The British Championship is the most prestigious ice hockey cup competition in the United Kingdom, and also the longest established ice hockey competition.
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 Belfast Giants are a professional ice hockey team based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They compete in the UK's Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) and are the current champions for the 7th time in their history. They play their home games at the SSE Arena. Since their inception in 2000, the Giants have won fourteen major honours, including six British league championships, two British championships by winning the play-offs, and five Challenge Cups.
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 Peterborough Phantoms are a British ice hockey team that play at the Planet Ice Peterborough Arena, in Bretton, Peterborough. The Peterborough Phantoms ice hockey club was founded in 2002. It replaced the former city based team, the Peterborough Pirates, and plays in the same arena. The team currently competes in the semi-professional National Ice Hockey League, the second tier in British ice hockey below the fully professional Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). They previously played in the English Premier Ice Hockey League (EPIHL).
Hull Stingrays were a British ice hockey club from Kingston upon Hull who was a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League from 2003 until 2015. They played their home games at Hull Arena.
Carl Alfred Erhardt was an English ice hockey player who captained the British national team to numerous international championships in the 1930s, including Olympic gold at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Stephen James Murphy is a former professional ice hockey goaltender born in Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Glasgow Clan is a Scottish professional ice hockey team. It was formed in 2010 as the UK Elite Ice Hockey League expanded into the west of Scotland market, and are based at the Braehead Arena in Renfrewshire. It is one of three Scottish clubs playing in the top British league alongside Dundee Stars and the Fife Flyers.
The 2012–13 Elite Ice Hockey League season was the tenth season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season began on Saturday 8 September 2012 and ended on Sunday 24 March 2013, followed by the Play-Offs which culminated in the end-of-season Play-Off Finals on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 April 2013.
The Gardiner Conference is one of three conferences in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) and comprises Three teams. Its counterparts are the Erhardt Conference and the newly formed, for the 2017-18 season, Patton Conference. It is named after former Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Charlie Gardiner and was introduced for the 2012–13 EIHL season. The Gardiner Conference Championship is played for over 24 regular season games, each team playing the other two teams eight times. The winner receives the Gardiner Trophy and is seeded in the top three for the end-of-season Elite League Play-Offs. These 24 games also make up the total of 56 regular season games which decide the overall League Champions of the Elite Ice Hockey League.
The 2014–15 Elite Ice Hockey League season is the 12th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season begins early September and will end in March.
The 2015–16 Elite Ice Hockey League season was the 13th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season began in September 2015 and ended in March 2016.
The 2016–17 Elite Ice Hockey League season was the 14th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season begun in early September and ended in March. Regular season champion Cardiff Devils were defeated in the playoff final by their Erhardt Conference rivals Sheffield Steelers 6–5 in double-overtime.
The 2017–18 EIHL season was the 15th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season commenced on 9 September 2017 and ended on 25 March 2018. The reigning league champions were the Cardiff Devils, who won the championship for the first time in 2016–17. The Devils retained their regular season title, with a 3–2 victory away at the Belfast Giants on 16 March 2018. The Devils also won the playoff title, beating the Sheffield Steelers – who had defeated the Devils 12 months prior in a 6–5 double overtime game – 3–1 in the final, winning a first playoff title since 1998–99.
The Patton Conference is one of three conferences in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) and comprises four teams. Its counterparts are the Erhardt Conference and the Gardiner Conference. It is named after IIHF and British Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Major Bethune Minet “Peter” Patton and was introduced for the 2017–18 EIHL season. The Patton Conference Championship is played for over 24 regular season games, each team playing the other three teams eight times. The winner receives the Patton Trophy and is seeded in the top three for the end-of-season Elite League Play-Offs. These 24 games also make up the total of 56 regular season games which decide the overall League Champions of the Elite Ice Hockey League.
The 2018–19 EIHL season was the 16th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season commenced on 8 September 2018 and ended on 31 March 2019, with the playoffs following in April 2019. The two-time reigning league champions were the Cardiff Devils, who won both the regular season and playoff titles in 2017–18.
The 2019–20 EIHL season was the 17th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season commenced on 7 September 2019 and was due to end on 29 March 2020, with the playoffs following in April 2020. The reigning league champions were the Belfast Giants, who won the title on the final day of the regular season, in 2018–19.
The 2021–22 EIHL season was the 18th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season commenced on 25 September 2021, and finished on 17 April 2022, with the playoffs taking place over the following two weekends. The previous campaign in 2020–21 was suspended indefinitely in September 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom; a reduced Elite Series was held in April and May 2021, involving the Sheffield Steelers, the Nottingham Panthers, the Coventry Blaze and the Manchester Storm, to provide competitive ice time for players ahead of the 2021 IIHF World Championship.
The 2022–23 EIHL season is the 19th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season commenced on 10 September 2022, and is planned to finish on 16 April 2023.
