Is it any good?

I really enjoy watching North American matches on TV - and i quite fancy watching some over here

Anyone been?

Go. The standard will be a lot lower than the NHL, but it's a great experience, and much much more enjoyable live than on TV. (Plus you can actually see where the puck is)

I should say, I haven't been to any games in Britain, but I watch it fairly frequently in Romania (where the standard is a I believe slightly lower than Britain)

What ad hoc said. It's a great sport to watch in person at any level.

And the NHL will be back in London for another early season match before too long.

I would also highly recommend the Swiss League for unparalleled atmosphere (even if the standard of play in Russia, Finland, Sweden and maybe the Czech Republic is higher).

i am reasonably close to Sheffield. Do Manchester have a team?

Are the arenas full though? Or is the atmosphere a bit crap in front of a small crowd?

Sheffield's team are (or at least were) one of the best in the country, I think. Though it seems these days that Coventry are the top team.

I thionk Coventry are coming to my town for the qualifying round of this year's ice hockey equivalent of the Champion's League.

I used to watch Sheffield Steelers when I lived there, and they used to get a full crowd. Although the last game I went was Basingtonstoke Bisons, and they're not really well-supported.

It's a great, cheap, night out, but I don't know how good the standard is? At least, I think it's fine, but my friend from Vancouver who I go with thinks it's pretty amateur stuff.

I think he's probably right, but I think whether that matters terribly depends on whether you have experienced top-class hockey live. I never had, having just enjoyed the NHL on TV, so what I see here (while recognisably inferior skill-wise even to a novice) is actually much better because the live experience makes such a difference.

Yeah, I suppose it's a bit like watching live boxing really, in that it only makes sense as a spectacle when you realise how brutal it can be!

Blimey! Only just noticed this thread.

I used to go to watch Guildford Flames occasionally and it was pretty good. They only ever played in the second tier of English Hockey and have remained all the stronger for it, as the top flight seems to have frequently been in turmoil over the last couple of decades. (I think they actually can't be promoted due to insufficient capacity (or something) at their arena, the Spectrum Centre.) I never saw a sell-out crowd at the Spectrum, even though I thought I was choosing some of the 'big-rivalry' fixtures to go to: Slough Jets, Basingstoke Bison, Bracknell Bees.

Anyway, yeah - it's okay. As others have said, just don't expect NHL, Scandinavian or Russian-standard hockey.

http://www.britishicehockey.co.uk/

Looks like it's in the middle of being updated. Hopefully that is the case, as I believe that is the definitive British hockey site.

And a journalists' site:

http://www.ihjuk.co.uk/

Whatever happened to the Harringey Flyers?

British hockey is North American in style, as opposed to the less physical style favoured on the continent. This is largely due to the long history of clubs employing Canadian cast-offs. At the highest level (the Elite League) the standard is probably equivalent to the ECHL (third tier in North America). The arena era is over, after several teams went bust, and teams have now realised that they need to develop at least some British players to stay in business.

Manchester does have a team, Manchester Phoenix (who I watch from time to time), but as they play in Altrincham its the wrong side of the city for easy access from Yorkshire. The best introduction would probably be a Sheffield-Nottingham match, its the biggest rivalry in British hockey, or the lesser rivalry of a Roses match.

The biggest teams are the survivors from the arena era, Sheffield, Nottingham and Belfast. They get average crowds of 3-4,000. The likes of Coventry and Manchester get about 2,000 and perennial EIHL strugglers Basingstoke and Edinburgh get a few hundred. There is no promotion and relegation; instead there is a lot of political wrangling. The (English) second tier are almost all based in the south, the exception being Sheffield Scimitars, the "other" Sheffield team. The fact that Sheffield can sustain two teams pretty much makes it Britain's Hockeytown. Below that comes the English National League, probably the equivalent of non-league.

Generally British hockey is a small but friendly community.

How are Cardiff getting on?

I used to watch their highlights on BBC Wales and I remember they won all everything about 16 years ago. They also used to have a 16 year old keeper who was interesting someone in the NHL.

That sounds good. Having been to several ECHL games I can say that the lower standard of play is more than compensated for by the price of the tickets and one's proximity to the action.

Of course, I love hockey so much that I can find high school hockey (or worse) entertaining.

High school hockey is generally quite entertaining.

We've just lost our hockey team over a stupid fight with the municipal authorities over use of the rink. Which means that the Italian league will now consist exclusively of teams from ski resorts and mountain towns, which is quite a shame.

This being Italy, nothing is over until it's over, but it may be time to start looking at the fixtures for Lugano and Ambri-Piotta (the journey to Lugano takes half as long as that to what is now our nearest Italian club).

Kowalski, Cardiff seem to a mid-table side at the moment. They had a bit of disruption recently as the Ice Rink was knocked down to make way for a retail development, not quite sure whether they are still playing in a temporary venue.