Ice Hockey's Oldest Rivalry

The Oxford versus Cambridge ice hockey Varsity Match is the oldest fixture in the sport with the original match taking place in St Moritz in the Swiss Alps in 1885. Subsequent matches took place in 1895 on the lake at Blenheim Palace outside of Oxford and in 1900 at the newly formed Prince’s Skating Club in London, with a 7-6 win for Oxford. The early Varsity Matches had a profound impact on the game of ice hockey; developing the sport in Europe from the late nineteenth century game, ‘hockey on the ice’, to what we now know as the modern-day game of ice hockey.

The Oxbridge ice hockey Varsity Match rivalry has continued to this day and has evolved into a series of annual matches between the Oxford and Cambridge ice hockey clubs: the Men’s Blues Varsity Match (est.1885), the Women’s Blues Varsity Match (est.1982), the Mixed 2nds Varsity Match (Oxford Vikings A vs Cambridge Narwhals, est.1922), and the Mixed 3rds Varsity Match (Oxford Vikings B vs Cambridge Huskies, est.2018). Recent milestone events include the Men’s Blues 100th Varsity Match which was played outdoors in St Moritz Switzerland in 2018, and the Women’s Blues 38th Varsity Match which was played in Courchevel France at the invitation of OUIHC alumnus, John McCall MacBain. The newest Varsity fixture, the Vikings B, played their inaugural Varsity Match in Oxford in 2018, coinciding with the Men’s Blues 100th, with the Oxford team being awarded the inaugural trophy, The Stanley Puck, by Lord Stanley, son of the 19th Earl of Derby.

Varsity Match Trophies

Several iterations of the Men’s Blues Varsity Match trophy have existed over the lifespan of the Club. The first evidence of a Varsity Match trophy is a photograph from 1910 showing the Wengen Cup, which was used between 1909-1914 but was lost after the first world war. In 1927, the Patton Cup was introduced as a Varsity Match trophy, donated by British referee Major B.M. Patton, however this too went missing in the 1960s. In the early 2000s the Wengen and Patton Cups were recovered under mysterious circumstances, with the Patton Cup being used again until 2015, but both trophies have since been moved to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada, where they are housed alongside historic OUIHC jerseys. The OUIHC and Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club (CUIHC) now compete for the King Edward VII Cup — a new trophy which better represents the history and legacy of both teams.

The King Edward VII Varsity trophy

The King Edward VII Varsity Trophy

His Majesty King Edward VII was an alumnus of both Oxford and Cambridge having matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1859 and transferred to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1861. The King was an early pioneer of British ice hockey and played several prominent games while the Prince of Wales – prior to the establishment of the Oxford-Cambridge Ice Hockey Varsity Match – which attracted significant interest to the sport in England.

In the winter of 1895, Prince Edward organised and captained a team from Sandringham House, his personal household. On 15 February 1895, the Prince of Wales’s Sandringham team played a team from the House of Commons on the lake at Buckingham Palace and in doing so Prince Edward brought together a number of alumni from both Oxford and Cambridge. In addition to Edward VII, there were three Oxford alumni and five Cambridge alumni between the two teams.

The Commons team had an impressive roster and among its players were the future British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour, Victor Cavendish – who would later become the eleventh Governor General of Canada – and Lord Stanley, the sixth Canadian Governor General and namesake of the famed Stanley Cup. The Prince of Wales and Sandringham defeated the House of Commons 8–5.

Five days after the Prince of Wales’s match against the House of Commons, teams from Oxford and Cambridge met on the lake at Blenheim Palace to play the first recorded ice hockey Varsity Match played in England. Given King Edward’s support of the sport of ice hockey, his attendance at both universities, and the participation of Oxbridge alumni in 1895 days before the Varsity Match, the King Edward VII Varsity Match Cup seems a fitting tribute to the history and legacy of the OUIHC and the CUIHC.

The Cup is engraved with the complete records of the Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Matches (only the winning team and the year) since the inaugural match held in the winter of 1885. We are grateful to the Lord Chamberlain and Her Majesty the Queen for giving us the approval to name this trophy after King Edward VII.

The original Women’s Blues Varsity Match Trophy

The Women’s Blues Varsity Trophy: the Coyne Cup

With the inaugural Women’s Blues Varsity Match taking place in 1982, the club (notably Women’s team founder, Deborah Coyne) was an early pioneer for women’s ice hockey in the UK, setting up the first women’s league, and establishing the women’s Varsity fixture with a newly formed Cambridge team. From 1982 to 2018, the Women’s trophy was known as the Varsity Match Trophy, However, In 2019, a new Women’s Varsity Match trophy was introduced, the Coyne Cup, in recognition of Coyne’s outstanding contributions to women’s ice hockey, the founding of both the Oxford and Cambridge teams, and the establishment of the Women’s Varsity Match. Fittingly, Deborah’s sister, Barbara Coyne, also participated in the rivalry in 1985-86 as a member of the Cambridge team whilst their father and uncle had also played for the OUIHC previously. The Coyne Cup is a fitting tribute to both the founding of the women’s Varsity Match and the hockey legacy of the Coyne family.

The Development Varsity Trophy: The Stanley Puck

In 2018, the OUIHC and CUIHC introduced the fourth Varsity fixture of the series, the Development Team Varsity Match. The winner of this fixture is awarded The Stanley Puck, which was presented to the Oxford captain by Lord Stanley. The Club thanks Lord Stanley and Rt. Hon. Edward Stanley, 19th Earl of Derby for approval of the namesake of the trophy.

Right: The Stanley Puck trophy

Awarding of Oxford Blues

The highest sporting accolade a student of Oxford University can attain is the Oxford Blue, awarded for outstanding performance during the Varsity Match – the athletic competition between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. Made famous by the (Rugby) Varsity Match, the Boat Race, and a number of novels and films, Blues are a prestigious award recognising the prowess of the top student-athletes at the University and among past recipients are a number of Olympians and noted British and international athletes. Recipients of the Oxford Blue are referred to ‘Blues’ and are awarded the coveted Blues Blazer, a traditional garment embodying achievement and the Oxbridge rivalry.

Ice hockey Blues have been awarded since the 1933 Varsity Match to the most skilled OUIHC players on both the Men’s and Women’s Blues teams (with the exception of a brief loss of Blues Status by the men’s team in 2013-2014). 

In 2019, the Men’s Blues Captain, Fabian Sivnert, introduced the awarding of the Ice Hockey White, a team award given by the Blues Captain exclusively to athletes who are ineligible to compete in the annual Blues Varsity Match but have otherwise performed and distinguished themselves at a similarly high standard. With the full support of the Oxford University Sports Federation and the Blue’s Committee, recipients include Oxford University staff, alumni, and students from Oxford Brookes University.

OUIHC players wearing the coveted Oxford Blues blazers (left, middle) and the Ice Hockey White blazer (right).

The Oxford vs Cambridge Sporting Rivalry

The rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge is the oldest in the English-speaking world and traces back to 1209 when scholars fleeing Oxford founded the University of Cambridge. This rivalry was subsequently translated onto the pitch, the water, and the rink. The historic Oxbridge sporting rivalry dates to the early nineteenth century with the advent of the Boat Race. The Varsity Matches are the pinnacle of this rivalry and are the highlight of the University sporting calendar.

Right: Oxford beat Cambridge in the 100th Ice Hockey Varsity Match in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Photo credit: Pardeep Sooch.

Within the Varsity Match fixture Oxford is referred to as the Dark Blues and Cambridge as the Light Blues. History tells us that this originated with the first Boat Race in 1829 in which the majority of the Oxford crew wore the dark blue stripes of their college – Christ Church. The second Boat Race, held in 1836, saw the Cambridge boat sporting the light blue of Eton College (school colour since 1625). The respective colour is used in the coveted Blues Blazer for both universities, embodying the rivalry of the Oxbridge Varsity Matches.