The Ice Hockey Varsity Match is a longstanding competition between the

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

and

Oxford University Ice Hockey Club The Oxford University Ice Hockey Club (OUIHC) is home to the Men’s and Women’s Blues ice hockey teams of the University of Oxford, England. The Men's Blues, also known as Oxford University Blues,BUIHA Website Listin"Oxford University Blues" ...

s. Tradition places the origin of the match in 1885, when a game is said to have been played in

St Moritz St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in ...

. This date is recognised by the Hockey Hall of Fame, and prior to the 1985 Varsity Match, the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...

formally recognised the game played a century earlier as having been the first ice hockey match played in Europe. However, there is no contemporary evidence that the 1885 match took place, and Oxford now claim that it was a bandy match. If the 1885 date is accepted, this is the oldest rivalry in ice hockey. The oldest surviving evidence of the competition is a team photo and roster from 1895, for a game played on Blenheim Lake in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, although this was definitely a bandy match. The first match usually counted as an

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 h ...

contest is that of 16 March 1900 at Princes Skating Club, although at Oxford's insistence, it was played using bandy sticks and a

lacrosse ball A lacrosse ball is the solid rubber ball that is used, with a lacrosse stick, to play the sport of lacrosse. It is typically white for men's lacrosse, or yellow for women's Lacrosse; but is also produced in a wide variety of colours. The old NCA ...

. The following year, another Varsity Match was played at Princes, this time with

hockey skate Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates ...

s and a puck. However, a 1902 match at Blenheim Lake was again a bandy match. The competition became established in 1909; the two universities then met each other on a European rink each year until

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. From 1927, the match has been played for the Patton Cup, named for

Peter Patton Major Bethune Minet "Peter" Patton (5 March 1876 – 10 April 1939) was an ice hockey player and administrator. He is credited with bringing ice hockey to Britain and helping to spread the sport to Europe. He was a founding member of the Int ...

, the first President of the

British Ice Hockey Association Ice Hockey UK (IHUK) is the national governing body of ice hockey in the United Kingdom. Affiliated to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), IHUK is the internationally recognised umbrella body in the United Kingdom. IHUK was created ...

. It was then played most years until 1932, when it returned to England, being played at Richmond Ice Rink. The annual matches of the 1930s may no longer have been of professional standard, but they were able to attract crowds up to 10,000 strong.Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club: History
/ref> In 2016, the Patton Cup was replaced by the King Edward VII Cup. Other than a gap during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the matches have continued annually ever since, and from 1996 alternated between

Oxford Ice Rink Oxford Ice Rink is a 56 × 26m ice rink located on Oxpens Road in Oxford, England. It is a ten-minute walk from Oxford city centre and Oxford railway station, railway station. In 1980, money was raised by the Oxford Ice Skating Trust (OXIST) fo ...

and a rink nominated by Cambridge. After a two-decade campaign, championed by Prof. Bill Harris, Cambridge University opened their own rink for the 2019-2020 season and hosted the 2020 Match. Oxford, historically strengthened by Rhodes Scholars have won more than two-thirds of the encounters.

Results

References

{{British ice hockey University ice hockey in the United Kingdom Oxbridge sporting rivalries Ice hockey competitions in England Ice hockey rivalries