Whitley Warriors are 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 ...

team based in

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around e ...

in the north east of

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 ...

. Founded in 1957 as the Bees, they changed their name to Whitley Warriors in 1964. Warriors played at the highest level of British ice hockey for much of their history but currently play in the third tier,

National Ice Hockey League The National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) is a set of professional ice hockey leagues administered by the English Ice Hockey Association. It is currently the second tier of British ice hockey, below the Elite Ice Hockey League. Formerly called th ...

North Division 1. Their home arena is Whitley Bay Ice Rink.

Club roster 2022-23

(*) Denotes a Non-British Trained player (Import)

2021/22 Outgoing

Honours

British Championship: Winners – 1972/73, 1973/74 English National League Championship: Winners – 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2001/02, 2007/08 English National League: Runners-up – 1997/98 Northern League: Winners – 1973/74, 1974/75 Runners-up – 1976/77, 1977/78, 2006/07, 2010/11 Northern League Play-offs: Winners: 2006/07 Runners-up – 1967/68, 1976/77 English National League North: Winners – 2001/02, 2009/10, 2010/11 Runners-up – 1997/98, 1999/00, 2000/01, 2006/07, 2007/08 English Cup: Winners – 2001/02 Runners-up – 2000/01 Anglo Scottish Cup: Winners – 2000/01 Scottish Cup: Winners – 1991/92, Runners-up – 1992/93 Heineken British Premier League: Runners-up – 1987/88 Benson & Hedges Cup: Runners-up – 1992/93 Autumn Cup: Winners – 1971/72 Runners-up – 1972/73, 1974/75, 1976/77 BIHA Cup: Winners – 1957/58, 1958/59 (as Whitley Bees) NIHL North Cup: Runners-up – 2019/20 Runners-up – 2021/22 NIHL North Division 1 Moralee: Winners - 2019/20 Runners-up – 2021/22 Ice Hockey Journalists UK Hall of Fame: Terry Matthews (1987), Alfie Miller (1988), J.J. 'Icy' Smith (1988), Hilton Ruggles (2009), David Longstaff (2022)

Junior teams

The Warriors have numerous junior teams, with most bearing names that are considered derogatory and racist, especially when used contemporarily by non-indigenous people. The teams are: * Under 9 - Mischiefs * Under 11 - Arrows * Under 13 - Mohawks * Under 15 - Tomahawks * Under 18 - Braves * Under 20 - Renegades * Ladies - Beacons

Imports

* 1969-70 Dave Marsden * 1975–1976 Don McAdams * 1977–1978 Jan Pettersson & Harri Semi. * 1978–1979 Brian Labatte * 1979–1980 Lars Opsahl * 1980–1981 Lars Opsahl * 1981–1982 Buzz Brown * 1982–1983 Tim Whitehead * 1983–1984 Ron Butler, Al Kent & Kel Land * 1984–1985 Pete Fitzpatrick, Hugh Alcorn & Roy Wallace * 1985–1986 Peter Dunkley, Brian Mason, Steve Attwell & Bill Audycki * 1986–1987 Jim Earle, Tom Earle & Bruce Stanley * 1987–1988 Scott Morrison, Luc Chabot &

Mike Babcock Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

* 1988–1989 Scott Morrison, Hilton Ruggles &

Mike Rowe Michael Gregory Rowe (born March 18, 1962) is an American television host and narrator. He is known for his work on the Discovery Channel series '' Dirty Jobs'' and the series '' Somebody's Gotta Do It'' originally developed for CNN. He hosted ...

* 1989–1990 Hilton Ruggles, Marc Damphousse, Claude Lefebvre, Wayne Crawford, Chris Duperron, Marco Ronkko, Mike Vellucci & James Gasseau * 1990–1991 Hilton Ruggles, Claude Dumas, Brad Hyatt,

Daryl Evans Daryl Thomas Evans (born January 12, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League with the Los Angeles Kings, Washington Capitals, and Toronto Maple Leafs between 1982 and 1987. The rest of hi ...

, Steve Chartrand & Blaine Peerless * 1991–1992 Hilton Ruggles, Claude Dumas,

, Rob Abel & Bobby Brown * 1992–1993 Claude Dumas, Scott Morrison, Mike Rowe, Mike Mowbray & Steve Brown * 1993–1994 Scott Morrison, Steve Brown, Tyler Larter, Mike Rowe, Eric LeGros * 1994–1995 Steve Brown, Dean Richards, Brian Verbeek, Mike Rowe, Martin St. Amour * 1995–1996 (as Newcastle Warriors) Steve Brown, Chris Norton, Richard Laplante, Jason Smart, Dean Richards, Scott Morrison, Rick Fera, Scott Campbell, Lars Thunnell, Niklas Gullikson, Risto Halenius, Tim Salmon * 1996–1997

Matthew Beveridge Matthew Beveridge (born March 18, 1975) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player. Beveridge also used to coach for Lucas Miller's Hi-Performance Hockey in Brampton, Ontario. Beveridge was born in Toronto, Ontario. Although drafted in ...

, Stefan Simoes, Mark Stokes, Matt McGuffin, Grant Morrow * 1997–1998 Timo Loucasvuori, Kimmo Saarinen, Seppo Rajpar, Sami Rajpar * 1998–1999 Trond Gundersen * 1999–2000 Trond Gundersen * 2000–2001 Fredrik Jonsson, Lauri Oksanen * 2005–2006 Hakan Andersson * 2008–2009 Peter Tomek * 2015–2016 Andre Payette * 2016–2017 Andre Payette * 2017–2018 Philip Edgar * 2018–2019 Rolands Gritāns, Philip Edgar * 2019–2020 Rolands Gritāns, Philip Edgar *2021-2022 Rolands Gritāns, Rihards Grigors, Matěj Valíček

Retired jerseys

Alfie Miller (#10) is the only jersey that has been retired for the Warriors.

Logo

Despite the Warriors' logo depicting a Native American (the logo and colours being "inspired" by the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

) and the associated controversy which resulted in the Redskins removing their logo on the grounds that it was considered racist, there has been no similar discussion around the Warriors'. Teams like Frölunda Indians HC and

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

which have similar logos have come under significant pressure to change their logos on similar grounds. Frolunda announced that they would no longer be called the Indians and would be changing their logo.

References

External links

Official Website
{{British ice hockey Ice hockey teams in England Sport in Tyne and Wear Whitley Bay