When winter comes

For decades, Alexandra Palace has been synonymous with three things - darts, snooker, and gigs. This winter the historic music hall is playing host to another sport - ice hockey - and drawing in hundreds of curious spectators to this hilly stretch of North London on Saturday nights.

The atmosphere at tonight's fourth-tier game between Haringey Huskies and Peterborough Phantoms 2 lies somewhere between the sedateness of the Masters and the boozed-up thrall of the World Darts Championship - both hosted at the People's Palace.

Families gather at the rink's perimeter and couples at the bar, as a chant builds up for the home team warming up on the sidelines - "Let's go Huskies, let's go".

Spectators wrapped in Haringey Huskies hats and scarves holler out a wolf call as the two teams take to the ice.

Before face-off, there's another unique (and very American) element to the sport almost unheard of in the UK outside international matches - the national anthem.

Nine hundred fans stand to attention - some in bemusement - as the tinny drawl of God Save the Queen echoes through the concourse's high-arched chambers.

Then the crowd erupts as the ten outfield players skid, skate, and shove their way toward the vulcanised rubber puck dropped in the centre of the rink.

For the next three quarters, the players will demonstrate a blend of brute physicality in the huddle and unquestionable grace on ice which has made hockey such a loved sport in North America, and increasingly the UK.

While British ice hockey teams no longer draw the crowds they did in the 1980s and 1990s - when 15,000 plus spectators would regularly attend matches in Manchester - the sport is still popular with its die-hard fan base. For Huskies fans, this is one of London's best-kept secrets and a cult-like following has emerged around the sport.

"This is a great local team, they do a lot for charity, they do a lot for kids," one Huskies fan told me.

The game remains a sporting sub-culture and firmly entrenched in its traditional bases - notably Sheffield, Nottingham, and Scotland - but is growing in popularity in and around London, too, despite the area lacking the kind of ice arenas that other cities boast.

"I would say that ice hockey is, locally, very popular in places where it is played and virtually unknown everywhere else," said Tim Stuart, who co-manages the Huskies with his partner Lou Scott.

"That has certainly been my impression for the 25 years I have been watching the sport anyways. It's a cult thing; the people in the know are passionate about it but the population at large don't even notice it exists."

There are 11,148 players in the UK according to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) - including 3,931 juniors - with ice hockey the country's third-most-popular winter sport.

Unlike the UK's two more established winter games - football and rugby - there appears to be plenty of opportunities for growth.

Stuart said that the Peterborough match was probably the largest attendance for the Huskies since the franchise was formed, four years ago, with a 900-plus crowd.

"Back in 2017, the first two or three home games had quite sparse attendances, so there is no doubt that they have increased over the past four years," he said.

"The players deserve a lot of credit for this, as it is the players that people pay their money to watch. They are the draw."

Huskies captain Stephen Woodford said his interest in the sport began when aged five he watched his local team, the Chelmsford Chieftains, and soon after signed up for a hockey camp.

"I was useless but I really enjoyed it and I have been playing hockey now for getting on 22 years," said Woodford.

The Huskies now have a junior team, Haringey Hounds, and young fans who are passionate about the game are encouraged to join.

Leo De Souza, left-winger at the Huskies, said the club are connecting with the local community in Haringey and this could have contributed to attracting bigger crowds.

"It’s something for them to look at and learn from. It gets a lot of kids involved, and a lot of adults as well, and because ice hockey is a bit different it makes it a lot more interesting for the community," he said.

The origins of ice hockey are still hotly debated but the sport is rooted in the British Isles. For decades it was believed that the British took field hockey to frosty Canada and created a winter variation. Later research suggested that indigenous Canadian tribes adapted the Irish game of hurling to work on ice.

Ice hockey exploded in North America in the early 1900s, while Britain became a founding member of the IIHF in 1908. In 1936, Great Britain - with a largely British-Canadian team - won gold in ice hockey at the Winter Olympics.

Despite other successes in the following two decades it is a feat yet to be repeated, and the British team slowly began to fall behind other countries in North America and Europe.

However, with a steady climb up the rankings in the past five years, there is hope the national team could emulate some of the successes of the early 20th century.

Great Britain's men's team is placed a respectable 16th in the IIHF World Rankings and is competing in top-flight hockey for the third season in a row.

Next year, they will head to Finland for the World Championships, a tournament Great Britain has not managed to clinch a top 12 spot in since 1962.

Andy French, General Secretary of Ice Hockey UK - the sport's national governing body - said finishing in the top 12 is a big ask but competing in top-flight hockey is itself a huge achievement.

"Now we are preparing for Finland, which is going to be very difficult for us and obviously our aim is to stay in the (top) division again for a further year, which will then assist us in our attempt to get funding," he said.

Great Britain are now competing with national teams with considerably higher budgets and salaried players and staff. The fact that the Great Britain team is almost entirely amateur and paid only expenses makes their achievements all the more remarkable.

French puts much of the success down to national coach Peter Russell who spent many years working with juniors before heading the seniors.

"The players he was coaching, every single one bar a couple, he had coached at under-18s and under-20s and they are still there. He knew them, they knew him, and he already had their respect," French said.

"I used to call him the 'drill doctor' because of all the drills he invented himself. He used to walk around with this big book of drills. I think he's a very, very good coach."

The challenge now will be to bring a new generation of players through to the national team.

"This is where it will get tough for him because a lot of the current players have maybe one or two years left in them, so he needs to find new talent coming through but that takes time," French said.

This will mean tapping into the top-tier Elite Ice Hockey League for young talent although with no domestic hockey played in the UK last season due to Covid this could prove a challenge.

"I think the next generation could be, should be, and needs to be, as successful as the current one but we are worried that Covid has had an impact," French said.

"We lost hockey for a year-and-a-half where some people probably decided to pack it in because they got a girlfriend, or watched TV, or played on their computers and don't want to go to the rink anymore."

He hopes the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing with televised ice hockey will interest more youngsters in the sport.

"Every four years, the Olympic Games is a massive boost for our sport... public skating goes through the roof, people want to try ice hockey, and maybe 1 in 100 will carry on playing it," he said.

The presence of dozens of NHL players in China next year will be a big draw for fans of the game.

Could the world's premier hockey league follow their North American counterparts in the NFL and MLB and play in the UK after a ten-year hiatus?

"It's on our wish list, it's something we want to do as a governing body and it's something the British public want to see because it's quite a while now since the NHL did play in London," French said.

"When they last came they just played the game and left. It would be good if they had more interaction next time, if it happens, with maybe a junior, senior, and women's game in the same weekend."

Back at Ally Pally, the game goes into overtime and the atmosphere is electric with just a single goal deciding the match. Minutes later and the crowd emits an audible groan as the Huskies go 2-3 down to current league leaders Peterborough.

The game is over, but the hard-fought clash reflects the close race between the two teams to clinch the NIHL South East Division 2 championship.

For the fans, the result might have been a disappointment but there was evident hunger for the game after a testing year of lockdowns and freeze on live hockey.

Children rub shoulders with the players when the game ends, something that would be unseen down the road at the Emirates Stadium.

For ice hockey's continued growth, it will require big thinking, financial support, and the fostering of a new generation of players.

With Great Britain's men's and women's national teams experiencing a new golden age, there is plenty of hope for the sport in the UK and the momentum is there to push things forward.