The British ice hockey league champions are the winners of the regular season of the highest ice hockey league in the United Kingdom, currently the

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 ...

. Previously, the highest league has been the British National League (1954–60), the

Premier Division Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of gov ...

(1983–96) and the

Ice Hockey Superleague The British Ice Hockey Superleague (BISL, also known as the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague from 1998 to 1999 for sponsorship reasons) was a professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2003. Devised in 1995, it replaced ...

(1996–2003). While the regular season winners are recognised as the British League champions, the British champions are regarded as the winners of the end-of-season playoffs, for which the league provides qualification and seeding.

History

Prior to the formation of the British National League, England and Scotland each had their own competitions. The

English League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Englan ...

was founded in 1931 with the Scottish National League being formed a year later. The majority of English League clubs left to form the

English National League The English National League was an early ice hockey league in England. It was founded in 1935 by most of the teams who had previously competed in the English League. It was suspended during the Second World War, but returned in 1946. In 1954 t ...

in 1935, leading the disbandment of the English League at the end of the 1935–36 season. The Scottish National League and English National League both continued until 1954. In that year the decision was taken to amalgamate the two leagues into one. The new competition initially fielded 12 sides in its inaugural season, four from England and eight from Scotland. The Dunfermline Vikings withdrew from the league in early 1955 and at the end of the season six of the seven remaining Scottish sides withdrew, leaving the league with five members. This fell to four following the closure of Harringay Arena in 1958 but increased again to five in 1959 following the admission of

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

. The league was disbanded following the 1959–60 season. Following the closure of the British National League, no league competition took place in the United Kingdom for the next six years. Instead clubs, some of which did not have a home rink, participated in rink tournaments. In 1966 the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

was formed. This league was made up of teams from Scotland and

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

and was the country's only league for four years. The Southern League was established in 1970 and was divided into the English League North and

Inter-City League The Inter-City League, also known as the English League South during 1981-82 season, was top-flight ice hockey league in southern England from 1978. Its clubs were previously members of the Southern League. A proposal by the Southern IHA to create ...

in 1978. The British Hockey League was formed in 1982 with the Premier Division being launched a season later. There has been a British league continuously since then, although there have been three different organisations and the number of teams taking part has varied from twelve in 1993–94, 1994–95 and 2017–18 to five in 2002–03. The current

was established in 2003. There has been a British league competition for 42 seasons and 16 teams have won the league championship. The most successful club is the Sheffield Steelers, who have won the championship on nine occasions, followed by the

Cardiff Devils The Cardiff Devils are a Welsh ice hockey team who play in the British Elite Ice Hockey League. The team play at Ice Arena Wales in Cardiff Bay. Cardiff are the reigning EIHL play-off champions, winning their third title in a row after beating ...

(6), the Belfast Giants and now-defunct

Durham Wasps The Durham Wasps were an ice hockey team located in Durham and was one of England's most well-known names in ice hockey. The team was bought by Sir John Hall and moved to the neighbouring city of Newcastle Upon Tyne in August 1996. The Newcas ...

(5 each) and the Coventry Blaze (4). The Nottingham Panthers, the only club to have played in all 42 seasons, have won the title twice (additionally Nottingham were English champions twice before the British National League was formed). The Durham Wasps,

Murrayfield Racers The Murrayfield Racers were an ice hockey team based in Edinburgh, Scotland who were founded in 1952 as the Murrayfield Royals before changing their name to the Murrayfield Racers in 1966. The team won the British Championship four times in ...

, Cardiff Devils, Sheffield Steelers and Coventry Blaze are the only sides to have successfully defended a title.

Champions

1954–60: British National League

1982–96: Premier Division

1996–2003: Ice Hockey Superleague

2003–present: Elite Ice Hockey League

Total titles won

Teams in bold are current Elite Ice Hockey League members. Teams in ''italics'' are teams which play outside of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The remaining teams are defunct, although Dundee, Edinburgh (home of the Murrayfield Racers) and Manchester still have their own ice hockey teams.

Total titles won by Home Nation

Each of the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom have had at least one team who have been British champions. Teams from England have been league champions on 24 occasions,

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

sides five times, while

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

side Cardiff Devils and the Northern Ireland based Belfast Giants are the only sides from their parts of the United Kingdom to win the league.

Notes

References

{{English and British National Champions Ice hockey in the United Kingdom Ice Hockey Superleague Elite Ice Hockey League