British Universities Ice Hockey Association The British Universities Ice Hockey Association was founded in spring term 2003 by a group of enthusiastic hockey players from the universities of Oxford , London , Nottingham and Newcastle . History of the BUIHA . Although still a young organisation , the British Universities Ice Hockey Association , or BUIHA , was formed in response to the growing number of universities with ice hockey programmes in an effort to provide students with competitive ice hockey whilst at university , no matter what their level of play . The notion to form the BUIHA first arose in Easter 2003 . The idea was to simply form a divisional competition for the existing university teams . Development over the summer of 2003 led to a committee being put in place , a schedule being set and a number of teams signed up to take part in the first ever BUIHA University Cup . The National Championships was already an existing competition . Indeed , the 2003 / 4 formative season finished in style at the National Championships weekend where the then 13 member teams battled it out for The Rawlinson Plate & The Hopkins Plate . The following season , to further the BUIHA objective of progression at all levels of the sport , the BUIHA introduced Division 3 . Also joining the BUIHA in its second season were a number of new university teams , a number that would be again bolstered in its 3rd season bringing the total teams for 2005 - 6 to 29 . The 2008 - 9 Season saw the Bristol Lions enter for the 1st time . The sole new enterant in the 2009 / 2010 season were the newly formed Kent Knights , who arrived on the scene with an old friend lining up in a Knights roster . It was the time that Old Skool had ended his associaion with Imperial College Devils and was playing for his University for the very first time . The 2010 / 11 season has the interest of several new Universities looking to enter teams including Oxford Womens Blues , Unversity of Bath , UCLAN , Anglia Ruskin University . The University of Bangor and Plymouth University . The National Championships . It all began over a couple of pints one rainy afternoon in Oxford , the precise details of which are lost in the mists of time . The then secretary of the Oxford Vikings , Alexis Rawlinson , came up with the idea of organising a tournament for all the university ice hockey teams in the UK . At the time this was not such a daunting organisational prospect , given that there were only seven teams . A few weeks later five teams ( blues squads were not invited as they were above the standard of all other teams ) gathered for a late night ice hockey session at Oxford Ice Rink starting at 11pm and running all the way through to the morning . The result of this was a narrow Newcastle victory by one point over the Oxford Vikings . Newcastle arranged the next two events at the NIC in Nottingham , which saw victories for Newcastle in 2002 and London in 2003 . For 2004 , to recognise the contribution of Alexis to British University Ice Hockey , the top National Championship trophy was renamed the Rawlinson Plate . 2004 also saw the introduction of a 2nd Tier of competition due to the introduction of many new teams . The BUIHA is now host of a range of new teams from England , Scotland and Wales as well as the original 7 that entred the first National Championships in 2001 . From 2005 onwards tier II was re - named The Hopkins Plate . From the 2011 the Tier III plate is to be renamed the Andrew " God " Miller Premier trophy . The Plate itself is to be melted down and recast into a 5 meter high , 1 centimeter circumfrence , trophy with a sculpted head of the BUIHA Chairman on top . Every team captain that subsequently wins this competition has to accept the trophy by kissing the chairmans sculpted forehead . At the 2009 - 2010 National Championships the BUIHA Committee recognized that this competition should introduce another category that measures a vital part of hockey which takes place both on an off the ice , heckling . For three years it has been undeniable that one player has brought banter to a new level in the BUIHA , and this individual will be surely be sorely missed at next year ' s nationals . James Zeller of the 2010 National Champion Div I Sheffield Bears was the first winner of the " bant of the year award . ' Never has a player garnered the hatred of multiple teams , across multiple divisions for merely trying to promote the ideals of fair play , in a loud , spirited manner . Sir , you are a gentleman and a scholar . The Cup Competition . Created in Autumn 2004 by the founding BUIHA committee the cup competition was envisioned as a league type competition available to university clubs in the UK . Operating within the EIHA recreational section the clubs involved played a round robin format with the winner being declared at the end of the season as the team with the most points ( using goal difference as a tie breaker ) . Founding clubs of the initial 2 divisions ( in alphabetical order ) were : Division 1 Division 2 From the 2008 / 2009 season the BUIHA operated directly under the EIHA board after being awarded a section of their own and separating from the Rec section . This has led to several improvements to the way the organisation can operate . Team Great Britain . Launched at the end of the 2004 - 5 season , Team Great Britain is the national university side that will compete against other national university sides , including competing at the bi - annual FISU World University Games . Mike Urquhart & Matt Bradbury have agreed to coach the team . Any person attending university anywhere in the world who is a UK & Northern Ireland citizen between the ages of 17 and 28 is able to play for the team . This disregards the level to which they have played the sport . Winners . Division 3 . Notes : Seasons 2007 - 2009 saw the winners of the regional conferences play off against one another to determine an overall division champion ( bold ) . From the 2010 Season a longer running playoff format was put in place with the top four sides in each conference in Division 1 playing off against in each other before the National Final , in Division 2 the top two sides of each conference qualified for the conference playoffs along with the best two runners up , before the two finalists meet in the National Final