The London Lions were an independent professional

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 ...

team in

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

, that played 72 games during the 1973–74 season against the top European hockey teams. It was started by

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

owner Bruce Norris with a vision of building a league to be affiliated with the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). The vice-chairman of the team was John Ziegler, who went on to become president of the NHL in 1977. The Lions played their home games at

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...

and had a record of 52 wins, 13 losses and 7 ties. They toured Europe to promote a proposed European professional ice hockey league, originally scheduled to start for the 1974–75 season. The original plan for this new league was to have the top teams participate in the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

playoffs against the traditional North American NHL teams. The league did not gain support and never started play. The team was named for an earlier London Lions, which was founded in 1924 by

Blane Sexton Blaine Nathaniel Sexton (3 May 1891 – 29 April 1966) was a British ice hockey player who competed in the 1924 Winter Olympics and in the 1928 Winter Olympics. In 1916 he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and fought in the trenches ...

, played at Westminster from 1927, then at Golders Green and the

Hammersmith Palais The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first ''palais de danse'' to b ...

until 1934, when they moved to

as the

Wembley Lions The Wembley Lions were an English ice hockey team. History The team were founded in 1934 but showed a continuity with the London Lions team which had played at various venues since 1924. The Wembley team were based at the newly built Empire ...

. In 1930, they won the first ever British Championship.

References

International Ice Hockey Federation mention of London Lions

{{Detroit Red Wings Defunct ice hockey teams in the United Kingdom Ice hockey clubs established in 1973 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 1974 Ice hockey teams in London 1973–74 in European ice hockey History of the Detroit Red Wings 1973 establishments in England 1974 disestablishments in England Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena