Many players from Great Britain’s bronze medal winning Women’s team will be in action this weekend in Sheffield as the domestic women’s hockey season reaches its conclusion with EIHA Trophy Weekend – in essence the women’s playoff finals weekend.
This is the first Trophy Weekend under the new three division format adopted last summer with finals for Elite, Premier and Division 1 in addition to the traditional U16 girls final.
The Bauer Arena @ Ice Sheffield is the venue for this weekend’s festival of women’s ice hockey, with ten games in total across two days – and admission all weekend is free!
EIHA Women’s Committee are continuing the fundraising for RNLI which began at Conference weekend and has raised over £2,000 so far. Programmes, raffle and 50-50 will all be on sale to add to this fantastic total.
In the Elite League semi finals, champions Bracknell Queen Bees will face arch rivals Kingston Diamonds, while Sheffield Shadows on home ice will take on Solihull Vixens.
The Premier League action sees Swindon Topcats and MK Falcons clash, while Widnes Wild and Streatham Storm make up the second semi final.
Whichever team wins the Division One title this weekend has the added bonus of promotion to the Premier League, so these north v south semi finals have an added spice. D1 North champions Billingham Wildcats take on Cardiff Comets in the early game, while D1 South winners Invicta Dynamics play Kingston Diamonds.
All semi finals take place on Saturday starting at 9.45am through till around 8.30pm. Sunday is finals day with the three senior division finals plus the u16 girls final, which this year has a new team taking part. Since the u16 was introduced all previous finals were Kingston v Bracknell. While the Ice Bees have once again won the south division, Sheffield Shadows now rule the north so will take their place in the final on Sunday afternoon.
Women’s section Chairman Geoff Hemmerman said: “It is hoped that the format of the Championships will, once again, make the season’s finale a pleasant and memorable occasion for players and spectators alike.
“This may well be the highlight of some player’s ice hockey career and we will try and make it as enjoyable as we possibly can.
“On behalf of the EIHA Women’s LMC, we all look forward to welcoming all players, officials and as many supporters as possible to the Trophy Weekend.”
The full Trophy Weekend schedule is:
Saturday 28 May
G1 0945 WD1 SF – Billingham Wildcats v Cardiff Comets
G2 1130 WPL SF – Swindon Topcats v MK Falcons
G3 1315 WEL SF – Bracknell Queen Bees v Kingston Diamonds
G4 1530 WD1 SF – Invicta Dynamics v Kingston Diamonds
G5 1715 WPL SF – Widnes Wild v Streatham Storm
G6 1845 WEL SF – Sheffield Shadows v Solihull Vixens
Sunday 29 May
G7 1035 WD1 Final – winners G1 v G4
G8 1250 WPL Final – winners G2 v G5
G9 1505 U16 Final – Bracknell Ice Bees v Sheffield Shadows
G10 1650 WEL Final – winners G3 v G7