Another year has presented another race for glory for the Cardiff Redhawks ice hockey team at the annual British University Ice Hockey Association (BUIHA) Nationals, which is a championship play-off tournament hosted in Sheffield every April. This yearÔÇÖs edition will take place over the weekends of April 12th-13th and 19th-20th.
The Redhawks are a team composed of students from all South Wales and Bristol universities, welcoming players of all abilities and both sexes.
The Redhawks are looking to have their most successful year ever at the event, as both the ÔÇÿAÔÇÖ and ÔÇÿBÔÇÖ teams look to win their respective play-off championships, playing against university teams from all over the UK for the first time in the clubÔÇÖs history.
The Redhawks ÔÇÿAÔÇÖ team hasnÔÇÖt had the best of times in its 2013/14 season, finishing near the bottom in the BUIHA Division One South and subsequently being relegated into Division Two South for the 2014/15 season. However, in this yearÔÇÖs Tier Two Nationals, the team have been ranked first, showing their potential to take home the prize and be the first Cardiff team to do so in over two years.
Their captain and coach Mike Gross, who has been playing for the Redhawks for over three years, is confident that they can take home the silverware against their biggest rivals, including UCL, Edinburgh, Nottingham and Oxford Vikings. Their progress can be followed live on Twitter or the BUIHA website.
The 2013/14 season for the Redhawks ÔÇÿBÔÇÖ team has been a rather mixed one. Massive highs and excellent team performances mixed in with some tough defeats gave them a wide range of results, and subsequently a win percentage around the 50 per cent mark. Breaking it down game by game, it points towards a potentially successful campaign at the Nationals.
The season has led to some star performances from club president Joel Kellam, who is currently standing in first place in the UK for assists, a considerable effort given his teamÔÇÖs midtable position in the standings. From a team perspective, the other highlights have included home wins against Imperial College London and Southampton Spitfires.
Over the season, they have also managed to beat each team in the league at least once. This is a commendable achievement, especially given the fact that often teams have been fielding some exceptionally strong and experienced players, something the ÔÇÿBÔÇÖ team havenÔÇÖt always been able to contribute to each game.
Another glowing positive on reflection of the season is the fact that the womenÔÇÖs Redhawks have managed to finish ahead of some notable teams in the standings, none more so than Oxford Blues and Cambridge Blues, two prestigious clubs who boast many years of history and worldwide acclaim.
Regarding the aforementioned Nationals, the Redhawks can enter them with some high hopes of progressing to the latter stages of the competition and thus hopefully to at least emulate last yearÔÇÖs credible performance of a semi-final finish.
However, they have been drawn in a strong group this year and have been ranked seventh out of the 12-team section. This, in turn, means that they are seeded higher than teams such as the very strong outfits of Sheffield, Warwick, Northumbria, Southampton and Oxford.
Whether the teams can capitalise on their chances at the Nationals remains to be seen, but hopes are high that the Cardiff Redhawks can progress out of the initial rounds.
Sam Johnson
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