The women’s ice hockey season will come to a thrilling conclusion in Sheffield this weekend at the WNIHL Finals.
Bauer Arena at iceSheffield will be the venue for 13 games across three days from Friday 31 May to Sunday 2 June.
Play-off titles for the Elite League, Division 1 and Division 2 will be decided, as well as the U16s National Championship. The final game of the weekend will be the Elite League final, taking place at 4pm on the Sunday.
Ticket prices have been held at last year’s level – just £5 for the whole weekend, and under 12s are FREE!
Below, we’ve compiled everything you need to know ahead of the event.
Preview
There’s plenty to look forward to across the divisions, with lots of silverware up for grabs.
Queen Bees enter the weekend as favourites to be crowned WNIHL Elite play-off champions, having finished three points clear of the rest at the end of the regular season.
However, Solihull Vixens also enjoyed an impressive campaign and will be keen to seal glory themselves. The two sides last met in mid-March, with Solihull edging a high-scoring affair 6-5 at Slough Ice Arena.
Before then, the weekend’s action will kick off with the U16s semi-finals, with the top two sides from the northern and southern divisions taking part.
WNIHL U16 North regular season champions Whitley Bay Beacons will open up against London Capitals, then southern conquerors Chelmsford Rattlesnakes will do battle with Sheffield Shadows.
Friday’s action will conclude with the much-anticipated Elite play-off between Streatham Storm and Swindon Topcats, who finished top of the WNIHL 1 after winning 12 of their 16 regular season fixtures and losing just once.
An action-packed Saturday schedule includes the semi-finals from the WNIHL Elite, WNIHL 1 and WNIHL 2 divisions.
Like the U16s section, the WNIHL 2 was also regionalised, meaning the top two from the north/south have qualified for the WNIHL Finals.
A perfect 14 wins from 14 saw the Caledonia Steel Queens exert their dominance in the northern section, while Cardiff Comets left it until the final round of fixtures to edge Cambridge Kodiaks and secure the regular season title in the south for a second season running, losing just once in the league during their 2023/24 campaign.
Sunday’s action will see all four finals take place, commencing with the U16s at 9am. This will be followed by the WNIHL 2 final (11am), WNIHL 1 (1:15pm) and WNIHL Elite (4pm) finals.
Schedule
The weekend schedule can be found below:
Game # Face off Time Scheduled game
Friday
1 4.00pm U16 semi-final 1: Whitley Bay Beacons vs London Capitals
2 5.45pm U16 semi-final 2: Chelmsford Rattlesnakes vs Sheffield Shadows
3 7.30pm Elite play-off: Swindon Topcats vs Streatham Storm
Saturday
4 9.00am W1 semi-final 1: Kingston Diamonds vs Bristol Huskies
5 11.15am W1 semi-final 2: Swindon Topcats vs Firebees
6 1.30pm Elite semi-final 1: Solihull Vixens vs Guildford Lightning
7 3.45pm Elite semi-final 2: Queen Bees vs Kingston Diamonds
8 6.00pm W2 semi-final 1: Caledonia Steel Queens vs Cambridge Kodiaks
9 8.15pm W2 semi-final 2: Cardiff Comets vs Telford Wrekin Raiders
Sunday
10 9.00am U16 final: TBC
11 11.00am W2 final: TBC
12 1.15pm W1 final: TBC
13 4.00pm Elite final: TBC
Live streaming
Live streaming will be available for the WNIHL Finals Weekend.
A weekend streaming pass that covers all 13 fixtures across the WNIHL Finals costs just £5! Live streaming passes can be purchased here: www.eih.ticketco.events/uk/en.
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