The Wembley Lions were an English ice hockey team.
15-683: The team were founded in 1934 but showed a continuity with the London Lions team which had played at various venues since 1924. The Wembley team were based at the newly built Empire Pool in Wembley Park , which they shared with the Wembley Monarchs until 1950. The team entered the English National League , winning it in 1935-36 and 1936–37. After a break during World War II , they returned and again topped
30-441: A best-of-three game final series among the top two teams. CAHA representative W. A. Hewitt announced the shortening of the series due to poor attendance. The game between Hershey and Winnipeg was cancelled as both teams went home early, and a final best-of-three series between Sudbury and Wembley. Sudbury and Wembley completed the best-of-three series each with a win, loss and tie. Since Wembley had travel plans to return to Europe,
45-1030: A world's amateur club team champion, hosted at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, and invited the champions of the Allan Cup and the Memorial Cup , the Eastern Amateur Hockey League and the English National League. The world's amateur title was contested by the Wembley Lions, the Hershey Bears , the Sudbury Tigers , and the Winnipeg Monarchs . The schedule was a six-game double round-robin tournament from April 17 to 24, followed by
60-571: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . London Lions (ice hockey) The London Lions were an independent professional ice hockey team in London, England , that played 72 games during the 1973–74 season against the top European hockey teams. It was started by Detroit Red Wings owner Bruce Norris with a vision of building a league to be affiliated with the National Hockey League (NHL). The vice-chairman of
75-649: The Canadian Expeditionary Force and was posted to the UK as an infantry officer during World War One. While fighting on the western front in France he was wounded twice before being transferred to the cavalry where he became the army sabre champion. After the war he moved back to Nova Scotia Canada with a woman he met and married in while stationed in England. He spent a few years before returning to
90-590: The Stanley Cup playoffs against the traditional North American NHL teams. The league did not gain support and never started play. The team was named for an earlier London Lions, which was founded in 1924 by Blane Sexton , played at Westminster from 1927, then at Golders Green and the Hammersmith Palais until 1934, when they moved to Wembley Arena as the Wembley Lions . In 1930, they won
105-763: The United Kingdom but across Europe. Known in Europe as B.N.Sexton he was inducted into the UK Hockey Hall of fame in 1950. Sexton was born Blaine Nathaniel Sexton to Mr. and Mrs. John Sexton in Falmouth, Nova Scotia . He was a student at the King's College School where the game of hockey was started. He then started to play for the Windsor Swastikas . With the outbreak of war Sexton joined
120-638: The British team in the 1928 Olympic tournament . In 1924 he founded the London Lions a hockey team mainly composed of expatriate Canadians. The Lions made it to the finals of the 1924/25 Coupe de Davos and made it through to the quarterfinals of the prestigious club tournament – the Spengler Cup. In May 1930 during the first playoffs for the British League title Sexton pushed the Lions to defeat
135-525: The Glasgow 2–1 to win the Patton Cup, a title they held for one more year. At almost 40 Sexton was selected for the British team during the first World Championships staged in 1930, Great Britain came last. When Sexton turned 40 at the end of the 1932–33 season he retired to concentrate on his canning plants. He was one of the last players to use the 'D' or automobile bladed skates. His retirement saw
150-481: The UK because his wife was homesick. In the UK as well as mainland Europe he was instrumental in advancing the sport of Hockey. Known as England's "MISTER HOCKEY" newspaper reports of the time show that Sexton was lead hockey player in Europe. In 1924 he was a member of the British ice hockey team , which won the bronze medal. The same year, he founded the London Lions team. Four years later he finished fourth with
165-675: The end of the London Lions when the team moved to Wembley Arena as renamed the Wembley Lions . The team was reformed in the 1970s by Detroit Red Wings owner Bruce Norris . Sexton's business in the London fruit brokers and commission merchants went on to become a successful enterprise. Sexton was inducted to the British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950 and died in Folkestone , England , in 1966. In 1993 he became
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#1732787040628180-501: The first ever British Championship . Blane Sexton Blaine Nathaniel Sexton (3 May 1891 – 29 April 1966) was a British ice hockey player who competed in the 1924 Winter Olympics and in the 1928 Winter Olympics . In 1916 he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and fought in the trenches of France on the Western Front during World War I . After the war he was instrumental in not only expanding Ice Hockey in
195-503: The league in 1951–52. In 1954, Lions joined the new British National League , which they won this championship in 1956/7. The League collapsed in 1960, and faced with the prospect of no regular league matches, the team folded. Inspired by the success of Brighton Tigers , who had continued to play without a league, Lions reformed in 1963 to play friendly matches and continued until 1968. The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) arranged an international tournament aimed to determine
210-466: The series was decided by sudden death overtime period played immediately after the third game finished. Sudbury then won the series on a goal by George Hastie in the 15th minute of play. Notable players include: This article related to sport in London is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about an English sports club is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This European ice hockey team-related article
225-450: The team was John Ziegler , who went on to become president of the NHL in 1977. The Lions played their home games at Wembley Arena and had a record of 52 wins, 13 losses and 7 ties. They toured Europe to promote a proposed European professional ice hockey league, originally scheduled to start for the 1974–75 season. The original plan for this new league was to have the top teams participate in
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