Association name | Northern Ireland Ice Hockey Association |
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Ice Hockey Northern Ireland, abbreviated to IHNI, is responsible for the administration of all ice hockey in Northern Ireland, and was set up in early 2011. [1]
The body consists of 5 teams, Belfast Ice Foxes, Northern Ireland Tridents, Northern Ireland Prowlers, Belfast Spitfires and the Castlereagh Spartans. [2] [3] [4]
IHNI runs an in-house round robin style tournament for both a Winter and Summer Cup, consisting of 6 games per team in the 'League period', to set your place for 'Playoff' semi-finals in the format of 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd.
The winners of the semi-finals go on to play in the Final.
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.
The Coventry Blaze are a British professional ice hockey team based in Coventry, England. They currently compete in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) and play their home games at SkyDome Arena. The club was founded in 1965 as the original Solihull Barons and renamed the Solihull Blaze in 1996, before relocating to Coventry at the turn of the millennium. The Blaze have won four Elite Ice Hockey League Championships since the formation of the league in 2003.
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 seven British league championships, three British championships by winning the play-offs, and five Challenge Cups.
The Fife Flyers are a Scottish professional ice hockey team in Kirkcaldy, Fife. Established in 1938, the Flyers are the oldest still-extant club in the country.
The 2005–06 Elite Ice Hockey League season ran from September 9, 2005, through April 9, 2006. The Edinburgh Capitals and Newcastle Vipers joined the Elite League from the British National League while the Manchester Phoenix did not participate for a second season due to a lack of suitable ice facility.
The 2003–04 Elite Ice Hockey League season was the inaugural season of the Elite League. The season ran from 12 September 2003 until 4 April 2004.
The Men's Irish Junior Cup is a knockout trophy played for field hockey clubs in Ireland. Entry is open to sides that do not qualify for the Irish Senior Cup and to the second teams of clubs that play in the Irish Senior Cup. The trophy was first played for in 1895, a year after the Senior version of the trophy.
Watching and playing sports is an important part of culture in Belfast, Northern Ireland where almost six out of ten (59%) of the adult population regularly participate in one or more sports. Belfast has several notable sports teams playing a diverse variety of sports including football, rugby, traditional Irish Gaelic games, and North American sports such as American football and ice hockey (at the SSE Arena where the multiple time Elite Ice Hockey League champion Belfast Giants are based. The Belfast Marathon is run annually on May Day, and attracted 14,300 participants in 2007. Cycling, triathlon and athletics are also popular as both participation and spectator sports, with the first two stages of the 2014 Giro d'Italia starting from Belfast City Centre, and the annual high profile Belfast International Cross Country event being held in the grounds of Stormont Castle every year until 2009. The Stormont Estate is also one of the four home grounds for the Ireland cricket team, alongside Bready, Malahide and Clontarf, and also hosts the Northern Cricket Union provincial teams.
England Ice Hockey (EIH), formerly the English Ice Hockey Association (EIHA). is the governing body of ice hockey in England and Wales. It was formed in 1982 and featured around 60 teams. EIHA is one of several bodies regulating ice hockey in the United Kingdom, along with Scottish Ice Hockey (SIH), the Northern Ireland Ice Hockey Association (IHNI), and Ice Hockey UK, which governs the national ice hockey teams of Great Britain as a national member of the International Ice Hockey Association (IIHF). In 2016, support for uniting the associations under one central organization has been expressed by heads of each of the various organizations, but, as of 2020, there are no actionable plans to be executed in the near future.
The 2004–05 Elite Ice Hockey League season was the second season of the British Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). Manchester Phoenix did not ice due as they could not agree a deal with the Manchester Evening News Arena.
The 1997–98 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the second season of the Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL).
The 1998–99 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the third season of the Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL). Having reached a sponsorship deal with Sekonda, the league was now formally known as the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague.
The 2000–01 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the fifth season of the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL).
The 2001–02 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the sixth season of the Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL).
The 2002–03 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the seventh and final season of the Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL).
The Richmond International Midget Hockey Tournament is one of the largest tournaments held in North America. This tournament is an ice hockey tournament held annually for midget aged players in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.
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 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 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 was the 19th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season commenced on 10 September 2022, and finished on 2 April 2023; the playoffs were then contested over 7 to 16 April 2023.