Oxford University (Ice Hockey) Club reform Men’s Blues team
It has been two seasons since the split of the men’s Blues players from the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club (OUIHC), players that made up a team that formerly held Blues status with the Men’s Blues Committee as well as registration with the University Sports Federation. Since the disaffiliation of the top men’s team, the second team, the Oxford Vikings, took up the mantle as the sole University men’s ice hockey team. However, due the extraordinary success of the Vikings in the 2013-14 season, the Club decided to re-form the Blues team, the “Oxford University Blues”, and enter them back into the top tier of university ice hockey.
Since the start of the season, the revived Men’s Blues team have had their fair share of ups and downs. One such obstacle has been competition for recruitment with the Oxford Ice Hockey Trust, a charity and team established since the split and run by the players who orchestrated the breakaway from the University club. This team does not represent the University of Oxford and cannot earn Oxford Blues, instead they are governed by a chairman and have no affiliation to the University.
The current Men’s Blues team, jointly with the Women’s Blues team and our talented hockey neighbours from Brookes University, collectively known as the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club, strive to create and promote a fun, integrated, and inclusive community that is in keeping with values that initiated the formation of the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club in 1921 when Englishmen and Rhodes scholars united to form a joint club.
Through the club and respective Blues teams, new players have an opportunity earn a coveted Oxford Blue, the highest sporting accolade that Oxford awards to it’s student-athletes and gain admission to Vincent’s Club. Such Oxford sporting alumni include Olympians Sir Matthew Pinsent, Sir Roger Bannister and specific to hockey – Lester B. Pearson and Clarence Campbell.
The Oxford University Blues hope to continue the success of ice hockey at Oxford that the club has enjoyed since it’s golden era in the 1920’s-30’s with the hope of re-instating an official Blues Ice Hockey Varsity Match that has not been played since 2012.