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.

History of the BUIHA

Although still a young organization, 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 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.

The National Championships

It all began over a couple of pints one rainy afternoon in Oxford, the precise details of which are lost in the mists of time. 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 organizational 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 11pm 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 recognize 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 7 that entred the first National Championships in 2001. From 2005 onwards tier II was renamed The Hopkins Plate.

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 2 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	National Champion	Cup Winner
	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
2020	Sheffield Bears	London Dragons	Cancelled due to COVID19 pandemic
2021	No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic
2022	No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic			St Andrews Typhoons

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
2020	Sheffield Bears B		Southampton Spitfires		Cancelled due to COVID19 pandemic
2021	No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic
2022	No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic					Edinburgh Eagles

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
2020	Sheffield Bears C		London Dragons B		Cancelled due to COVID19 pandemic
2021	No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic
2022	North		South		Playoffs	Champion	Vase
	No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic					Sheffield Bears C	Leeds Gryphons B

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
2020	Newcastle Wildcats B	Southampton Spitfires B	Cancelled due to COVID19 pandemic
2021	No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic
2022	North	South	Playoffs	Champion	Vase
	No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic			Hull Ice Hogs	Nottingham Mavericks D

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
2020	Caledonia Steel Queens	Birmingham Lions C	Cancelled due to COVID19 pandemic
2021	No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic
2022	North	South	Playoffs	Champion	Vase
	No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic			UCL Yetis C	Manchester Metros C

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
2020	Cancelled due to COVID19 pandemic
2021	No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic
2022	Caledonia Steel Queens

Member teams

Club	Foundation	Entry to BUIHA	Twitter feed	Home Rink
Anglia Ruskin Rangers	2011	2012	N/A	Planet Ice Norwich
Birmingham Eagles	2001	2003	@BrumEagles	Solihull Ice Rink
Bradford Sabres	2005	2005	@BradfordSabres	Bradford Ice Arena
Bristol Lions	2008	2008	N/A	Bristol Ice Rink
Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club	1885	2004	@CUIHC	Planet Ice Milton Keynes, Peterborough Ice Rink
Cardiff Redhawks	2004	2005	@CardiffRedHawks	Cardiff Arena
Edinburgh Eagles	2003	2004	@EUIHC	Dundee Ice Arena, Dumfries Ice Bowl, Murrayfield Ice Rink, Stirling Ice Rink
Huddersfield Ice Hawks	2007	2007	@HuddIceHawks	Bradford Ice Arena
Hull Ice Hogs	2007	2007	@HUIHC	Hull Arena
Imperial College Devils	2004	2004	@Imperialdevils	Planet Ice Brixton
Kent Knights	2009	2009	@Kent_Knights	Gillingham Ice Rink
Manchester Metros	2001	2004	@MancMetros	Deeside Leisure Centre, Altrincham Ice Dome
Newcastle Wildcats	1994	2003	@NCL_Wildcats	Whitley Bay Ice Rink
Nottingham Mavericks	2001	2003	@NottsMavericks	National Ice Centre
Northumbria Flames	2001	2003	@NthumbriaFlames	Whitley Bay Ice Rink
Oxford University Ice Hockey Club	1885	2003	@OUIHCWomenBlues	Oxford Ice Rink
Southampton Spitfires	2002	2004	@SpitfiresIIHC	Planet Ice Silverdome Arena, Gosport Ice Rink
Sheffield Bears	2004	2004	@SheffieldBears	IceSheffield
Surrey Sharks	2009	TBC	N/A	Guildford Ice Rink
Universities Of London Dragons	2002	2003	@LondonDragons	Lee Valley Ice Centre, Streatham Ice Rink
University of Central Lancashire Huskies	2011	TBC	@UCLanHuskies	Blackburn Ice Rink
University College London Union Yetis	2011	2012	N/A	TBC
University of East Anglia Avalanche	2011	2012	@UEA_Avalanche	Lee Valley Ice Centre
Warwick Panthers	2002	2004	@WarwickPanthers	SkyDome Arena

BUIHA Committees 2002-2011

Executive Committee

	Chairman	Vice Chairman	Secretary	Tresurer	Fixtures Secretary	Player Rep	CTO	Events Co-Ordinator
2002-04	R Ellis (ULU)	G Brewer (Ncl)	C May (Ox)	-	A Miller (Ncl)	-	-	-
2004/05	S Hopkins (Nott)	S Clifford (Nott)	E Baker (Edi)	R Ellis (ULU)	A Miller (Ncl)	-	-	-
2005/06	S Clifford (Nott)	A Batchelder (EIHA)	C Davila (Lon)	R Whyatt (Nott)	T Brooks (Shef)	-	-	-
2006/07	S Clifford (Nott)	A Batchelder (EIHA)	A Miller (Ncl)	R Whyatt (Nott)	-	-	-	-
2007/08	A Miller (Ncl)	S Hopkins (Nott)	-	R Whyatt (Nott)	R Grant (Unat)	D Needham (ULU)	-	-
2008/09	A Miller (Ncl)	S Hopkins (Nott)	R Grant (Unat)	R Whyatt (Nott)	-	K McCormack (Nor)	-	-
2009/10	A Miller (Nor)	S Hopkins (Nott)	R Grant (Unat)	A Beevers(Hudd)	-	A Perona-Wright (Man)	J Staton (Car)	S Farey (Nott)
2010/11	A Miller (Nor)	S Hopkins (Nott)	R Grant (Unat)	A Beevers(Hudd)	-	M Hinsley (Ncl)	J Staton (Car)	S Farey (Nott)
2011/12	A Miller (Nor)	S Hopkins (Nott)	R Grant (Unat)	A Beevers(Hudd)	S Buckler (Lee)	J Craighead (Ncl)	J Staton (Car)	-
2012/13	A Miller (Unat)	S Hopkins (Nott)	R Grant (Unat)	-	-	Neil Dolan (Ed)	J Staton (Car)	-

Non-Executive Committee

	NGB Secretary	Events Coordinator	Marketing and PR	Officials Liaison	Coaching Liaison	Webmaster
2002-04	S Hopkins (Nott)	-	-	A Batchelder (EIHA)	-	E Eckered (Ox)
2004/05	S Hopkins (Nott)	-	M Sharpe (ULU)	S Clifford (Nott)	-	M Sharpe (ULU)
2005/06	S Hopkins (Nott)	-	P Andrews (Shef)	S Clifford (Nott)	-	M Sharpe (ULU)
2006/07	S Hopkins (Nott)	S Farey (Nott)	-	S Clifford (Nott)	-	A Lawson (Nor)
2007/08	-	S Farey (Nott)	A Miller & R Grant	A Batchelder (EIHA)	-	A Lawson (Nor)
2008/09	-	S Farey (Nott)	A Miller & R Grant	A Batchelder (EIHA)	L Moralee (EIHA)	A Lawson (Nor)
2009/10	-	-	A Miller & R Grant	A Batchelder (EIHA)	L Moralee (EIHA)	D Rogers (Car)
2010/11	-	-	A Maxwell (Unat)	A Batchelder (EIHA)	L Moralee(EIHA)	D Rogers (Car)
2011/12	-	-	-	A Batchelder (EIHA)	L Moralee(EIHA)	D Rogers (Car)
2012/13	-	-	J Craighead (NCL)	A Batchelder (EIHA)	L Moralee(EIHA)	D Rogers (Car)

External links

• British University Ice Hockey Association official web site

References

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