Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, is one of the oldest

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 ...

teams in the world. While the team claims a history dating back to 1885, the first strong evidence for their existence comes on 16 March 1900, when they played

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" ...

in the first Ice Hockey Varsity Match, at Princes Skating Club in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, losing 7–6. This match was played, on Oxford's insistence, with bandy sticks and a

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

ball. The Cambridge team was led by J. J. Cawthra, who later played for

. The following day, the two universities joined together to play

Princes Ice Hockey Club Princes Ice Hockey Club were one of the most influential early European ice hockey teams and is sometimes considered the first ice hockey club in Britain. Founded in late 1896, the team was based at Prince's Skating Club in Hammersmith. They ini ...

.Martin C. Harris, ''Homes of British Ice Hockey''. Cambridge played a second varsity match at Princes in 1901, this time winning 6–5. In 1903, they entered the first ice hockey league in Europe, but came last out of the five teams competing. The squad then switched to playing European tours, popularising the sport, and from 1909 to 1913 and 1920 onwards playing an annual varsity match. From 1932, these matches were played in England, and although no longer able to compete with the top professional sides, they were watched by over 10,000 supporters. In 1931, the club joined the English League, but when it finished in 1936 they did not follow most of the teams into 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 World War II or t ...

, instead joining the lower-level London and Provincial League in 1938. In 1948, they played a season in the Southern Intermediate League, and in the 1970s they played two seasons in the Southern League. They then joined the Inter-City League and finally played in the inaugural season of the

British Hockey League The British Hockey League was the top-flight ice hockey league in the United Kingdom from 1980 until 1996 (with a short break between 1981 and 1982), when it was replaced by the Ice Hockey Superleague and the British National League. The league r ...

. Since then, they have contested an annual varsity match and compete in Division One of the

British Universities Ice Hockey Association The British Universities Ice Hockey Association was founded in spring term 2003 by a group of hockey players from the universities of Oxford, London, Nottingham and Newcastle. History of the BUIHA The British Universities Ice Hockey Associat ...

. Until 2019, when the Cambridge Ice Arena was completed, the team had to travel to Planet Ice Peterborough to train. This new full-size rink is the team's first permanent home, located adjacent to the Newmarket Road Park & Ride site.

References

External links

Official website
{{British ice hockey University ice hockey teams in England Ice hockey clubs established in 1885 Ice Hockey Club 1885 establishments in England