Despite having had closed leagues for 13 seasons, British hockey is currently undergoing another period of flux as teams swap between leagues. The big issue this year is that all the movement seems to be downwards. It would appear that the current global economic crisis is stretching already weak intra-league links.

It seems that summer is as busy a season for British ice hockey as winter. Stories of teams folding or moving leagues is nothing new and this summer has served up another blockbuster.

It started before the 2008-09 had even finished. Edinburgh Capitals owner, former British national team player Scott Neil, issued a statement on April 3rd exposing what he felt were operating practices within the top level Elite Ice Hockey League that were clearly not being done in the interests of all member clubs. At the same time, it was clear that Basingstoke Bison, Manchester Phoenix and Newcastle Warriors were also being forced to re-evaluate whether they could continue to compete in the EIHL for 2009-10.

With no new teams looking likely to join the league, there was a real fear that the top league of British ice hockey could be reduced to 6 teams.

Strike 1 came on 15th April when Basingstoke were accepted into the 2nd tier English Premier Ice Hockey League. In truth, this wasn't a surprise as Basingstoke had been on life support for several years and had expressed an intention to drop down a league the previous month. However, with 3 other teams already wavering, the debate was whether this would encourage the remaining 9 teams to find common ground.

In the end, only Manchester Phoenix joined Basingstoke in the EPL leaving the EIHL as an 8-team league for 2009-10. While that may be 2 teams less than last season, at least it is still operable. Whether the current unease between Newcastle and Edinburgh and the other 6 teams has been satisfactorily resolved is still not clear. Certainly, they can't afford to lose any more teams and still consider themselves a viable business.

There are rumours going round that the EIHL is looking to fund a team out of the 5,300 seat Braehead Arena in Glasgow. Whether this is to give Edinburgh and, to a lesser extent, Newcastle a neighbour to help reduce their costs or whether it is to give the league an insurance policy should another team go isn't clear, either. But, there are few who are convinced by the story. British ice hockey has tried to establish the sport in the building in the 10 years since the building was completed and failed. For decades, the sport has tried to get a foothold in Glasgow. But a city that is home to the football giants of Rangers and Celtic has continually shown that it has no surplus bandwidth to spend on another sport.

So, what about the EPL? It must be in rude health now with the addition Manchester and Basingstoke, surely? Unfortunately, even they are having their own issues.

On 23rd April, just 8 days after Bison had been accepted by the league, the Isle of Wight Raiders confirmed that their continuation in the league was under threat. Before they were able to confirm 2 weeks later that they were indeed dropping down to the English National Ice Hockey League, Romford Raiders had already announced their own withdrawal.

Romford's withdrawal, in some ways, was the most painful. For them it was nothing to do with economics, it was simply that their landlord didn't want them or the sport. So, despite their u12 side making the British semi-finals just last weekend, all hockey teams from Rom Valley Way found themselves homeless.

However, Isle of Wight's withdrawal was perhaps more enlightening as to the uneasy alliances that closed leagues create. Isolated on an island off the south coast of England, their travel expenses have always been higher than other's. They need to add ferry costs to every away game and they travel further than most. With two EIHL teams now in the league, one of which being at the opposite end of the country, they accepted that they couldn't find the extra £30k they needed to stay in the EPL. The implied subtext here was that, had Basingstoke and Manchester not joined the league, Isle of Wight would not have had to leave.

The league also admitted at the time of Isle of Wight's withdrawal on 6th May that two other clubs were operating under a stay of execution. Bracknell Bees had to find £20k before May 15th if they had any hope of getting the license to operate the team from the rink. While they needed a push over the weekend of the 16th/17th May, it does now look hopeful that they may have been successful, although one must wonder if they can be competitive if money is this tight.

Telford Tigers are now the greater concern. Currently ownerless, they are currently trying to find new owners to take over the club. While no public deadline has been given by the league, they surely don't have much longer. Basingstoke are already selling season tickets and need to know just how many league games that they are going to play.

So, while the EPL has gained two teams, it could be losing up to four. More worrying is whether any other clubs feel that the inclusion of Manchester and Basingstoke pushes the league above their level and forces another summer of discontent in 2010. Certainly, northern clubs have been dismissed in the past as increasing travel costs for the southern teams too far. Manchester's presence in the league will also test whether the league is ready to become English rather than southern as it has in the past.

But, let us finish on one positive note. Rumours are coming out of Romford that hockey has been granted a lifeline. We can only hope that their obituary was written prematurely.