Newcastle.
Ice hockey has been played in the United Kingdom since the beginning of the twentieth century, and it was a game between English Army veterans played in Canada that is the first recorded use of a sawed-off ball, which led to the use of the puck in hockey. The Great Britain men's national ice hockey team enjoyed worldwide success through the 1920s and 1930s, achieving bronze at the 1924 Olympics, and gold twelve years later. They also won medals at the World Championships in 1935, 1937 and 1938, though never won the tournament. The national team has struggled since the Second World War, and has not finished better than twelfth in the World Championships since 1962. Ice hockey is played professionally in the United Kingdom in the Elite Ice Hockey League, a ten team league which was founded in 2003.
The St. Nicholas Rink, also called the St. Nicholas Arena, was an indoor ice rink, and later a boxing arena in New York City from 1896 until 1962. The rink was one of the earliest indoor ice rinks made of mechanically frozen ice in North America, enabling a longer season for skating sports. It was demolished in the 1980s.
The Penn State Ice Pavilion was a 1,350-seat ice arena on the campus of The Pennsylvania State University located in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States. The ice arena included an NHL regulation sized 200' x 85' ice sheet as well as a 45' x 55' studio ice sheet.
The Oxford University Polo Club is the Discretionary Full Blue sports club for competitive polo at Oxford University. Founded in 1874, it is one of the four oldest continuing polo clubs worldwide. Its annual Varsity Match against Cambridge University Polo Club, established in 1878, is the second oldest continuing polo fixture in the Western world. It is played at Guards Polo Club, England, usually at the beginning of June.
The 1929–30 British Ice Hockey season was the inaugural season where an organised league structure was implemented. The format consisted of a Southern and Northern British league and a Scottish League.
The 1961–62 British Ice Hockey season had no organised league structure for the second consecutive year.