Looking At British EIHL Arenas 

Coming up later today on the channel - "The History of the New York Rangers"

EIHL isn't televised in the UK, for some odd reason, which is a big reason as to why Hockey's growth in the UK has been slow

UK Hockey fan here, one thing I'd like to add is almost every rink is multi-purpose in some way hockey, figure skating, curling, public skating sessions for the smaller arenas and the larger one's host concerts and other entertainment-related shows. Most cities only have one rink which is shared by EVERYONE. It's not common for the team to own the ice and as there's usually only one rink its very well used for example we have recreational hockey games facing off at 11:30pm in Dundee on Saturday nights as it's the only slot available or if you go in at 4am it's used by figure skaters. Unfortunately, we aren't lucky enough to have multiple facilities but like you mentioned we make do with what we have. My team Dundee Stars play on an Olympic sized ice pad which is larger than a standard rink as the teams are generally made up of players from ECHL, some AHL and other European leagues its often commented on from them about the more space they have. Hockey while not new to the UK has been growing rapidly in recent years with Guildford and MK only joining the league this season every team needs to have some British players, however, the roster is made up of a maximum of 14 imports which every team regardless of budget uses. Some other interesting points - Manchester Storm don't play in Manchester but 7 miles outside. We have been promised a London team for a few years, however, there's a lot of behind the scenes planning as a team previously "failed" as London is a big place it needs to be in the right area. There are a couple already but not on the scale needed to be in EIHL. If anyone has any questions I'd love to answer them.

Great to see UK ice hockey getting some exposure - thanks for your efforts!

im so glad you have covered EIHL, since its my local league. plus you're my favourite hockey channel. also been to the Skydome arena and its a lot lighter in person.

This is great for British hockey 👍😄

The SSE arena in Belfast has two big screens one on the opposite corners you can't see!

My father recently passed away, watching you guys brings back tons of great memories for me. I'm binge watching your videos just to think about my dad.

Thank you sooooo much for making an EIHL video! As a fan of the Dundee Stars in the EIHL this made me so happy to see the league get some recognition here! :D

Considering I ask you to do the EIHL Logos, I am absolutely blown away ands pleasantly surprised to see an EIHL arena video. This video is a great production and i'm pleased that you enjoyed making it a long with learning a lot about British hockey. Anytime that you find yourself in UK i would recommend that you go along and experience it. I would further that to say, anytime in Nottingham, a game is on me ;) Thanks again for taking the time to make these sublime videos and keep up the hard work. I can't wait for the logo ranking and now that it is filmed I will release my affiliation. I have to oppose John (great work for this video though). I am a Nottingham Panther through and through and unfortunately that results in Sheffield Steelers being our rivals! Much appreciation and support from Britain.

Lovely to see the EIHL getting some coverage from North Americans. Some more information about these stadiums... So I noticed you correcting yourself once when you said 'rink' instead of 'arena'. As of this season there is now some differentiation between the two. Braehead, Belfast, Cardiff, and Sheffield are considered 'arena' teams due to the size and style of their rinks, while the rest are considered 'rinks'. The new conference setup for this season groups the arena teams together in one conference of four, the remaining four Scottish teams in another conference, and the remaining 'rink' teams in a third conference of four. The Braehead arena is inside a shopping centre, which is why the premises look so big from the outside compared to the size of the arena itself, and the plain wall at the end is where the spectators enter and leave the arena to/from the concourse outside. The sightlines at Manchester Storm (my home team) are actually not great, despite the impression given in the photo. The raised seating itself blocks the view of the ice from further back, and at the front the railings get in the way. From any given seat in the arena you can't see what's going on near to your boards at all. If you notice the small black things hanging in front of each block, those are TV screens showing a feed from a tripod-mounted camera on the right of the photo, so that you can see what's going on when the play is out of your sight. The ceiling structure is indeed wood, which gives a nice look but precludes us from having a centrally hanging scoreboard as the structure won't support the weight of even a small jumbotron. The rink was built to replace the previous Altrincham Ice Rink, and is intended to be temporary. iceSheffield, the Steelers' second, smaller arena, is actually two rinks in one building, hence the shape of the roof. A lot of junior hockey gets played there, and it's conveniently located across the road from the UK's only good hockey shop (Puck Stop). They have a great hockey culture going on there, of which I am very envious :D The advantage to having the second smaller arena is that none of the UK teams actually own their own rinks/arenas, perhaps with the exception of Fife. Many are owned by Planet Ice or Silverblades, with Sheffield's being owned by a consortium that includes the local council. Ice time has to be paid for, so when attendances are likely to be too low to make using the Sheffield Arena worthwhile, they can use the cheaper iceSheffield for financial efficiency.

Great Video. Glad the pictures were of some use and thanks for giving British Hockey some exposure. Cheers John

Hi Neil and Brent great video, the arena for the Guildford Flames is actually called "Guildford Spectrum Leisure Complex", not sure who calls it a Pleasure Palace, unless there is a secret room I don't know about!!

Hi guys. Thanks for reviewing our league. Just some background info. Belfast used to have a scoreclock hanging from the ceiling but with so many concerts during the year and during hockey season with their own sound requirements. It just took to much time taking up and down all the time. There are 2 scoreboards and 4 video screens for replays.

Haha Edinburgh Capitals been renovated. They cant afford a decent defence line let alone a renovation haha.

The Belfast Giants have two screens in opposite corners and two score boards in the other corner.

Nottinghams Arena is part of the National Ice Centre. So there also a second rink there that they train on. The blank wall at the end of the arena is for staging as its also a concert arena. EIHL Playoffs are played at Nottinghams Arena due to its location and excellent facilites

The Skydome in Coventry has updated their arena lights in the last year, the lights now sit over the ice which makes the arena a lot brighter. Thanks for showcasing the EIHL, It means a lot that American/Canadian hockey fans are taking interest in the sport in the uk.

Nottingham Panthers making history in the CHL Champions Hockey League

14:40 So true. Pleasure Palaces everywhere in Vegas

In reference to the curling circles on the ice; unfortunately hockey isn't that popular in the UK (however it is growing) but a lot of teams don't make enough money off the teams. The ice is often multi use for hockey, curling, figures skating and public skating. It gets worse the further down you go. I play in the lowest level of competitive men's hockey for the Slough Jets and we currently pretty much play in a tent as its all we could afford. Btw I've never clicked on a video so fast, love the content!

Great sport just shame no media coverage here in UK

Boston Bruins 5 -Belfast Giants 1, October 2010 exhibition game. Seemed like a competitive game I just looked it up. So apparently they are competitive with NHL at some level. As for me thanks for bringing this to my awareness as I never knew.

Just watched your video , I am an ice tech along with 3 other guys and the Dundee ice arena home of the stars , switching from curling takes allot of work and is an absolute nightmare but in saying that we have been told by several import players and coaches that they look forward to coming to Dundee as it’s one of the best ice pads they have played on outside of Canada

Only just stumbled across your channel after seing the Goulakos / Fretter video you made, some great stuff,I have alot to catch up on!! Keep it up guys

I didn't know there was a league in Britain. Planning a trip to Ireland, and I just added a "must see" to my list

Awesome! an EIHL Video. Thanks from England :)

I went to uni in Cardiff. And they used to play in a temporary building called the blue barn. It was a wooden building with wood benches. And the whole thing would creek in the wind and leak in the rain. And you could see day light through the walls. It was a mess but we loved our barn

Great video!! Here's a wall of info to add to some of these: Coventry's venue isn't that dark at all. There's some spots where it's hard to see because the seating is so raised though. The flags are representing the countries of the players that play for the Blaze. dundee: A lot of these arenas have a bunch of other features like conference rooms and large bars which is why some of the arenas look bigger than their capacity. A lot of rinks here have extra markings for stuff like curling but most pro hockey teams have their own dedicated hockey only rinks. Fife: Fife are the oldest hockey team in the UK the atmosphere in their place as an away fan (I'm a sheffield fan) is AMAZING! the low ceilings and raised seats make the sound BOOM! Manchester's building is HORRIBLE! The raised seating is too close to the ice and makes it so that most people can't see the near side of the ice, they have big screen tvs mounted on the wall on the opposite sides above the seating so you can look up to the screen when the play comes too close to see. it's very hard to follow and is the only uk venue that I choose to avoid unless it's a very important game. Back in the days of the ISL, Manchester played in a 17.5k seat arena that was INCREDIBLE! Unfortunately there's quite a tale about the fall and re-rise of uk hockey that caused Manchester to lose their arena venue in the early 00s Milton Keynes: They've only joined the pro EIHL league this season and were in the semi-pro league below until then, that probably explains why it was harder to find photos of their place. Nottingham: This arena has the best view and the best atmosphere of any arena in the country when it's full. You guys are right about how steep it is though. When buying tickets, the arena has a warning for people that suffer from vertigo for the back 5 or 6 rows because of how quickly it drops down in front of you. It makes you feel close to the ice even at the back row, fantastic! The only downside is that their concourse area is VERY narrow which makes moving around in the period breaks and after the game incredibly difficult but for a relatively new arena built in the city center, this is kind of unavoidable. Sheffield Arena: My home away from home, I've been to most Steelers games here since 1996. That back wall where the stages go for concerts is actually a curtain. when pulled away, there's a massive space behind, on rare occasions for big matches like cup finals, extra seats are put in here increasing capacity to 12.5k. Ice sheffield actually has two rinks, one being public access and for rec hockey teams and the seated one being for shows, and pro hockey/figure skating training. It's the main home venue for a semi-pro team in the league below, the Sheffield Steeldogs and has ice all year round. Sheffield arena's ice is permanently there during hockey season and almost all Steelers games are played there.

really glad to see the eihl get some coverage! i have to admit i myself have only in the past year our so started to become interested in hockey. And from the reaction i've had when speaking to people a lot of brits do like ice hockey and would want to become fans, but the sole lack of coverage from sports media outlets etc that and the small venues limiting tickets (bar the arena teams) puts people off. i mean team GB just had a brilliant year securing promotion to the world championship division 1 group A and no one covering it. i even struggled to find it on the bbc. but once again thank you for the exposure! coventry blaze fan btw :D edit: you also have a new subscriber now :)

A few notes: Manchester is a temporary rink (despite having been there more than 10 years) and although it has raised seating the views are horrific. The angles are all wrong, the best view is to go to the back row and stand in my opinion, at least from the away blocks. Edinburgh hasn't been renovated in a LONG time. It has wooden seats which is interesting, but the biggest issue is it's sooooo cold. I'd recommend going outside in a snowstorm to warm up. Guildford would be called a leisure centre, not a pleasure palace! Belfast capacity for ice hockey is 7200 according to their website. 9000 is including extra seating for concerts I believe.

Cool video if u look in the corner of the SSE (Belfast giants) there is a few lights thats the score clock

It is great to see our league getting some recognition among the rest of the world and I am very thankful that you are helping us get the publicity... I live in Sheffield and am a Steelers fan myself so I do recommend popping into the Fly DSA arena if you get the chance if you're in the UK, the atmosphere is great and our announcer is an absolute legend... Thank you for making this video... Lots of love from Sheffield...

Also Nottingham Arena has Vertigo Warnings on the ticket sales for the upper tiered seating XD

It's funny the pic of Guilfords rink inside, is actually Milton Keynes Lighting fans celebrating a win.

Another great video, Neil and Brent. Fantastic work!

This is Awesome guys, love the effort on this and the other videos. Nice to see our League getting some good coverage.

Just stumbled across this guys, but as an Edinburgh-based hockey fan from Nottingham (Panthers fan) this is really enjoyable and appreciate the time you took to learn about UK hockey and appreciate you avoiding being patronising!

If anybody has played at the dome in Eagle River, WI you would know how cool wood ceilings can look. Look it up, its called the eagle river stadium and was built in 1933. :)

I really loved watching this, this Sheffield steelers fan is a new subscriber can't wait to see more

Love this video and the logo one for the elite league. I’m a Coventry blaze fan and the sky dome is lighter in person and the flags on the score clock are the players nationalities I think. Nice vid

Braehead and Belfast both have score clocks on the walls rather than centre ice :) Braehead has "selling fame" style banners on that empty wall now

thanks guys, as a Brit its interesting to hear your views x

Nice to see our league getting mentioned. Good video guys.

I have been to the manchester storm Stadium. Manchester pheonix used to play there but they moved

Thank you so much I've been waiting for a hockey channel to do this

In Nottingham the reason only 1 wall is flat is due to the amount of synchronised skating competitions happen there both national,such of the Britannia Cup,and world wide competitions. Also,Nottingham is the first city to have duel Olympic ice rinks of which the other rink seats a couple hundred. There was an original ice rink on the site of it and the Nottingham Capital FM Arena did change its name a few years ago to Nottingham Motorpoint Arena. Talking about synchronised skating competitions,the NSSA(Nottingham Synchronised Slating Academy)have a very fierce rivalry against the city of Dumfries(pronunciation:Dumfreece) which also has an ice rink but seats less than the lesser seated rink of the Nottingham Motorpoint Arena,luckily there has been any fights or anything like that of in football(soccer for you americans )or ice hockey

Good video guys, many of the score clocks are positioned on the walls of arenas. Many arenas in the UK dont have score clocks above centre ice.

I know im 4 years late, but the manchester storm arena was only meant to be temporary, the origional arena is now called the AO arena and was located in the centre of manchester. The temporary barn they threw up was built as a kind of ikea flat pack ice rink, and just recently an identical ikea ice rink has opened in leeds

Glasgow's Braehead arena is part of a retail and leisure complex called Braehead, it has a cinema, climbing walls, laser tag, indoor snow slope, mini golf and a trampoline park, the retail area is one of the largest shopping malls in Scotland and also in the complex has an Ikea

3:00 its a actually a scoreclock if you look to left of the tv but it is really small

The teams livestream their own games. There is minimal coverage in the UK hockey

Thank you for saying “Northern Ireland” not Ireland thank you

I live about 10 minutes away from guilford and going to a flames game is always a lot of fun!! I've lived in the U.K. All my life but my family is from New England I'm a huge fan of the bruins (sorry Neil) and keep up to date with the NHL everyday loving the vids!!

As someone that plays hockey in the uk and has played on ice rinks that are used for both curling and hockey, I can say that the difference is noticeable the puck doesn't slide right and you can actually fell the bobbles on the ice.

Hi guys, nice job with this video really love the different arenas you've used. I am a Nottingham Panthers fan myself but even though all the games i go to are at Nottingham Arena but i got to say Belfast is my favourite arena due to the location and the inside of it.

The picture of the MK Lightning arena (outside) is over 5 years old, the arena was renovated and looks much nicer outside. Loving the EIHL content though guys, always great to see British hockey highlighted a bit more!

Ice Sheffield is usually used for public skating and figure skating

There's a second ice rink in the next room plus other things in Cardiff. That's why the building is bigger than what you see on the inside photo. It's far better than our last place which was just a big temporary blue tent. Great place to watch hockey.

Belfast iced a team of "EIHL All Stars" in Giants jerseys to represent the sister city of Boston in an exhibition game during a world tour of the Bruins. Belfast lost 5-1, but the first goal scored read Belfast 1-0 Boston which was amazing to see, even for a Cardiff fan. Over the last few years the league has gotten far better and continues to grow, with inclusion now with the CHL and a number of European Exhibition games too. Last season Zagreb of the KHL played a game in Cardiff, and both them and Nottingham have qualified for CHL competition this season.

Belfast Giants arena has screens in two of the four corners of the arena, better than a score clock hanging from the ceiling imo.

Manchester Storm has an amazing rink, very unique with a traditional curved barn roof + aesthetically-pleasing elevated seated arrangements. I wish it were bigger given the size of the city and to add growth to the EIHL but hey-ho.

Another thing about Sheffield is the second ice they have is home to two ice hockey teams, Sutton Sting and Sheffield steeldogs, which is owned by steelers and some of the steelers younger players play in this team to gain experience. Both teams are in NIHL 1 which is the second best league in the UK. I’m pretty sure ice Sheffield is one of the largest NIHL rinks. And from my experience playing in there it’s nicely spaced out and all the fans have a great view. No matter where sitting.

Honestly, you’d be surprised at how many hockey fans we have in the UK! It’s always great to see exposure for the UK league’s! As for the Guildford Flames rink, it’s a multi sports complex as inside it’s got a swimming area, bowling alley, soft play, ice rink, gym, a bar and more! Their is also have a multi purpose field onsite that has a football pitch and a running track that’s also used for other sports

Thank you for expanding my Knowledge

Great video - thanks. I've visited most of these arenas.

I have to agree it looks like a fish stand my favorite was the one with the curling lanes

NIHl teams getting a mention yay! Love the Sheffield steeldogs ice rink, best in the league. Love what your doing and great for British hockey

In the Coventry rink there is no seating on the other end so the banners wouldn't be in the way and its very often shown as dark in photos but it is definitely alot lighter. Great video by the way!

after coming home from a great panthers game and seeing this in my recommended is just outstanding

in regarding of Manchester... Look for the old arena for cardiff... Big Blue Tent

hey from the UK! can you do an introduction to the leagues? not specifically logos or arenas but general introductions to clubs and what kind of club you should follow from the other leagues!?

Thanks for giving Manchester a nice review we did have a 19000 seater arena 20 years ago but money and league being desperate put us here but it's very nice

The Skydome on Coventry often looks dark in photo and video, however in person it doesn't seem dark.

The Cardiff Devils used to have a rink almost exactly like the wooden one. They are almost like ikea packs for stadiums. Cardiffs instead had a tent like roof hense being called the big blue tent, this is because it was meant to me temporary but was used fof about 15 years i think.

The Nottingham Panthers Motorpoint Arena is listed as a 10,000 capacity, though I've only witnessed a sell out 9,000. The far end is usually partially blocked off. It is steep, but the view and the atmosphere is insane! If you can make the trip over someday, you'd love it, I'm certain.

Very cool stuff!

Braehead has a scoreboard and clock. It's over the entrance just to the right of your picture. Great video guy!

finnish Elite leaque arenas

The majority of the view is blocked thanks to the citys not-so-great placement of a train depot, but technically keybank center in Buffalo is right next to the water. Also, these arenas are gorgeous

there is 2 score clocks in the Belfast giants rink, one on each side. and 2 tv screens for replays or game night information, one in each corner. The screen you can see in that image is actually a photograph of a previous player

What a great video, I'm a Fife Flyers fan and I really liked the review of the league and our rink, subbed

I'm a Belfast Giants fan and yeah the tv in the corner is how we view the replays and dance cams etc

Not sure if anyone posted this, but at 2:17 there is a score clock in that arena. It's to the left of the video screen. You can see the yellow and red lights like a High School score clock. They probably have 2 of those on each side. At 15:20 there is a score clock the same as I mentioned before, it's in the back left and on the right side that's cut off.

There is a score clock at the Giants Arena it's sometimes not there as the arena goes between quick transitions of events

The Sabres arena is basically on the water. I forget which battleship is stationed there but it's right next to Lake Erie. You can actually see Canada across the lake

The score clock in the Pensacola bay center has a “screen” on it but it doesn’t have enough pixels to show replays or any of that

I'm from the UK and this is great to see

Great video

Guildford Flames have only just joined the Elite league, I believe it is their first season in the top flight. Yes 30 miles south west of London. The building is called The Spectrum

Braehead Arena is built into a Shopping Mall. The arena is housed in the complex on the right

Great video and I can't wait to see the history of nyr my favorite team

As a Canadian living in the UK (Edinburgh specifically, play at the Murrayfield Ice Rink) it's so interesting to see all the rinks here and how they differ so much for town to town. In Canada all the new rinks kind of look the same: 2 to 4 ice pads and don't have a whole lot of personality so it's cool to still see these older rinks that were built a bit different from their North American counterparts and have a uniqueness about them. Murrayfield definitely has some of the better ice that I've played on over here but yea, being as old as it is has cramped dressing rooms and lacks some amenities. It's kind of ironic the one guy said it looked like a fairgrounds when in fact it was at one time in its early days and is probably why it has that look. It's nice though and has a community feel about it. (P.S Edinburgh Capitals folded last year) One of the teams I'm on plays out of Hull and while the arena is older it seems to be holding up well, has larger dressing rooms than many of the rinks I've seen and good quality ice. Having played an away game in Guildford, I can say it's pretty nice all around structurally and with good ice to boot. I've also played Planet Ice Solihull and wasn't a big fan of it. I found the ice to be kind of soft and after a couple periods was just so slow. The dressing rooms didn't all have showers and you had to go to another changing room on the other side of the ice to do so. Given that our game was before public skating, there was a good 30 to 40 people watching as we made our way in underclothes and towels and was a bit odd for both parties... Honestly though, I'm just so glad there's hockey over here too and passionate people that support it. :)

On the Belfast giants one that pic that you showed from the outside was the back entrance there is another entrance at the front of the building and they do have a reply screen it just wasn’t up on the match. I’m a very big Belfast Giants fan by the way

Being a Belfast Giants fan I can talk in some more detail so the Giants have a RU-vid channel where they show full games and highlights. There are two screens opposite each other that shows the game and score. During the breaks there are people who give away pizza and cookies and sometimes mini games on the ice also there is a subway Canon. It's really fun. A wee fact: in the 2010s the Giants played a preseason game against the Boston Bruins.

I go and watch Guildford Flames sometimes and it's definitely not a pleasure palace like you think lol it's called Guildford Spectrum and has a swimming pool there as well.

Murrayfield ice rink is under scrutiny, the team is wanting to move ( + It is beside Murrayfield stadium Scotland national rugby stadium )

To many comments ro read but the score clock for the Belfast Giants is up in the corner just left of the tv screen. Many old arenas in Sweden has those kinds that's why I recognized it. I am guessing lot's of teams have it like that on the wall.

I like the rapport & calm interactions these two have. Really enjoyed this & them being kind with their views on the Storm Shelter (Manchester), as it's a complete s**thole; but with a great atmosphere. Got to get to Fife, it has a somewhat art deco look about it. Cheers

Planet Ice at MK actually has a bar on the first floor overlooking the ice arena but cannot be seen in the photo as it's located behind the camera.