History

Introducing…

Whitley Warriors

On the 1st December 1956, Whitley Bay Ice Rink held its first ever ice hockey match but, with no local players training at the time, it was Durham Wasps who took to the ice against Streatham Royals, beating the visitors 6-2 in front of a packed rink. In the following season a cohort of prospective players from the local area joined Whitley Bay-born Jimmy Thicke to form the town's first home grown team, known as the Whitley Bees. 

The Bees first formed in 1957-58.

The Bees quickly became successful, beginning to out-do the Wasps in most of their head-to-heads and, in only their third season as a club, they collected their first silverware in the form of the BIHA Trophy. In spite of this success, 1963 saw the Bees displaced by the Wasps at Hillheads and old derby rivals were forced to unite as the two teams became one. Once again without a local ice hockey club, Whitley Bay sought to provide a team for the players that would otherwise have gone without ice time in the BIHA, and provide one they did in the shape of Whitley Warriors. In 1964 Whitley Warriors took to the ice for the first time against a team made up students from Oxford and Cambridge. 

Yet, in the years that followed, ice hockey began to flounder up and down the country and it was certainly felt in the North East. In 1965, the Wasps folded after an argument with rink management to leave Whitley Warriors the primary team in the town. Realising that something must be done, the BIHA constructed a Northern League for teams on the Anglo-Scottish border and, by the end of the 60s, Whitley had progressed to third in the league and chose to ice a second team in their following campaign. In 1971-72, the team had won their first league title, snatching the Autumn Cup from previous champions, the Murrayfield Racers. 

Having endured the storms of change since the club founded in 1964, the Warriors were then thrown into the turbulence of the Heineken British League which was established at the beginning of their 1984-85 campaign and included nine sides, one of which was Warriors' derby rivals Durham Wasps.

Key players for Whitley Warriors during this era comprise Scott Morrison, Luc Chabot, Mike Babcock, who went on to coach gold-medal winning Team Canada, John  Iredale, NHL defenceman Mike Rowe, Hilton Ruggles and youngsters Simon Leach and David Longstaff, who were starting out on their ice hockey careers at the time. In 1996, Warriors had a new home and, with it, a new name. Icing at the newly constructed Newcastle Arena, the team took the city's name to become the Newcastle Warriors. But, in reality, this new age of ice hockey was over before it started as, later that season, they were to be relegated to the second tier of British ice hockey, with the Wasps set to take their new home from them. 

Undeterred by this unfortunate sequence of events, the Warriors returned to Whitley Bay. Reclaiming their former name to ice in the Northern Premier League, Whitley beat Dumfries Vikings in front of a home crowd so great in number that it matched the the rink's capacity total.  

However, further change was again on the horizon for the team. After only one season in the NPL, Whitley Warriors and their competitors found themselves in the British Northern League. With regulations stating that teams could have up to ten imports per side, Whitley's management rejected the idea of the club competing at this level. This move was a pivotal one for the Warriors as they suffered another descent to take their place in the English National League.

In spite of this, the resilient Warriors hurled themselves into their 1997-98 ENL campaign, finishing runners-up to Solihull  Barons. 

From then on, Whitley continued to be one of the leading teams in their division and, with player/coach Simon Leach at the helm, they triumphed at the top of the leader board, becoming ENL champions and trophy-winning playoff finalists over the course of two consecutive seasons (2009-10/2010-11). 

After these successes Simon Leach left his home town club for a coaching post at Solway Sharks, going on to coach for Billingham in the season that followed. This allowed Whitley Defenceman Garry Dowd to take charge of the Warriors as player/coach but, unable to repeat the achievements of his predecessor, he left after two fruitless campaigns in 2011-12 and 2012-13 in which Whitley finished second and fifth respectively. 

With Dowd making way, Leach returned to the club for a further two seasons, the latter of which saw Whitley face a promotion-relegation battle with NIHL North Moralee Division 2 side Widnes Wild. The North East club won comfortably with a score of 20-5 on aggregate and they will now go into another NIHL season armed with returning Warrior David Longstaff, Elite League and EPL enforcer Payette and their usual trusty cohort of local players in a bid to get back to winning ways. 

Introducing…

Solway Sharks

Founded in 1998, Solway Sharks entered third tier ice hockey in the same year, opting to play in the Scottish National League, a grouping which was considered to be below both the British Elite and the English Premier Ice Hockey Leagues. 

Immediately, the Sharks made their mark in the SNL and were lead by player/coach Martin Grubb to consecutive title success in their first two seasons as an ice hockey club. After this astounding feat, Grubb was made Head Coach, though his first season in this new role saw the Sharks fail to replicate their previous achievements as they lost out on a third title win to Dundee Tigers. This loss marked the beginning of three unrewarding terms for the team which went on to finish seventh, sixth and fifth in the SNL, losing a total 24 games out of 46 between 2001-2004. 

In spite of this, the resilient Sharks managed to bounce back in their 2004-05 campaign, following up a run of disappointing seasons with a respectable second place finish to Camperdown Stars, the league's reigning champions. Although this was to be Sharks' best league placement in the SNL since their 2000-01 campaign, the club continued to fight, not only competing in this division but pitting themselves against a mix of Scottish, English and, occasionally, Welsh sides in the Northern League. 

Newly constructed in 2005, the Northern League was established to create competition between teams north and south of the Anglo-Scottish border and essentially occupied the void left by the old Border League. However, Sharks' spirit didn't go unpaid. Though they found themselves at the foot of the Northern League table, they held third place comfortably in the SNL which was enough to see them join Fife Flyers, Edinburgh Capitals SNL, Dundee Stars and Paisley Pirates in the Scottish Premier League.

                                   
However, this change was short lived as Solway, finishing all but bottom, opted out of the SPL to concentrate on competition in the Northern League. This decision paid dividends as Solway soon found themselves achieving two consecutive Northern League titles and becoming playoff champions in their 2009-10 campaign, having only lost out in the previous season's final to Fife Flyers.

After three seasons of playing nothing but Northern League ice hockey, Solway moved into the lower division of the English National League and stormed to the top of the table to secure promotion in spectacular style. Winning 100% of their 28 games and a  maximum of 56 points, Solway were helped on their way to division one by former Whitley Warriors Adam Reynolds and Nathan Salem who scored a total of 116 goals and 115 assists to accumulate 231 points between them. 

And this was just the beginning of a fantastic period of ice hockey for the club as they did not just rise into division one, but soared to the heights of the table, immediately becoming NIHL champions. Solway went on to retain the title for a second season in 2013-14, seeing off former title winners Whitley Warriors and Billingham Stars to take the trophy, and claiming further silverware as champions of the NIHL North Moralee Division 1 playoff final. 

Yet, like most of Solway's achievements, this feat was not to be repeated for a third year and just last season they sat third in the table, only one point away from a second place finish. In their short seventeen year history, the Sharks have achieved a great deal as the only senior ice hockey team in South West Scotland and Cumbria to play out of the Dumfries Ice Bowl and they will continue to compete with the best teams in the NIHL. 

Introducing…

Billingham Stars

The Stars were first founded in 1971 under the club name Billingham Bombers and instantly began competing for silverware, collecting the Coca Cola Trophy in their 1976-77 campaign. From 1977 to 1981, the Bombers became members of the NIHA Northern League, playing top-flight ice hockey for four seasons after which they joined the ENL for a single season, gaining fourth place ahead of Blackpool Seagulls. 

But, in the ever-evolving world of ice hockey, 1982 saw the Northern League merge with the Inter-city League and the English League North to form the British Hockey League of which Billingham became a founder member. Changing their name to the Cleveland Bombers, the team finished second in Group B to Durham Wasps who were ahead by just 5 points in their first season. 

However, turbulent times lay before the Bombers and, after their deserved second place finish, they soon plummeted to the bottom of the BHL, taking ninth place in 1984. As the seasons progressed, the Bombers did not and, though they took sixth place in the following seasons with a total of ten teams now in the league, they found themselves sinking to the depths of despair once again. This was confirmed in the club's 1986-87 campaign. With only 8 points on the board, Bombers sat in the dreaded tenth place and were subsequently relegated to British League Premier Division One.

Billingham Bombers logo in 1971.

In this league, the Bombers flourished, attaining champion status in their first season, finishing fifth out of 13 sides in their second and gaining promotion through a championship round in 1990. Yet, as the Bombers once again took to the BHL, they suffered 22 losses, finishing just above Fife Flyers. Billingham continued to play in the BHL for another two seasons before undergoing a third name change, this time becoming Teeside Bombers. 

This name change lasted for a short period between 1993 and 1995 in which the Teesiders took twelveth place in the BHL and moved onto the British League Premier Division One after suffering financial pressures. From then, the Bombers reverted back to their original name but it failed to bring them luck as they lost 45 out of the 52 games they played. 

After a disappointing season, the Bombers underwent a transformation, deciding to play in English Division One as the Eagles. Over the course of the seasons that followed, the Eagles began to soar, becoming two-time champions of the ED1 and taking the top spot away from derby rivals Whitley Warriors in the newly formed English National League in 2000-01. 

In 2004, Billingham switched to their original name yet again and, though on the same points as Whitley Warriors, finished just outside the playoff spots but went on to snatch the title in their 2005-06 campaign. 

On the back of this result, a series of mid-table placements in the ENL meant Billingham lost out to playoff opportunities for three consecutive seasons, though they were still considered to be one of the top teams in the ENL North Division. But, as fate spun its web, 2009 brought game play to a standstill for the Teesiders as Billingham's home venue, the TEM Radio Arena, was scheduled to be refurbished, an event that would see Billingham unable to compete in the ENL between 2009-2011. 

Meanwhile, Newcastle Vipers ENL had also undergone a name change in the wake of their Elite side's financial difficulties, becoming the Northern Stars. As Billingham's home rink began to take shape, it was decided that the Stars, whose ice time was restricted at the Metro Radio Arena, would merge with Billingham's squad and play at The Forum. In 2011, Billingham Stars took to the ice and quickly made an impact in their first season back, knocking Whitley Warriors off top spot in a highly contested title chase.

Since then, Billingham has never finished lower than third place in the NIHL and just last season they lost out on another title to the remarkable Blackburn Hawks. In their 44 year history, they have accomplished league titles, playoff success and added to their trophy cabinet, all of which they are surely to do so again in the near future.