Oxford City Stars will begin the 2021/22 season at NIHL Division One South champions Streatham RedHawks.

Dean Birrell’s side have a double-header on the opening weekend, with a trip to the capital on Saturday, September 18 coming 24 hours before their first home game against Slough Jets.

The pre-Christmas match sees Invicta Dynamos visit Oxpens on December 18, while Stars finish the season at Solent on April 9.

Head coach Birrell said: “We’re looking forward to getting started and after such a long spell without ice hockey everyone is up for it.

“Training is going well and the boys are looking stronger with each passing week.”

Stars director Greig Box Turnbull added: “We’ve all missed ice hockey and now the fixtures are out it feels like reality that it is finally returning.

“Season tickets are now on sale and represent great value.”

Meanwhile, one of the best in the business visited Stars last week.

Great Britain head coach Pete Russell ran a bespoke session for the club’s junior coaches to help develop their skill-sets and boost provision for youngsters.

Head of junior development Darren Elliott said: “This was a landmark moment for our club and demonstrates our desire to take our junior development to the next level.

“We are working on improving our coaching provision and developing as a group so we can provide the best possible coaching to our juniors.

“To receive coaching advice from Pete was first-class and something we could only have dreamed about in the past.”

STARS’ 2021/22 FIXTURE LIST*

  • Sep 18: Streatham (A)
  • Sep 19: Slough(H)
  • Sep 25: Slough (A)
  • Sept 26: MK (H)
  • Oct 2: Bristol (A)
  • Oct 9: Raiders (A)
  • Oct 10: Solent (H)
  • Oct 17: MK (A)
  • Oct 23: Solent (A)
  • Oct 24: Bristol (H)
  • Nov 6: Chelmsford (A)
  • Nov 13: Streatham (H)
  • Nov 14: Invicta (A)
  • Nov 21: Raiders (H)
  • Dec 5: Bristol (H)
  • Dec 18: Invicta (H)
  • Jan 2: Invicta (H)
  • Jan 8: Chelmsford (A)
  • Jan 9: Solent (H)
  • Jan 23: Raiders (A)
  • Jan 30: Raiders (H)
  • Feb 6: Streatham (H)
  • Feb 20: Chelmsford (H)
  • Feb 26: Slough (A)
  • Mar 6: MK (H)
  • Mar 12: Streatham (A)
  • Mar 13: MK (A)
  • Mar 20: Slough (H)
  • Mar 26: Invicta (A)
  • Apr 2: Bristol (A)
  • Apr 3: Chelmsford (H)
  • Apr 9: Solent (A)

PLAY-OFFS AND CUP FIXTURES

  • Cup semi-finals: Dec 4-5 & 11-12
  • Final: January 8-9 & 15-16
  • Play-off quarter-finals: April 16-17
  • Play-off finals weekend: April 23-24
  • National final v N1 champion: May 1

*Face-off times TBC and dates subject to change