English Ice Hockey Association Press Release

National League North agree their league structure for 17/18 season

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Following the NIHL North section meeting on Sunday 14 May, the EIHA is pleased to announce that the format for 17/18 season has been agreed.

The applications from Hull Pirates, Sheffield Steeldogs and Telford were accepted and they take their place in NIHL North Division 1 next season.

Sutton Sting have requested that they be relegated to Division 2, this was accepted by the three hour long meeting. Nottingham Lions have been promoted to Division 1 for 17/18 season.

In total there will be 10 teams in Division 1, playing each other twice home and twice away for a 36 game league season.

NIHL North 1 (Moralee)
Billingham Stars
Blackburn Hawks
Deeside Dragons
Hull Pirates
Nottingham Lions
Sheffield Steeldogs
Solihull Barons
Solway Sharks
Telford
Whitley Warriors

Discussions around an NIHL North 1 Cup will continue outside the meeting.

NIHL North Division 2 will also have ten teams after applications from Blackburn and Deeside were accepted. These will also play each other twice home and twice away for a 36 game league season.

NIHL North 2 (Laidler)
Altrincham Aces
Blackburn 2
Bradford Bulldogs
Coventry Blaze
Deeside 2
Hull Jets
Sheffield Senators
Sutton Sting
Telford 2
Widnes Wild

The meeting also agreed that all NIHL North games ending in a draw after 60 minutes will go to five minutes of 3 on 3 overtime and penalty shots if required. Teams will be able to ice one non EIHA trained player during overtime.

The NIHL season will begin on weekend of 2/3 September and is scheduled to end 7/8 April.

The format of NIHL playoffs for North and South has been agreed and details will be released on Tuesday.

NIHL North chair Charles Dacres said: “We are delighted to have reached agreement on our structure for next season.

“We welcome our new members from Hull, Sheffield and Telford and I feel that there are two strong divisions for our clubs to play in.

“I’m disappointed to lose Sutton from Division 1 but happy to be able to promote Nottingham Lions to maintain a ten team league.”


Speaking after today’s meeting, Barons co-chair Andy Gordon was very happy with the outcome. “It was a very productive meeting and the teams involved worked hard to ensure we got to a workable solution which would be good for the individual clubs involved and the wider health of National League hockey in the North.”

“From a Barons perspective we are already looking forward to what looks like a really exciting 2017-18 season as we welcome some new sides to Hobs Moat in what will be a minimum 18 game home fixture list. We are also excited to renew old rivalries with the likes of Deeside and Whitley while the return of the Nottingham Lions to Solihull will see another fan favourite Derby return to the fixture list”.

“The introduction of 3-on-3 overtime and penalty shots in place of draws adds another extra dimension which we hope the supporters will enjoy while the playoff arrangements, due to be announced soon, should give an added buzz to the end of the season.”

“From a practical point of view, it is very good as a team to have the league situation confirmed early as it allows us to start preparing properly our on and off-ice product for the new season. We will be releasing details of season tickets soon and ask fans to stay tuned for signing news and an exciting pre-season event they can get involved in.”