Welcome to UK Hockey

[UKNuck96]

So since its off season and a little bit quiet on the boards (apart from incessant refreshing to see what @Vintage Canuck has posted in the trades forum) I though I would introduce you all to some of the Hockey we have over here in the UK.

 

Currently is the 4th Highest Average attendance of all European leagues despite it being little known outside of a few hockey towns (Nottingham, Cardiff, Sheffield and Newcastle (albeit Newcastle no longer has a team). I will say the figures were helped by some larger drop off in crowds post covid for the last season, but average attendance in the UK hasnt be that bad for the size of the league.

 

there are 5 teams in the top 100 teams in Europe

 

 

Quote

 

• #6 Sheffield Steelers - 6,693
• #27 Nottingham Panthers - 4,740
• #37 Belfast Giants - 4,155
• #55 Cardiff Devils - 3,041
• #62 Glasgow Clan - 2,772

 

 

 

the League itself has 10 team 

 

Belfast Giants (Northern Ireland)

Cardif Devils (Wales)

Coventry Blaze (England)

Dundee Stars (Scotland)

Fife Flyers (Scotland)

Glasgow Clan (Scotland)

Guildford Flames (England)

Manchester Storm (England)

Nottingham Panthers (England)

Sheffield Steelers (England)

 

since the current league was created following the collapse of the Ice Hockey Super league in 2003 it has been through a number of teams but has usually operated with 10 teams, 12 I believe was the largest it grew to. The Scottish teams are relative new to the league which Prior to that there was just a single team in Edinburgh.

 

There also has been some noise in Newcastle with the football club being taken over by the Saudi PIF and Reuban Brothers that they may try and recreate the failed attempt of a sporting club Newcastle concept with the Football, Rugby, Basketball (the UKs most successful team) and also bring back the Ice Hockey team out of the arena. However how much of that is speculation vs reality I do not know.

 

Salary wise players earn between £12,000 to about £50,000 for the top end players at the tops teams with the average around the £28k. That's not per week that's Per annum

 

so without further ado here are some highlight clips - feel free to ask any questions as I know there are a few UK based canucks fans who follow the league over here

 

 

 

 

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and of course a highs highlight from the last season

 

 

 

Goal horns

 

 

 

Biggest rivalry in the league would be the Nottingham (founded 1946) and Sheffield (founded 1991) this is partly down not to the sport but the rivalry between two cities separated by 32 miles of the M1 motorway, it also goes back to the miners strikes in the 80s  in which the Nottingham miners didnt strike

 

[smithers joe]

good  to hear hockey is spreading around the globe. do you play?

[bigbadcanucks]

Had a group of buddies I played Junior B with who were point per game and better players back in the mid to late 1980s who went onto to play in the premier English Hockey League and each of them all of sudden became the second coming of Wayne Gretzky (one of which was superagent and Matthew and Brady Tkachuk's uncle Craig Oster). 

 

From the vids, it ooks like the quality of English hockey has come a long way in the past 30+ years.

[Bell]

31 minutes ago, bigbadcanucks said:

Had a group of buddies I played Junior B with who were point per game and better players back in the mid to late 1980s who went onto to play in the premier English Hockey League and each of them all of sudden became the second coming of Wayne Gretzky (one of which was superagent and Matthew and Brady Tkachuk's uncle Craig Oster). 

 

From the vids, it ooks like the quality of English hockey has come a long way in the past 30+ years.

I imagine the teams in this league would get wrecked by the top CHL teams.  Nice to see hockey grow in different markets and it seemed like they had good fan support.

[diesel_3]

I'm a member of an enforcer appreciation group on FB and this was just posted the other day:

 

All EIHL fights from last season.

 

 

[UKNuck96]

2 hours ago, smithers joe said:

good  to hear hockey is spreading around the globe. do you play?

I used to when I was in Uni many years ago, unfortunately where i moved there wasn't access to a rink and when i could get one the ice time is ridiculous so i haven't played in about 16 years. At uni we were the last team on, and one of the players knew the guy who locked up (family friend) so we were able to lock up when we were done. We trained at 10pm to about 2am, didnt usually get home till 6am afterwards.

 

Now im near enough to a rink and to a team that isnt in the EIHL however any time on the ice is usually recreational with the family, although my son looks to want to start playing which would be cool

[UKNuck96]

2 hours ago, Bell said:

I imagine the teams in this league would get wrecked by the top CHL teams.  Nice to see hockey grow in different markets and it seemed like they had good fan support.

the level does vary drastically, there have been some ex nhl players play in the league (usually they didn't really crack the nhl) the top players are AHL level, but the majority are probably ECHL/VHL level of player. But because of the way it works, you get some good players, some okay ones and then some local talent. Ideally the British contingent you have is good, as this can make the difference between rolling two  lines and short shifting vs rolling 3/4 lines .

 

Internationally we had a good run a few years back and managed to get ourselves into the elite division, however we finished bottom of the group in this years championship resulting in us being relegated back down to division a

[NewbieCanuckFan]

In 1936, Britain actually won the Gold medal in hockey!  Granted a lot of the team was ex-pat Canadians (who ended up with the Silver).

 

[nuckin_futz]

I was born in Preston. So I guess my team is the Manchester Storm as they're the closest to Lancashire.

 

Cool thread, look forward to reading it.

[Fan since 82]

I saw Theo Fleury play in about 2008 (can't remember exactly). He was with the Belfast Giants and they played the Basingstoke Bison. The coach for the Bison started the game in goal and was scored on like 4 times in the first couple minutes of the game. He then had a temper tantrum and pulled himself. He took off his equipment and threw the bits down the ice as he skated towards the bench. Quite a spectacle actually. After the game I went to a pizza place just next to the arena and saw Fleury in there picking up a bunch of pizzas. I always wish I had the courage to go talk to him but I just left him alone. The hockey that game was pretty crap, and I really didn't have much of a positive opinion about UK hockey, but my opinion changed when my cousin's son played for the Guildford Flames in 2018 & 2019. We went to see a few games and they were much better than I remembered. The fans were great too and when they found out that I was Canadian and understood the game a bit they were eager to learn about some of the rules that they didn't understand...icing was something they couldn't really get their heads around and offside was also a bit confusing for some.

Edited July 19, 2022 by Fan since 82

[UKNuck96]

4 hours ago, Fan since 82 said:

I saw Theo Fleury play in about 2008 (can't remember exactly). He was with the Belfast Giants and they played the Basingstoke Bison. The coach for the Bison started the game in goal and was scored on like 4 times in the first couple minutes of the game. He then had a temper tantrum and pulled himself. He took off his equipment and threw the bits down the ice as he skated towards the bench. Quite a spectacle actually. After the game I went to a pizza place just next to the arena and saw Fleury in there picking up a bunch of pizzas. I always wish I had the courage to go talk to him but I just left him alone. The hockey that game was pretty crap, and I really didn't have much of a positive opinion about UK hockey, but my opinion changed when my cousin's son played for the Guildford Flames in 2018 & 2019. We went to see a few games and they were much better than I remembered. The fans were great too and when they found out that I was Canadian and understood the game a bit they were eager to learn about some of the rules that they didn't understand...icing was something they couldn't really get their heads around and offside was also a bit confusing for some.

I’ve found it to be a bit different, there are always a lot of new people and casual fans as it’s very much family friendly and actually has more female spectators then male. 
 

but most are extremely knowledgeable and are hardcore fans. But the crowds in UK ice hockey are often very friendly and welcoming and always willing to help out and teach people the game who are new. 
 

 

The quality I will admit isn’t the greatest but the clubs are starting to hold their own in European competitions (CHL) against other clubs outside of the Swiss and Swedish teams. But because most of the clubs are of a similarish level the entertainment and tension is there making it entertaining.

 

also crowds and noice they make is fantastic. If you ever get a chance to go to a Sheffield Nottingham Derby they can lift the roof off, and that’s only with crowds of about 8-10k.

 

because it’s not as corporate as sports in NA there isn’t as much suits going, added to being a minor sport you get passionate fans more so that casual followers with money which makes the atmosphere at some games absolutely amazing 

[Googlie]

The Golden period was likely the 1947 - 57 decade, when a lot of Canadian servicemen had married British girls and stayed on to work in the UK.  I had an older sister who was a hockey nut, and I used to go to Fife Flyers games with her in Kirkcaldy in the mid 50's. Team then was about 90% Canadian ex-servicemen who had played as youths.  I don't remember if it was amateur or professional then.  Its main winter competition was Raith Rovers, the local football team.