British Universities Ice Hockey Association

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.

British Universities Ice Hockey Association
AbbreviationBUIHA
Formation2003
Legal statusNon-Profit Organisation
PurposeBritish University Ice Hockey
Location
  • IceSheffield
Region served
England, Wales & Scotland
Membership
British University Ice Hockey Clubs (22 clubs)
Chairman
Andrew Miller
Vice Chairman
Simon Hopkins
Secretary
Rob Grant
Fixtures Secretary
Richard Gray
Key people
Joe Staton

David Rogers

Nick Ivill

Essi Aittasalo
Main organ
BUIHA Executive Committee
AffiliationsBritish Universities and Colleges Sport
WebsiteBUIHA

History of the BUIHA

The British Universities Ice Hockey Association, or BUIHA, was formed in response to the growing number of universities with ice hockey programmes in an effort to provide students with competitive ice hockey whilst at university, no matter what their level of play.

The notion to form the BUIHA first arose in Easter 2003. The idea was to simply form a divisional competition for the existing university teams. Development over the summer of 2003[1] led to a committee being put in place, a schedule being set and a number of teams signed up to take part in the first ever BUIHA University Cup. The National Championships was already an existing competition. Indeed, the 2003/04 formative season finished in style at the National Championships weekend where the then 13 member teams battled it out for The Rawlinson Plate & The Hopkins Plate.

The following season, to further the BUIHA objective of progression at all levels of the sport, the BUIHA introduced Division 3. Also joining the BUIHA in its second season were a number of new university teams, a number that would be again bolstered in its 3rd season bringing the total teams for 2005-6 to 29.

The 2008/09 Season saw the Bristol Lions enter for the 1st time. The sole new entrant in the 2009/10 season were the newly formed Kent Knights, who arrived on the scene with an old friend lining up in a Knights roster. It was the time that Old Skool had ended his association with Imperial College Devils and was playing for his University for the very first time. The 2010/11 season saw the Oxford Women's Blues join their Cambridge counterparts in Division 3 South, and in 2012 we saw a team from St Andrews enter the National Championships in Tier II.

In the 2012/13 there was a change in cup competition structure, with Division 3 becoming Non-checking Division 1, and the addition of a third checking division. New teams joined the competition from UCL and University of East Anglia, and a reformed Northumbria team joined as the Kings. Unfortunately, the season started without the return of teams from Bristol and Huddersfield.

2013/14 Season saw the Birmingham Eagles finally gain recognition for their Students Guild, part of the deal saw the club rebranded as the Birmingham Lions to fall inline with the other sports clubs at the university.

The National Championships

The then secretary of the Oxford Vikings, Alexis Rawlinson, came up with the idea of organising a tournament for all the university ice hockey teams in the UK. At the time this was not such a daunting organisational prospect, given that there were only seven teams.

A few weeks later five teams (blues squads were not invited as they were above the standard of all other teams) gathered for a late night ice hockey session at Oxford Ice Rink starting at 11 pm and running all the way through to the morning. The result of this was a narrow Newcastle victory by one point over the Oxford Vikings. Newcastle arranged the next two events at the National Ice Centre (NIC) in Nottingham, which saw victories for Newcastle in 2002 and London in 2003.

For 2004, to recognise the contribution of Alexis to British University Ice Hockey, the top National Championship trophy was renamed the Rawlinson Plate.

2004 also saw the introduction of a 2nd Tier of competition due to the introduction of many new teams. The BUIHA is now host of a range of new teams from England, Scotland and Wales as well as the original seven that entered the first National Championships in 2001. From 2005 onwards tier II was renamed The Hopkins Plate. From the start of the 2015 season onwards the Tier 3 national championship trophy is to be renamed the Miller Trophy to honour the ongoing work the chairman, Andrew Miller, puts into the job.

The Cup competition

Created in Autumn 2003 by the founding BUIHA committee the cup competition was envisioned as a league type competition available to university clubs in the UK.

Operating within the EIHA recreational section the clubs involved played a round robin format with the winner being declared at the end of the season as the team with the most points (using goal difference as a tie breaker).

Founding clubs of the initial two divisions (in alphabetical order) were:

Division 1

  • Cambridge University Blues
  • University of London Union Purples
  • Nottingham Universities Mavericks A

Division 2

  • Birmingham Eagles
  • Cambridge University Eskimos
  • Imperial College Devils
  • Newcastle University Wildcats
  • Nottingham Universities Mavericks B
  • Oxford University Vikings
  • University of Warwick Panthers

From the 2008/2009 season the BUIHA operated directly under the EIHA board after being awarded a section of their own and separating from the Rec section. This has led to several improvements to the way the organisation can operate.

Team Great Britain

Launched at the end of the 2004–5 season, Team Great Britain is the national university side that will compete against other national university sides, including competing at the bi-annual FISU World University Games. Mike Urquhart & Matt Bradbury have agreed to coach the team. Any person attending university anywhere in the world who is a UK & Northern Ireland citizen between the ages of 17 and 28 is able to play for the team. This disregards the level to which they have played the sport.

Winners

Checking Division 1

Year Cup Competition National Championship
2001 n/a Newcastle Wildcats
2002 n/a Newcastle Wildcats
2003 n/a London Dragons
2004 Cambridge Blues Nottingham Mavericks
2005 Nottingham Mavericks London Dragons
2006 Nottingham Mavericks Nottingham Mavericks
2007 Nottingham Mavericks Sheffield Bears
2008 North South Playoffs
Nottingham Mavericks London Dragons London Dragons London Dragons
2009 Nottingham Mavericks Oxford Blues Oxford Blues Nottingham Mavericks
2010 Newcastle Wildcats London Dragons Oxford Blues Sheffield Bears
2011 Edinburgh Eagles London Dragons London Dragons Southampton Spitfires
2012 Manchester Metrostars Oxford Blues Manchester Metrostars London Dragons
2013 Edinburgh Eagles London Dragons London Dragons Sheffield Bears
2014 Edinburgh Eagles Oxford Blues Oxford Blues Southampton Spitfires
2015 Nottingham Mavericks London Dragons London Dragons Southampton Spitfires
2016 Nottingham Mavericks Cambridge Blues Cambridge Blues Oxford Blues
2017 St Andrews Typhoons London Dragons London Dragons Southampton Spitfires
2018 St Andrews Typhoons Oxford Blues St Andrews Typhoons Oxford Blues
2019 Edinburgh Eagles Cambridge Blues Edinburgh Eagles Sheffield Bears

Checking Division 2

Year Cup Competition National Championship
North South Playoffs
2004 Newcastle Wildcats Nottingham Mavericks B n/a Sheffield Bears
2005 Edinburgh Eagles Cambridge Eskimos n/a Nottingham Mavericks B
2006 Nottingham Mavericks B Southampton Spitfires n/a Cardiff Redhawks
2007 Northumbria Flames Birmingham Eagles B Birmingham Eagles B Oxford Vikings
2008 Sheffield Bears B Nottingham Mavericks B Nottingham Mavericks B Northumbria Flames
2009 North Central South Playoffs
Northumbria Flames Manchester Metros Cardiff Redhawks Northumbria Flames Manchester Metros
2010 Hull Ice Hogs Manchester Metros Oxford Vikings Manchester Metros Manchester Metros
2011 North South Playoffs
Sheffield Bears B Bristol Lions Bristol Lions Bradford Sabres
2012 Hull Ice Hogs Cardiff Redhawks Hull Ice Hogs Huddersfield Ice Hawks
2013 Sheffield Bears B Birmingham Eagles Birmingham Eagles St Andrews Typhoons
2014 Northumbria Kings Oxford Vikings Oxford Vikings Oxford Vikings
2015 St Andrews Typhoons UCLU Yetis St Andrews Typhoons UCLU Yetis
2016 Birmingham Lions Cardiff Redhawks Birmingham Lions Sheffield Bears B
2017 Leeds Gryphons UCLU Yetis Southampton Spitfires Hull Ice Hogs
2018 Manchester Metros Southampton Spitfires Manchester Metros Manchester Metros
2019 Leeds Gryphons Imperial Devils Imperial Devils Imperial Devils

Checking Division 3

Year Cup Competition
South
2013 UCLU Yetis

Non-checking Division 1 (formerly Division 3)

Year Cup Competition National Championship
2006 n/a Nottingham Mavericks C
2007 Sheffield Bears C Cardiff Redhawks B
2008 North South Playoffs
Northumbria Flames B Nottingham Mavericks C n/a Nottingham Mavericks C
2009 Sheffield Bears C Cardiff Redhawks B Cardiff Redhawks B Cardiff Redhawks B
2010 Sheffield Bears C Warwick Panthers B n/a Nottingham Mavericks C
2011 Nottingham Mavericks C Warwick Panthers B Nottingham Mavericks C Warwick Panthers B
2012 North Central South Playoffs
Edinburgh Beagles Nottingham Mavericks C Southampton Spitfires B Edinburgh Beagles Southampton Spitfires B
2013 North South Playoffs
Northumbria Kings Southampton Spitfires B Southampton Spitfires B Northumbria Kings
2014 Newcastle Wildcats Birmingham Lions B Newcastle Wildcats Northumbria Kings B
2015 Northumbria Kings B Coventry and Warwick Panthers B Northumbria Kings B Northumbria Kings B
2016 Sheffield Bears C Coventry and Warwick Panthers Coventry and Warwick Panthers Imperial Devils
2017 Sheffield Bears C Southampton Spitfires B Sheffield Bears C Nottingham Mavericks C
2018 Northumbria Kings B Southampton Spitfires B Southampton Spitfires B Kent Knights
2019 Northumbria Kings B Southampton Spitfires Southampton Spitfires Southampton Spitfires

Non-checking Division 2

Year Cup Competition National Championship
North South Playoffs
2013 n/a Birmingham Eagles C n/a n/a
2014 Northumbria Kings B n/a n/a Bradford Sabres B
2015 Bradford Sabres B Coventry and Warwick Panthers C Bradford Sabres B Nottingham Mavericks B
2016 Leeds Gryphons UCL Yetis B Leeds Gryphons Imperial Devils B
2017 Northumbria Kings B Kent Knights Kent Knights Kent Knights
2018 Leeds Gryphons B Cardiff Breadhawks Leeds Gryphons B Hull Ice Hogs
2019 Bradford Sabres Oxford Vikings Oxford Vikings UCL Yetis B

Non-checking Division 3

Year Cup Competition National Championship
North South Playoffs
2015 n/a n/a n/a Imperial Devils C
2016 n/a n/a n/a Sheffield Bears E
2017 n/a Cambridge Women’s Blues n/a Nottingham Mavericks D
2018 n/a Oxford Vikings n/a UEA Avalanche
2019 Nottingham Mavericks D Coventry and Warwick Panthers B Coventry and Warwick Panthers B Sheffield Bears E

Non-Checking Division 4

Year National Championship
2018 Oxford Vikings B
2019 Imperial Devils C

Women's

Year National Championship
2017 Oxford Women's Blues
2018 Nottingham Mavericks Women
2019 Caledonia Steel Queens

Member teams

Steel Queens
Stags
Mavericks
Typhoons
Metros
Panthers
Dragons
Devils
Yetis
Lions
Avalanche
Knights
Kings
Gryphons
Locations of the BUIHA 2018–19 teams
ClubFoundationEntry to BUIHATwitter feedHome Rink
Birmingham Lions

Formed as Birmingham Eagles

2001 2003 @BrumEagles Solihull Ice Rink
Bradford Sabres 2005 2005 @BradfordSabres Bradford Ice Arena
Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club 1885 2004 @CUIHC Cambridge Ice Arena
Caledonia Steel Queens 2017 2017 @Steel_queens Murrayfield Ice Rink
Cardiff Redhawks 2004 2005 @CardiffRedHawks Viola Arena
Coventry and Warwick Panthers 2002 2004 @WarwickPanthers SkyDome Arena
Edinburgh Eagles 2003 2004 @EUIHC Murrayfield Ice Rink
Glasgow Stags 2019 2019 @GlasgowStags Braehead Arena
Hull Ice Hogs

Formed as Hull Hawks

2007 2007 @HUIHC Hull Arena
Imperial College Devils 2000 2003 @Imperialdevils Streatham Ice Arena
Kent Knights 2009 2009 @Kent_Knights Gillingham Ice Rink
Leeds Gryphons

Formed as Leeds Jaguars

2015 2015 @LUUIHC Bradford Ice Arena
Manchester Metros

Formed as Manchester Metrostars

2001 2004 @MancMetros Altrincham Ice Dome
Newcastle Wildcats 1994 2003 @NCL_Wildcats Whitley Bay Ice Rink
Nottingham Mavericks 2001 2003 @NottsMavericks National Ice Centre
Northumbria Kings

Formed as Northumbria Flames

2001 2003 @NthumbriaKings Whitley Bay Ice Rink
Oxford University Ice Hockey Club 1885 2004 @ouihcmensblues Oxford Ice Rink
Southampton Spitfires 2002 2004 @SpitfiresIIHC Planet Ice Silverdome Arena, Gosport Ice Rink
Sheffield Bears 2004 2004 @SheffieldBears IceSheffield
Universities of London Dragons

Formed as ULU Purples

2002 2003 @LondonDragons Lee Valley Ice Centre, Streatham Ice Arena
St Andrews Typhoons 2011 2012 @TyphoonsHockey Dundee Ice Arena
University College London Union Yetis 2011 2012 @UCLice Streatham Ice Arena
University of East Anglia Avalanche 2011 2012 @UEA_Avalanche Planet Ice Peterborough

References

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