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British Home Championship
The British Home Championship
* sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp
* gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta
* cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...
for the
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
competition.'' -
The British Championship is the most prestigious
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
cup competition
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, and also the longest established ice hockey competition.
The competition is effectively the post-season playoffs of the first-tier league in the country to determine the British champions for the season. They are therefore held after the regular season, whereby the positions in the league ladder determine entry and seeding. The first placed team in the league is considered to have won the national league title as a separate title, but the British champion for the season is historically considered to be the winner of the post-season playoffs.
In its current format, the eight highest placed teams in the first-tier
Elite Ice Hockey League
The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...
contest
quarter final
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
s, the winners going on to
semi final
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
s and then the deciding one-leg final.
Early Years
There were three instances of an early championship; the first was in the
1929-30 British Ice Hockey season which was the inaugural season of organised league ice hockey in Britain. The championship was won by
London Lions when known as the Patton Cup. The second edition the following season was abandoned after Manchester and Glasgow couldn't agree on dates for their semi-final tie. The winner was to have met the English Club champions
London Lions in the final. The third instance took place during the
1959–60 British National League season.
Modern edition
From 1966 it became an annual event when known as the ''Icy Smith Cup''
and then after 1982 it had several sponsors and names including the ''Heineken Championship Cup'' and latterly as the ''Sekonda Playoff Championship Cup''. Some contests were only recognised as representing the Championship retroactively. At present, the Championship is called the ''Twinings Tea Cup''.
Champions
References
{{British Ice Hockey seasons
Ice hockey competitions in the United Kingdom
Ice hockey tournaments in Europe
National championships in the United Kingdom