Team GBR Ice Hockey prepare to increase the heat in Ice City

Posted by Administrator on Mon 17th November, 2008

BUIHA, GBU and TASS are three acronyms that did not exist a decade ago but are now supporting the emerging hotbed of ice hockey success.

Since 2003, The British Universities Ice Hockey Association (BUIHA) has organised its Cup Competition and annual National Championships for its 600 student members and has recently parted from the English Ice Hockey Association (EIHA) Recreation Section to create the unique EIHA Universities Section. This is a bold move for the BUIHA, who will continue to organise the three Divisions of its Cup Competition and three Tiers of its National Championships. The BUIHA are also working towards attaining BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) status for the sport. BUCS is the national organisation for university sport in the UK and affiliation will enable university ice hockey clubs to earn points for their academic institutions, encourage funding and recognition and hopefully represent their university, the BUIHA and BUCS at the newly created annual European Universities Sports Association (EUSA) Ice Hockey Cup.

Internationally, Team GBR will be represented at the forthcoming World University Games (WUGs) by British higher education students, aged between 17 - 28, as part of Ice Hockey UK’s GB Universities Ice Hockey Teams. WUGs, or the Winter Universiade, is organised by The International University Sports Federation (FISU) and is globally renowned as being second only to the Winter Olympic Games. The 24th WUGs will be held in Harbin, People’s Republic of China, from 18 - 28 February 2009.

“The main ideology of creating this team was to participate in WUGs”, explains Men’s ice hockey team manager, Simon Hopkins, of the University of Nottingham. “I think we surprised a lot of people both in the UK and internationally by actually participating in the event, which was last held in Torino in 2007. We had a great deal to prove on and off the ice, and whilst the players made every effort, we were somewhat out-played as opposed to ill-prepared. I was very aware of the standards and calibre of our competitors. We learnt just before the event in Torino that two of the Czech team had NHL experience with the Boston Bruins and the Finnish goalie played for Jokerit in the Elite SM-Liiga.”

WUGs in Harbin will be another testing time for Team GBR. The inclusion of the newly created GBU Women’s ice hockey team will make Team GBR one of the biggest delegations in Harbin where both teams will face hosts China, and Team Canada. “This alone is one for the history books”, Hopkins explains. “GB hasn’t played a competitive ice hockey match against Canada at any age group in an international tournament for many years. Furthermore, playing China in Harbin will also be an awesome experience for both teams and I anticipate both games will achieve capacity crowds.”

Both teams are stepping-up their preparations for WUGs with training camps held at Ice Sheffield and the National Ice Centre, Nottingham. In addition, the men’s team have recently returned from a training camp at the Vierumaki Sports Institute in Finland, where the players worked through comprehensive strength and conditioning programmes alongside extensive ice practice, thus enabling the coaches, Matt Bradbury and Mike Urquhart, to select the very best athletes to represent Team GBR in Harbin.

“We announced the Harbin Team at a recent training camp,” said Head Coach, Matt Bradbury. “The dynamics of the selected team is unrecognisable from Torino. Back then we even had a problem persuading players that WUGs was a high calibre event. The Torino team had a few players with Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) experience and a few with English Premier Ice Hockey League (EPIHL) experience. The remainder were English National Ice Hockey League (ENIHL) and BUIHA club players. This time around we have a wealth of EIHL players, EPIHL players and top-end ENIHL players. We are also pleased to announce confirmation that netminders Stephen Fone (Coventry Blaze) and Geoff Woolhouse (Nottingham Panthers) are being released from their clubs to represent Team GBR”.

In what is arguably one of the most important recent developments in GB ice hockey, the Team GBR management have been instrumental in attaining 31 (16 Men’s and 15 Women’s) Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) awards, a government initiative created to support talented athletes during education in England. TASS provides awards to the value of £3,500 through funding support such as coaching, strength and conditioning training, medical insurance, physiotherapy and mentoring. Matt Bradbury, TASS Coordinator for Ice Hockey UK, explains, “This is an excellent opportunity for us to nurture talented players and provide them with the support needed to assist them in realising their dreams of becoming British ice sports athletes. We demand one hundred per cent commitment from the athletes and value the support given to them by their academic institutions and respective clubs”.

Universities ice hockey has come along way since its creation in 2004. By fostering programmes such as TASS, the quality and quantity of GB ice hockey players is better than ever. This has enabled Team GBR to be a springboard for talent that promises to provide a recognised route into the GB U20 and Senior Teams, despite the political and financial minefield that can often plague top-level sporting initiatives. The growth of popularity of Men’s and Women’s ice hockey in Great Britain reflect the aspirations of the Team GBR, who will hopefully have a chance to prove themselves as an undeniable force in Harbin. As Hopkins concludes, “We can’t wait.”

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Men - Pool A: Canada, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, China and Great Britain & NI;

Men - Pool B: Russia, Slovakia, USA, Japan and Korea;

Women - Canada, Finland, China, Japan, Slovakia and GBR & NI

For further information regarding the World University Games visit: www.Harbin2009.org , www.bucs.org.uk or contact the Men’s Team Manager: Simon.Hopkins@nottingham.ac.uk

Team GBR – Harbin 2009:

Coaches:

Matt Bradbury – Head Coach (National Ice Centre, Nottingham)

Mike Urquhart – Assistant Coach (National Ice Centre, Nottingham)

Drew Marshall – Fitness Coach / Equipment Manager (University of Nottingham)

Netminders:

Stephen Fone (Coventry Blaze – EIHL / Coventry University) TASS Athlete

Geoff Woolhouse (Nottingham Panthers – EIHL / Nottingham Trent University - Alumni)

Defence:

Colm Cannon (Liege Bulldogs – Belgium / Nottingham Trent University - Alumni)

Lee Haywood (Sheffield Scimitars – EPIHL / Nottingham Trent University) TASS Athlete

Marcus Maynard (Nottingham Lions – ENIHL / South Notts College) TASS Athlete

Tom Norton (Nottingham Panthers – EIHL / South Notts College) TASS Athlete

Mark Paterson (Edinburgh Capitals – EIHL / Edinburgh University)

Forwards:

Oliver Barron (Sheffield Scimitars – EPIHL / Sheffield Hallam University)

Stewart Bliss (Nottingham Lions – ENIHL / University of Nottingham - Alumni)

Stuart Brittle (Sheffield Scimitars – EPIHL / University of Sheffield) TASS Athlete

Marc Fowley (Paisley Pirates – SPIHL / Stirling University)

Lloyd Gibson (Sheffield Scimitars – EPIHL / Sheffield Hallam University) TASS Athlete

Robert Lachowicz (Nottingham Panthers – EIHL / Nottingham Trent University) TASS Athlete

Nick Manning (Sheffield Scimitars – ENIHL / Sheffield Hallam University) TASS Athlete

Daniel Marashi (Bracknell Bees – ENIHL / Kingston University) TASS Athlete

Joe Millard (Sheffield Scimitars – ENIHL / Open University) TASS Athlete

Luke Piggott (Cardiff Devils – ENIHL / Cardiff University) TASS Athlete

Jamie Tinsley (Newcastle Vipers – EIHL / Newcastle College) TASS Athlete

Mark Turner (Sheffield Scimitars – ENIHL / Hull University) TASS Athlete

Chris Wilson (Paisley Pirates – SPIHL / Glasgow University)

Team Manager:

Simon Hopkins (University of Nottingham – Dept of Physical Recreation & Sport)