The IHSC has had a frustrating winter with many teams dropping out due to rebuilding or financial reasons.

One of the new teams to join the league this year are the Tyneside Jesters. We had a chat with Chris Knott to find out a little more about the team.

” Tyneside Jesters, founded in 2010 for players who were on the fringe of getting regular ice time from the other Whitley Bay based teams. The team initially formed through mostly ex University players, a high percentage of the team has played BUIHA level, with the rest being homegrown players from the bay. Entering only their first tournament in 2019 and their first Cup now in 2020, Jesters look forward to every game and opponent in the IHSC”.

Welcome to the IHSC guys!

As the regular season draws to a close on this years tournament, we would like to say a massive congratulations to the Grimsby Stormers as they win the East conference with a game to spare!

The play off picture is looks like this – Grimsby have home advantage in their quarter final and look likely to play Don Valley or Kingston. The Sheffield Ice Tigers need a miner miracle to qualify and are playing for ‘nowt but pride’ as they say in Yorkshire.

The league has three teams chasing down the title, Grimsby, Flintshire and Wyre are all in the running for the top prize! What a season this has been! Good luck to all still chasing silverware!

The Seagulls begin their defence of the Howies UK ice hockey summer classic this Sunday against rink rivals the Blackburn Buccaneers.

Wyre go into this game undefeated in cup games since the opening game of last seasons competition and will be looking to continue that run this weekend against the Buccaneers. With both teams being based at Blackburn, the teams know each other well and the seagulls will be taking nothing for granted against the buccs, who are former playoff finalists in this competition.

It’s sure to be a great game so if you’re in the area come down and cheer on the guys. Face off is 6pm at Blackburn

It is with great pleasure that the Howies UK Ice Hockey Summer Classic can reveal this years play off champions hats!! Another touch added to this years tournament and supplied by one of our tournament sponsors, Jersey53!

The playoff finals weekend will be held over the weekend of the 10th and 11th of August at Ice Sheffield and will feature the top 4 sides who qualify from the conference quarter finals!

The Semi finals will be held on the Saturday, with the 3rd vs. 4th playoff and grand final on the Sunday! Entry is free so come down and see the best of what UK rec hockey has to offer!

The Howies UK Ice Hockey Summer Classic are excited to welcome Jersey53 onboard as a sponsor this season.

Jersey53 was set up in 2004 and since then we have managed to become one of the biggest world producers of sports clothing using a technology of sublimation fabric printing. 
To ensure the highest possible quality and usability of our products we follow current trends and innovations in the field, cooperate with leading sports teams as well as individuals and we work with textile specialists.

Although the initial focus of the Elsa´s Sports company, who produces Jersey53 clothing, was ice hockey. The Elsa´s Sports company, who produces Jersey53 clothing, initially focused on ice hockey area and hockey players are still our most frequent customers. Nevertheless, we have gradually widened our scope of activity and started to supply floorball, ice hockey, baseball, volleyball, cycling and other teams in the Czech Republic as well as abroad.

The Jersey53 trademark is directly represented in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Holland, France, Italy, USA, Canada and Japan.

Jersey53 will be supplying the Playoff Champions hats to the winning team this year! Great to have you with us Jersey53.

This year we’ve really ramped things up from the humble beginning this tournament had to now the biggest and best in it’s history from a conference style set up to 3 sponsors on board.

To kick things off let’s start with the big one and it is a BIG, one mainly because it’s in our name now!

Howies Hockey UK

For anyone who’s played hockey for any length of time and/or has ventured across the pond has definitely heard of Howies Hockey, they’re a household brand for our North American brothers and sisters.

When we heard wind that they were branching out to the UK well we had to pop a message and see what we could do together and thus is how this partnership was formed.

Now for all players/coaches/managers/waterboys of the teams competing this year, as part of the deal you can get 10% off everything on the Howies hockey website by using the voucher code “SummerCup10” – link at the bottom of this post.

Also for this years best Goalie, Forward and Defender as voted by everyone who’s playing will win a very special Howies Hockey bundle with every accessory you could ever need. From the highest quality stick tape on the market, to the wax to make it all smell good, skate stones to keep those blades sharp, helmet repair kit to keep that old lid in one piece, water bottle to keep you hydrated, visor spray so you can see, waxed laces to keep them boots tight, the infamous tape tin and an awesome little bag to keep the lot in all worth circa £80 each total!!!

So go give their page a like, check out their website and get ordering I can guarantee having Howies Tape will give you a better chance of winning this years cup!

Website: https://howieshockeytape.uk

#ThereAreNoGuaranteesInLife
#2ndBestTournieToTheStanleyCup
#BecauseTogetherWeCanDoGreatHockey
#TheHowiesHockeyUKIceHockeySummerClassic

The Howies UK Ice Hockey Summer Classic are pleased to announce a partnership with Hockeyjam.co.uk for this years tournament!! Hockey Jam are offering a 20% discount to all players taking part in this years tournament – just use the code IHSC2019 online or in store.

A spokes person for Hockey Jam said ” Hockey Jam is proud to be part of this tournament. We have seen the tournament grow over the years and felt we needed to play a part by making hockey equipment cheaper for players of all levels”. Welcome to the Tournament Hockey Jam, we are proud to have you on board.

Wildcats went into the game full of confidence, icing 3 full lines against a short-benched Stormers squad who travelled with only 9 skaters.

Confidence was, however, short lived though as Grimsby #72, Andrew Portess, danced through the home side’s defence to score after only 2 minutes.

Wildcats pulled a goal back at 07:15 with a scramble around the crease seeing the puck just edge over the line (credited to #18 Pearson) but for next 2 periods the home side struggled to contain Stormers’ better positioning and long passing game.

Grimsby #17, Lewis Fenwick, proved a constant threat with his quick pace and hands, adding a break away goal at 13:00 followed quickly by another from Portess at 14:36.

This took the score to 1-3 going into the second period. While play continued ‘end to end’ Wildcats increased possession fast the period progressed and #22, player / coach Phil Gosling, pulled a well deserved goal back at 31:59 following a hard shot from the blue line.

Ashley Hame then scored against the run of play at 33:02 to restore the visitor’s 2 goal lead.

Stormers short-bench began to show in the final period and Wildcats piled on the pressure, pulling a goal back at 52:37 – a nice tip in from Pearson assisted by #42 Michael Hoult.

With the clock winding down Wildcats did everything they could to tie the game, including pulling the netminder for the last couple of minutes, but were unable to find a way through Stormers defence. Final score 3-4 and overall a great competitive game played in the right spirit.

MOM awards went to 2 veteran defencemen – Karl Robinson for Wildcats and John Yorston for Stormers, who apart from a 2 minute spell in the penalty box never left the ice for the full 60 minutes.

This seasons Ice Hockey Summer Classic Tournament gets underway today as new comers Whitley Wildcats welcome former champions Grimsby Stormers to the bay.

This season is the 4th annual tournament and has seen it expand from 5 teams to 10 split between 2 conferences. This expansion shows how strong the game of hockey is at a recreational level up and down the country, and a desire to play tournament hockey rather than challenge games. League organiser, Jimi Drinkall, commented how proud he is of this tournament set up to give more teams the chance to win silverware and have the chance to play a playoff finals weekend.

Good luck to all teams involved this year!