NIHL News

Lions to play in second tier of British Ice Hockey after pride’s surprise climb into NIHL North Division One

Heading into their twentieth season as a club, Nottingham Lions now look forward to their 2017-18 campaign with the knowledge that they will be playing in NIHL North’s Division One (Moralee) next season. Gaining promotion during the NIHL North section meeting, following the acceptance of Sutton Sting’s request for relegation, the Lions will prepare to face tough competition in Division One which will now be made up of last season’s Moralee contenders Billingham Stars, Blackburn Hawks, The Dragons, Solihull Barons, Solway Sharks and Whitley Warriors as well as former EPL outfits Hull Pirates, Sheffield Steeldogs and Telford Tigers One.

Starting out in the lower tiers of British Ice Hockey in 1998, the Lions were then able to progress to the English Premier League where they played for three seasons before switching to the ENL North . It was in this league that the Lions were able to contend with the best of their competition to qualify for playoffs in their first three seasons. Battling in their quest for silverware and enduring a sixth place finish in March 2007, Nottingham were able to bounce back to claim the English National League title in their 2007-08 campaign, though losing out on the double following defeat to league rivals Whitley Warriors. Securing second place for three consecutive seasons after their success, the Lions then plummeted to the depths of the ENL in 2012 to finish in eighth place and assume their spot in the league placement playoff game. An 11-8 defeat to Sutton Sting on aggregate saw the side relegated from Division One and, though winning nineteen of their twenty four games to achieve promotion in their following campaign, the club turned down a move back to Division One due to financial restraints. Now though, after fluctuating form in the NIHL’s Laidler Conference, the Lions have made the leap following their recent window of opportunity and consequently find themselves in the second tier of British Ice Hockey.

This move perhaps a surprise to many, The Cat’s Whiskers caught up with Nottingham’s Head Coach Matt Bradbury this week who took time to reflect on the Lions’ league change: “It was all about an opportunity that had arisen to make that step. There’s no doubt, looking at the teams and the standard, that we were really going to have to up the ante but sometimes you don’t get those chances very often and we just thought the most sensible thing to do was to take that opportunity, just like we did back when the Lions were in the EPL in 2000. The key then was to play at the highest level we possibly could and that opportunity arose because Sutton moved down into Division Two. I’m obviously aware that maybe other teams didn’t want to make that step but we knew that the number of games we were going to have to play, which was going to be thirty six, was the same and the amount of buses that we’d have to take was going to be of a similar amount and the same cost so why not take ourselves and be in the second tier of British Ice Hockey?

“For me, I’ve always wanted to challenge the players from Nottingham, from within the junior system, and you always want to challenge yourself to be the best. There’s no point in going through the motions; if we’re going to do it, we may as well do it big. The players still pay to play so that means that they wear their hearts on their sleeves and it means something to them. They give it their all and that’s one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is that we will obviously be looking for players that may not have jobs or may not be picking up big pay cheques, or bigger pay cheques, in the NIHL1 because monies aren’t there to be had. We will be pulling together a group of players that know Nottingham and have come through Nottingham ranks and have played at that level. We need established players and we’re already in conversation with those types of players that we’re after. We’ll probably be looking for five or six players, just like other teams in the division. They will have their core base of players and it won’t be an auction because those teams don’t have the budgets either. They aren’t going to pay some of the wages that were being paid in the former EPL and we’ll be looking at players that are now working for a living, or on apprenticeships, or at college or university near us. We’ve got a list of who we’d like and if we can get those players that are on our wish list then we’ll be quite comfortable in the team we’ll put together.

“Ultimately, we had two choices: we could have played in the Division Two next season or we could make that push to the Division One. The costs would have been exactly the same. We’ve got targets. There’s certain teams and games that we’ll set to try and pick off points against and obviously it’s survival to not finish in the bottom two and be relegated. That will be the main aim and if we can pick off those extra points here and there, and make our home games count, then hopefully we could do even better than we probably expect ourselves. It would be great to finish middle of the pack and see where it takes us from there but it’s going to take some hard work and graft. The players are really excited to be getting this opportunity, nobody expected it, and it will hopefully spur us on into pulling together a strong team for next season.”

Thank you to The Cat’s Whiskers for views used in this article and also to Head Coach Matt Bradbury and Lions’ alternate captain Adz Andrews for their support during the writing of this article. To listen to the full podcast, please click the link provided: https://thecatswhiskersonline.co.uk/.