Women ' s ice hockey in Great Britain Women ' s Ice Hockey in Great Britain is administered by the English and Scottish Ice Hockey Associations . It is one of the fastest growing areas of the game . A national team existed as early as the 1930 ' s , when teams from England participated in contests versus France . The British Women ' s Leagues were formed with five teams in 1984 . The founder members of the league were : Of those teams , only two are still in league play today , Oxford University and Solihull , while the Cambridge University has a non - league team . After the Ravens folded , a new team , the Penguins was set up in Peterborough . League Structure . In England and Wales , 28 teams play in the British Women ' s Leagues . The top 10 teams in the country play in the Premier League , while the remaining 18 teams play in a regionalised Division One , equally divided into North , Midlands and South . In the Premier Division , the sides play each other , one home , once away , in a dual round robin format , with the team ranked highest being declared champion of the league . In Division 1 , teams are seeded according to their previous season ' s performance . The top three seeded teams , and the bottom three teams , play each other four times each . The team with the highest points at the end of the season is declared the regional champion . At the end of the season , the top four Premier sides , and top three Division One sides from each region converge for the ' Trophy Weekend ' . The Premier Sides play for the Chairman ' s Cup , while the Division One sides play for the Division One Trophy . In addition to the playoffs , there is Promotion and Relegation between the Premier and Division 1 leagues . In 2004 / 05 , this was decided with a Playoff Weekend at Coventry . The Division One sides played first in a one - off game , then the following day the winner of that game played the 10th ranked team in the Premier league , to decide who played in the Premier and Division 1 leagues for the following season . In 2007 - 08 season the EIHA introduced women ' s U16 teams to the league structure . Three teams ( Oxford , Streatham and Bracknell ) were created in a Southern Division and four teams were created in the women ' s U16 Northern Division . For 2008 - 09 , Oxford folded and was replaced by Peterborough in the South . History . Below is a list of the Winners of the Major Competitions . The teams standing is shown in Win - Loss - Tie format . Women ' s English League . The Women ' s England League was the first incarnation of the league , starting with 5 teams before moving up to 7 by 1988 . An influx of interest from new teams resulted in a complete regionalisation of the sport , a system that lasted two years . Regionalised British League . Overall Champion . ! - Oxford City Rockets declared unofficial champions after beating Streatham in a Regional Playoff by four goals to one . Rockets were never able to play the final against Sunderland ( champions of the Northern Division ) . Capital / South Division . After two years of this format , the system switched to the structure that exists to the present day , making it after 15 years , one of the longest lasting formats of any ice hockey league that ever has been in the UK . Trophy Weekend . The Trophy Weekend , has been spilt into the Bill Britton Memorial Trophy and D1 Trophy . The Memorial Trophy sees 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd in the Premier League , with the Winners playing the final the following day . Prior to the Memorial Trophy being renamed , it was called the Chairman ' s Cup . The D1 Trophy sees the Champion of the North playing the Runner - up of the South , and Champion of the South vs Runner - Up of the North , with the Winners playing the final the following day . The introduction of the Women ' s U16 Northern and Southern ( season 2007 / 08 ) created a third play off final between the winners of each league . Promotion / Relegation Playoffs . Information on these Playoffs is sketchy , however the following contains most of them . Playoffs were not held in every season due to either teams not wanting to go for promotion to the higher league , or a natural expansion of the Premier League . Knockout Cup . The Knockout Cup was proposed to allow teams of different standard to play each other , and also to increase the number of competitions played for in the Women ' s game . Regional / National / International Sides . In the UK , there are five sides that play at Regional , National and International level . Regional Level . England is divided into two regional sides , featuring the best players whom have not been selected for Team Great Britain . The regional sides are a recent addition to assist with the development of the top Women and Girls hockey in the UK . For the purposes of the records shown , only games against other Regional , National or International teams shall be considered . In addition the conference sections are divided into Senior and Junior ( U16 ) teams . National Teams . In total there are three National teams , although Team England has been defunct since 2002 . 2006 saw the England team reinstated and an Under 16 England added to the list of National Teams . In August 2006 both teams travelled to Prague for a training camp , followed by a tournament in Plizen which saw the Senior Team play their way to a silver medal . Details of all Home Internationals known are shown below : The overall records of the teams are therefore : Team GB . Team Great Britain , is the national side that represents the UK in firstly the European Championships followed by the IIHF World Championships . Below is a guide to GB ' s performances year by year . Only ' competitive ' games ( challenge matches ignored ) are counted for the records . 1989 . Team GB re - entered the World of International Hockey , with a European Championship two - leg qualifying match against the Netherlands in Chelmsford . GB battled hard in both games but were defeated by an experienced Dutch side , winning both games by the margin of four goals to two , giving the Dutch an 8 - 4 aggregate win and a place in the European Championship . Overall Record : 0 - 2 - 0 1990 . No official competitions existed , however GB defeated the Dutch in Amsterdam 1 - 0 in a challenge match . 1991 . Team GB took part in the 1991 European Championship finishing 9th out of 10 teams . Placed in a very tough Group B , they lost their first three games to Sweden ( 0 - 16 ) , Denmark ( 0 - 4 ) and Germany ( 0 - 6 ) before surprising the Czech Republic with a 2 - 2 draw in their final game . GB finished bottom of their group , and played Holland in the 9th / 10th playoff which they won 3 - 0 . Record : 1 - 3 - 1 1993 . After the break for an Olympic year , GB started again in the newly formed European Championship Pool B . Following an opening loss against Latvia ( 0 - 3 ) , GB repeated their performance against the Czech Republic from two years ago , this time with a 1 - 1 draw . France , dispatched GB easily in the third game by 7 goals to 2 , and GB won their first International game in the final match of the tournament with a 1 - 0 win over the Ukraine . giving GB a respectable 4th placed finish out of 5 teams , with GB only missing a medal by one point . Record : 1 - 2 - 1 1995 . GB went to Denmark , for the IIHF European Women ' s Championships Pool B in March 1995 , and faced a tough group on paper and proved to be a tough group on ice . GB fell to their worst defeat in 4 years , in the opening game with a 14 - 1 defeat to Denmark . Slovakia defeated GB 4 - 1 and in the final group game Holland put seven past the Brits , with only two coming back . The 7th / 8th playoff game saw GB take on the Ukraine , the only side they had beaten in competitive hockey so far . Unfortunately the Ukraine gave a much more solid account of themselves , and skated to a 2 - 0 victory which saw GB finish 8th out of 8 teams . Record : 0 - 4 - 0 Team Roster : 1996 . A trip to Slovakia was in store for GB in Pool B in 1996 . GB started positively with a much better account against Denmark who they had been routed against the previous year falling only to a 5 - 0 defeat . Unfortunately any hopes of a great comeback were dashed in their 2nd game against the Danes who GB had previously done well against collapsing to a 7 - 1 defeat . That scoreline was repeated in the final group round game against the Dutch to leave GB adrift at the bottom of their group . The 7th / 8th playoff saw GB take on Kazahstan and for the first time in the tournament , team GB took the game to their opponents in a thrilling encounter . Unfortunately the Asian side was just able to edge ahead and won by the odd goal in 9 leaving GB in 8th out of 8 place and without a win in two years . Record : 0 - 4 - 0 Team Roster : 1999 . Székesfehérvár , Hungary Following a re - structure in the World Championships , and the no championship in 1998 due to it being an Olympic year , GB finally came back into the new Pool B Qualifying Group to decide the final spot in Pool B for the following year . Great Britain opened brightly holding Italy to a 1 - 1 draw after 40 minutes in the opening game before Italy stepping the game up a gear to skate out to a 4 - 1 victory however the signs looked good . The next game was against the hapless South Africa , which ended to be a sporting contenst on the opening puck drop with GB running up their highest ever victory at International level with a 22 - 0 victory . After a slow start in the final game GB hit the host team Hunary hard with five quick goals in a match that ended up as 9 - 1 to the Brits , leaving them finish 2nd out of 4 teams . Record : 2 - 1 - 0 Team Roster : 2000 . Székesfehérvár , Hungary It was back to Hungary in the year 2000 , for the Pool B Qualifying Tournament . GB again had a strong start with the Brits 1 - 1 against the Group Favorites DPR Korea in their first game . Korea struck back with two 2nd period goals but despite a fightback by GB , the game ended up 4 - 2 to the Asian side . Australia were next up for GB and we ' re comfortably dispatched by seven goals to one , and GB finally defeated Holland in a competitive game , 11 years after their first attempt with a comfortable 5 - 2 victory . GB again finish 2nd out of 4 teams in their group . Belgium , who finished 2nd in the other Group took on GB in the 3rd / 4th place playoff . GB , comfortably dispatch the Belgians by 8 goals to 1 which saw GB ranked overall 3rd out of 8 teams . Record : 3 - 1 - 0 Team Roster : 2001 . Maribor , Slovenia Pool B overnight was renamed Division 1 , but apart from that the challenge stayed the same for GB with their third straight attempt at Qualification into the 2nd tier . GB looked to their first game against hosts Slovenia to set the standard for the tournament and they did not disappoint . 5 - 0 up after 20 minutes they went onto win 12 - 0 . Hungary also fell to a GB by 12 goals to 0 the in Game Two , and with GB dispatching the Aussies by 4 - 2 in Game 3 they were left in the pleasant situation of Played 3 , Won 3 , Scored 28 , Conceded 2 . Slovakia who were Group favourites took on GB in the final game . Slovakia just were too good for Team GB , who despite getting a goal back in the 3rd , went down to a 4 - 1 defeat and finished 2nd in their group for the 3rd consecutive year . Record : 3 - 1 - 0 Team Roster : 2002 . Hull , UK An Olympic year saw no official hockey taking place , but the IIHF hosted a Women ' s challenge tri - series between Italy , Belgium and GB , held in Hull . GB beat Belgium , but fell to Italy to finished 2nd in the three team group . Team Roster : 2003 . Lecco , Italy Off to Italy for Division 2 , which now sported 6 teams in direct parity with the Men ' s game for the first time . GB collapsed to the worst possible start against long time foes Slovakia , 5 - 0 down after the 1st period they ended up losing 8 - 1 to the Eastern Bloc side . Game 2 against group favourites Norway was just as tough for the Brits along a spirited performance saw them just 1 - 0 down after the first GB collapsed to an 8 - 3 defat . Game 3 against Denmark saw a pulsating clash from end to end which saw GB register their first points with a 4 - 4 draw , however after leading the Danes 1 - 0 at the end of the 1st . The Netherlands , a long term bogey team of the Brits skated to a 4 - 2 win over GB . GB ' s final game against Italy proved too much for them and they were defeated as they were the previous year to an experienced Italian side , this time 4 - 2 . And so GB were relegated . Or so we thought . GB however had the dubious honour of being saved by a life - threatening disease , as due to the SARS pandemic in China the World Championships were cancelled for that year and the IIHF didn ' t relegate any teams from any divisions . Record : 0 - 4 - 1 Team Roster : 2004 . Vipiteno - Sterzing , Italy From a standings point of view , the 2004 saw GB ' s worst ever performance from International Ice Hockey , with defeats to Denmark , Italy , Slovakia , the Netherlands and Australia . However , when your team is washed out a goal on a wraparound due to the referee ' losing sight of the puck ' as it went round the net , there isn ' t much you can do . GB battled desperately hard under the some of the worst refereeing ever seen in an international competition . GB were relegated to Division 3 along with Australia . Record : 0 - 5 - 0 Team Roster : 2005 . Cape Town , South Africa Division III was the setting for GB . GB started off the tournament in impressive fashion easily dispatching Hungary 5 - 0 followed by an 11 - 0 demolition of Belgium . GB ' s minds were however firmly planted on the 3rd game , without a doubt the title decider . GB went a goal down at 26 : 56 before Newcastle ' s Teresa Lewis opened the account for GB on the half hour mark . With the scores neatly tied at 1 heading into the final period , GB battled hard . University of New Hampshire ' s Angela Taylor picked up a penalty for highsticking at 47 : 39 , and with eight seconds left in the game heartbreak as Slovenia took the lead . GB were never able to get back in the game and ended losing 4 - 1 with the final goal placed into the empty net . Game 4 , saw GB take out their frustrations of the previous game with a 19 - 0 victory over South Africa , who were saved relegation by the IIHF Women ' s Committee as they expanded the Elite competition to 9 teams , and thus no teams were relegated this time around . Game 5 , saw GB finally lay the ghost of a year ago with an excellent 6 - 2 victory over Australia to ensure GB ' s 2nd place finish . Record : 4 - 1 - 0 Team Roster : Overall Record . GB ' s All time Competitive International record stands at : 14 - 28 - 3