The British Universities Ice Hockey Association was founded during the spring term 2003 by a group of hockey players from the universities of Oxford, London, Nottingham and Newcastle.
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 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 third season, bringing the total teams for 2005-6 to 29.
The 2008/09 season saw the Bristol Lions enter for the first 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.
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.
Following the 2004 season the National Championships have been held at Ice Sheffield.
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.
Competition 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 London Dragons Nottingham Mavericks 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 Metros Oxford Blues Manchester Metros 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 Typhoons2023 Nottingham Mavericks Oxford Blues Nottingham Mavericks Sheffield Bears2024 Nottingham Mavericks London Dragons London Dragons Cambridge Blues2025 St Andrews Typhoons Oxford Blues Oxford Blues Sheffield Bears2026 Nottingham Mavericks London Dragons London Dragons 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 Manchester Metros Northumbria Flames Manchester Metros Cardiff Redhawks Northumbria Flames 2010 Hull Ice Hogs Manchester Metros Oxford Vikings Manchester Metros Manchester Metros 2011 North South Playoffs Bradford Sabres Sheffield Bears B Bristol Lions Bristol Lions 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 2020Sheffield Bears BSouthampton SpitfiresCancelled due to COVID19 pandemic 2021 No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic 2022 No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic Edinburgh Eagles 2023 Sheffield Bears B Glasgow Stags n/a Northumbria Kings 2024 Leeds Gryphons Southampton Spitfires n/a Southampton Spitfires 2025 Manchester Metros Imperial Devils n/a Imperial Devils 2026 Northumbria Kings UCL Yetis n/a Nottingham Mavericks B
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 Nottingham Mavericks C Northumbria Flames B Nottingham Mavericks C n/a 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 Southampton Spitfires B Edinburgh Beagles Nottingham Mavericks C Southampton Spitfires B Edinburgh Beagles 2013 North South Playoffs Northumbria Kings Northumbria Kings Southampton Spitfires B Southampton Spitfires B 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 Spitfires2020Sheffield Bears CLondon Dragons B Cancelled due to COVID19 pandemic 2021 No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic 2022 No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic Sheffield Bears C 2023 Northumbria Kings B Oxford Vikings Oxford Vikings Oxford Vikings 2024 Sheffield Bears C Oxford Vikings Oxford Vikings Oxford Vikings 2025 Nottingham Mavericks C Oxford Vikings B Nottingham Mavericks C Oxford Vikings B 2026 Sheffield Bears C Oxford Womens Blues Sheffield Bears C Cambridge Huskies
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 B2020 Newcastle Wildcats B Southampton Spitfires BCancelled due to COVID19 pandemic 2021 No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic 2022 No competitions due to COVID19 pandemic Hull Ice Hogs 2023 Glasgow Stags B Cambridge Huskies n/a Leeds Gryphons B 2024 Leeds Gryphons B Oxford Vikings B n/a Warwick and Coventry Panthers 2025 Glasgow Stags B Kent Knights n/a Manchester Metros C 2026 Machester Metros C Warwick and Coventry Panthers n/a UEA Avalanche
Non-checking Division 3