Category Archives: Hockey Germany

GB to host Olympic Qualifiers in Cardiff

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Great Britain will host the third round of qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cardiff. The event will run from 8-11 February 2024.

“The decision to organise Olympic Qualifiers was taken after our fixtures meeting by the IIHF and IOC. Ice Hockey UK kept us informed of developments, and we will, of course, be releasing players called into the national team for the entire week of competition,” explained EIHL Chairman Tony Smith.

“The league’s ten teams agreed, however, that they will need to play through as planned on these dates. Players called into the national team will be unavailable for EIHL games during that week.”

Great Britain will come up against Romania, China and a qualifier from the previous round. The group winners will progress to Final Qualifying in August 2024 for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

It’s the second time in four years that the UK has held this stage of the Olympic Qualifiers, with Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena hosting the tournament in February 2020.

Ice Hockey UK CEO, Henry Staelens, said: “It’s going to be a special event and great to be taking GB Men’s competitive hockey to Cardiff, who have been really good to work with during our conversations with them.

“I’m sure the fans will pack the place out and create a brilliant atmosphere as we aim to progress to the next round.”

Cardiff Devils MD, Todd Kelman, said: “We are pleased to be able to host such a prestigious event.

“We look forward to working with Ice Hockey UK to bring this tournament to Vindico Arena and hopefully have plenty of fans cheering on GB.”

Photo: James Assinder

Giants learn CHL opponents

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Belfast Giants have learned their opponents for next season’s Champions Hockey League following the draw in Tampere on Wednesday afternoon.

Under the new format, the Giants will play three teams at home, and a different three on the road. They’ll face Red Bull Salzburg (ICEHL/Austria), HC Bolzano (ICEHL/Italy) and Dynamo Pardubice (Czechia) at the SSE Arena; while visiting Lukko Rauma (Finland), Innsbruck (ICEHL/Austria) and defending champions Tappara Tampere (Finland) as part of the group stage campaign.

Among an overall ranking of all 24 teams through the opening phase, the top 16 will advance to the next round.

Photo: William Cherry

Devils to take part in IIHF Continental Cup

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Cardiff Devils will represent the Elite Ice Hockey League in the 2024 IIHF Continental Cup.

The Devils will enter the tournament in the third round, which takes place in November 2023. The final takes place in January 2024.

Managing Director Todd Kelman spoke about the tournament: “We loved taking part in the Continental Cup last season and we are looking forward to being in it again. We finished third in 2023, we think we can do even better in 2024.

“We know our fans that travelled last season to Angers had an incredible experience as did the players and staff. We want that experience again.”

Photo: Ducs D’Angers

Guildford opt out of Continental Cup place

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Guildford Flames have opted not to enter the 2024 IIHF Continental Cup, a position open to them after finishing second in the Elite League last season.

“We know this is perhaps one of the most difficult news items we have ever had to p

ass on to our supporters,” admitted Chief Operating Officer Kirk Humphreys. “As a group, we looked at it from every aspect including the honour and prestige that goes with the competition, but there were too many real issues that make this the best decision for this club, at least at this time for where we stand within the Elite League.

“Among several issues, crucially, we are unable to host any portion of the Continental Cup like other Elite teams have done because it would need virtual monopoly of Spectrum for a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday stretch which is not available to us. That means we cannot play any home games and would likely play 6 games over a pair of 3 game in 3 night stretches, all with long distance Euro travel. This is not a competition that starts before the season, but for our anticipated entry time would be in November and January as part of the already congested 70ish game schedule. The competition would also force us to miss a couple of extra weekends of home league action and shift too many games, home and away, to what is already usually a busy mid week obligation.

“This club aspires to winning Elite League, Cup and Playoff titles, none of which we have collected yet. We are hoping we might be in a window now where that might be possible. If we already had a load of silver in bank from previous recent seasons the decision factors are possibly a bit different, but for the moment we have to keep an eye trained on domestic success. Joining a 4th competition on long road trips with no home games and the resulting fixture mash up inevitably impacts the rest of our schedule and makes it harder for us to achieve domestic objectives.”

“We are fully aware of how disappointing this is for many of our supporters. It is also disappointing to us as a club, but we believe it is in the best interests of where we want to be in Elite League. There are no guarantees about when we are next challenging for a particular trophy, and this won’t change that reality, but it does allow is to put all our resources where they need to be at this time and hopefully we can put together an exciting new season ahead.”

Photo: John Uwins

GB promoted after unbeaten tournament!

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Great Britain secured an immediate return to the top flight of world ice hockey with a 5-3 victory over Italy at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham on Friday evening, completing an unbeaten record at the 2023 division 1A championships.

Italy had to beat GB in regulation to secure promotion after Poland booked their place in the top two earlier in the day. The host nation got off to the perfect start when Mike Hammond perfectly found Brett Perlini at the far post for a tap-in to put GB ahead on the powerplay at 5:40. Italy levelled with a Thomas Larkin shot that deflected off Jonathan Phillips’ stick and past Ben Bowns at 11:21 on a delayed penalty.

59 seconds into period two, Cade Neilson fired past Justin Fazio to put GB back ahead, but Alex Petan’s finish on the fall that crept through Bowns tied things up again at 24:34. Ollie Betteridge’s excellent effort to keep the puck alive in the attacking zone set up Mike Hammond for a neat finish at 28:43 for a 3-2 GB lead, but a wonderful passing play from Faniel Mantenuto and Luca Frigo set up Daniel Glira for the equaliser at 34:29.

Another Hammond to Perlini put GB back ahead on a delayed penalty with 4:03 left in period two.

Period three was noticeably more tense and tight than the two that had gone before it, but Italy needed two goals for promotion and time was ticking away. After the final power break of the period, Italy pulled Fazio but a defensive zone turnover allowed Liam Kirk to set up Neilson for the empty net goal which sealed the win and promotion with 2:10 to play.

Captain Jonathan Phillips was honoured in the post-game ceremonies for his final appearance for Great Britain.

Photo: Dean Woolley

Friday: GB a point from promotion

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Great Britain will be promoted straight back to the top level of world ice hockey if they can pick up at least a point in Friday’s showdown game with Italy at the Motorpoint Arena.

With four wins from as many games played so far, Pete Russell’s team go into the final day on top of IIHF World Championships Division 1A. Games earlier in the day could have an effect on what needs to happen in the final game, but a point will guarantee GB a place in the Elite Group in 2024. Poland could secure promotion earlier in the day, while Italy will need a regulation win to advance as things currently stand.

The game is live on Viaplay Xtra with faceoff at 7.30pm.

Photo: Dean Woolley