Last week the NIHL National Owners Group met to agree the structure and timings for the upcoming 2021/22 season.  Working on the basis that the government plans for bringing restrictions to an end broadly follow the published timetable we’re delighted to share that competitive fixtures will begin with a cup competition on 4th September 2021.

Here’s the full details, subject to final planning and confirmation:

• Cup Competition from 4/5th September to 25/26th September
• League from 2/3rd October to 2/3rd April 2022
• PlayOffs 9/10th to 23/24th April 2022
• Coventry Weekend 30th April 2022

The Cup Competition will be optional and its structure will be finalised once there is an agreed list of participants.  Prior to that, teams are free to organise pre-season fixtures as they wish.

The 10 teams all reconfirmed their commitment to participate in the upcoming season, and we agreed to keep the conference system and allocations in line with the 2019/20 season, as follows:

Teams will play conference opponents 4 times home and away, and teams from the other conference twice home and away for a planned total of 52 games across 27 weekends.… Read the rest

The end of March saw the conclusion of the Spring Cup which was a fantastic online showcase of hockey, great entertainment and a deserved overall victory for the Sheffield Steeldogs.  Congratulations to all involved. The five clubs who participated looked carefully at the options to continue playing into April and May, but have decided that this is not possible. We would like to thank our fans, rink operators, EIHA and Andrew Miller for their support in making the Spring Cup a success. 

Following on from that series, the NIHL Owners Group has been working together and has agreed that we are now planning and preparing to play the 2021/22 season.  This is a great moment as we start to move on from survival mode into taking the steps back towards more normality in our game.

To the owners, it feels like cooperation and communication between us has never been higher, and this has allowed us to make meaningful progress on the key activities not only to bring our game back, but also to look at sustainability and the long term future of our sport

In that focus on sustainability, we have agreed in principle a wage cap which will set the foundations for our long term future whilst building on the exciting on-ice action we saw in our last full season. … Read the rest