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The National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) (formerly the English National Ice Hockey League or ENIHL) is a set of amateur ice hockey leagues below the English Premier Ice Hockey League which is administered by the English Ice Hockey Association. It was announced on 17 May 2012, that as the league now includes several teams from Scotland and Wales as well as England, it will be renamed the National Ice Hockey League from season 2012/13.〔http://www.facebook.com/SlapshotScotland〕 The league is split into two regions, North and South, meaning teams aren't travelling the length of the country for away games. Each region has 2 divisions, with promotion and relegation between the divisions in each region. South Division 2 is further split into western and eastern conferences, with an end of season playoff to find an overall division champion. The North have named their divisions; Moralee Conference (Division 1) and Laidler Conference (Division 2). The league is now the third tier in ice hockey after the demise of the British National League. ==History== The ENIHL was formed in 1996. In April 2007, the EIHA lowered the upper age limit within the junior leagues, abolishing the under 19 age limit to become under 18. Due to the large gap from junior level to the EPIHL, many teams were forced to enter a reserve team into the ENIHL. This increased the size of the league from 22 teams through to 30 teams for the 2007/2008 season.〔(History ), Vectis Tigers (last accessed 13 April 2009)〕 Later in the 2007 off-season, the EIHA suggested introducing an under 25 age limit across the league.〔(ENGLISH ICE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION COMPANY LIMITED MEETING OF DIRECTORS 8TH JUNE 2007 ) (last accessed 13 April 2009)〕 However, this age limit was removed within weeks in favour of a drive towards developing players.〔(News from the ENIHL AGM - Under 25's Age Limit Removed ), Invicta Dynamos (last accessed 13 April 2009)〕 Following the 2012/2013 the league was renamed the National Ice Hockey League, removing the words English due to non-English teams participating. In 2013, it was agreed at the EIHA AGM to restructure the Northern league into two conferences; Moralee and Laidler. The split was done primarily on regions and neither conference was regarded as being higher than the other. However, at the following year's AGM, it was agreed to return to a tiered Division 1 and Division 2 format. However, the conference names remained in place with Division 1 taking the Moralee Conference title and Division 2 the Laidler Conference title. In 2014, it was agreed at the EIHA AGM to restructure the Southern Division 2 league to have Western and Eastern Conferences. Due to the odd-number of teams in the league, the Eastern Conference had six teams while the Western Conference had five teams. Both conferences were run completely separately and each winner was only regarded as being the conference winner, with no implication of one conference winner being regarded as the league winner. A two-round playoff format was introduced at the end of the season to determine a league-wide winner. The winner of the playoffs would then be the team promoted to Division 1. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「English National Ice Hockey League」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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