Video: Owen Shipton talks varsity on Sports Week
Nottingham’s two universities do battle in varsity’s showpiece ice hockey event at the Motorpoint Arena tonight (Thursday March 30).
Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham lock horns on the ice with countywide pride on the line and an all important point in the varsity series.
Last year Trent emerged victorious for the first time in four years with a 9-5 win.
The game is the biggest ice hockey varsity match outside of America and the overall score between the two in the series is currently 5-3 to University of Nottingham.
The teams face-off at 7.15pm.
In the pink corner, Nottingham Trent University’s vice president of sport Matt Nicholson said: “It’s the highlight of their sporting career to this point, being able to play in Nottingham’s best venues and everyone comes together to support each university.
“It’s great to see some of the smaller sports showcased that you don’t really get to see that often.
“We send a lot of students into local schools and we can help affect the local community through coaching but also we have some great partnerships with professional clubs.”
In the green corner, University of Nottingham’s sports officer Lauren Heria said: “It means so much to the students – our teams compete throughout the year but both universities really get behind them and want to see their teams win.
“I was lucky enough to play in five varsities for football and futsal and it never got any less nerve wracking.
“It’s a great experience playing in some of the sports that are up-and-coming so being able to play at County’s ground Meadow Lane and in front of 600 people for futsal is just something that you don’t forget.”
Varsity runs until Sunday May 14.
