The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay 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.
The Nottingham Panthers are a British professional ice hockey club based in Nottingham, England. They are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. Their main team sponsor is the Nottingham Building Society.
Fife Flyers is the oldest professional ice hockey club in the UK, established in 1938. The Flyers play their home games at Fife Ice Arena in Kirkcaldy which has a capacity of just over 3000.
The Scottish National League is an ice hockey league based in Scotland comprising 8 teams.
Fife Ice Arena opened in 1938. Kirkcaldy Ice Rink was designed by architects Williamson & Hubbard. Fife Ice Arena is the home venue of the oldest ice hockey team in the UK – the Fife Flyers. It is also a venue for public skating, figure skating, speed skating, curling and ice shows. The arena has also hosted concerts, boxing, wrestling, motorcycle ice speedway and other events such as dog shows.
The Paisley Pirates were founded in 1946 and are one of the oldest ice hockey clubs in Scotland and the UK. The Pirates were the epitome of the game in Scotland during the 1950s. In season 1953–54 they won the Autumn Cup, the Scottish Cup and the Canada Cup.
The British National League was a professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1954 by the merger of the English National League and the Scottish National League, due to a declining number of teams, as many ice rinks previously fielding several sides chose to cut back.
The Scottish National League was the first ice hockey league in Scotland. It was founded in 1932 by five teams from a single ice rink in Glasgow. The league gradually expanded to encompass teams from many areas of Scotland. It was suspended during the Second World War, but returned in 1946, and for the 1947/8 season was split into two divisions. These reunited the following season, and in 1954 the league merged with the English National League to form the British National League.
Anthony Hand MBE is a Scottish former ice hockey player and coach. He was the first British player to be drafted by an NHL team when he was picked by the Edmonton Oilers in 1986.
The Brighton Tigers were an English ice hockey club based in Brighton. The team existed from 1935 until 1965 and were one of the United Kingdom's most successful sides during that period. The club was based at the Brighton Sports Stadium on West Street.
The Dundee Rockets were an ice hockey club based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded in 1963, the club were members of the Northern League between 1969 and 1982 and, from 1982, the British Hockey League. The club won eight titles in total before closing in 1987.
The Dundee Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in the Scottish city of Dundee. They were formed in 2001 and play their home games at the Dundee Ice Arena, situated off the city's main Kingsway dual carriageway. The current title sponsor of the team is 'Trade-Mart'.
In the sport of shinty, there are several clubs which play under the banner of one of the Scottish universities. However, these clubs are not always student teams in the strictest sense of the word, and have a long history of participation at national senior level. Since the introduction of a summer season, only the Aberdeen University Shinty Club continues to play in the senior leagues, although Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews have all done so in the past.
The British ice hockey league champions are the winners of the regular season of the highest ice hockey league in the United Kingdom, currently the Elite Ice Hockey League. Previously, the highest league has been the British National League (1954–60), the Premier Division (1983–96) and the Ice Hockey Superleague (1996–2003).
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 Lee Valley Lions are an ice hockey team based in Leyton, East London where they play at the Lee Valley Ice Centre. They are the senior Ice Hockey team at the rink, with other users including the affiliated Lee Valley Lions Junior Ice Hockey Club, the Eastern Stars and London Devils recreational teams, and the University of London Ice Hockey Club.
George McNeil was an ice hockey player and coach and baseball player and manager, who represented United Kingdom internationally at both sports.
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.
Dundee Ice Arena is a multi-purpose ice rink arena located in the Camperdown area of Dundee. The arena has a capacity of 2,400 seats making it the fourth largest ice rink arena by capacity in Scotland after the Braehead Arena, Murrayfield Ice Rink and the Fife Ice Arena.
Ice hockey in Australia is a sport which had a relatively poor popularity, having low participation and spectator attendance figures when compared with many other sports played in the country.
