Elite Ice Hockey League

The Odyssey Trust, owners of the Stena Line Belfast Giants and The SSE Arena, Belfast, have announced the second annual Belfast Festival of Hockey and Festival of STEM in November 2016.

Eric Porter, Chairman of the Odyssey Trust, is currently undertaking a visit to Belfast’s Sister City of Boston to officially announce the details of the return of the major ice-hockey and STEM event to Belfast.

'We are extremely thankful to all of our partners who helped make the first annual event a success and just as it did last year, the 2016 Belfast Festival of Hockey and Festival of STEM will be a great boost to the local economy with plenty of positive media coverage for Belfast from across the globe.'

'The Odyssey Trust is proud that ice-hockey is a cross community sport in Belfast and we are delighted at the opportunity to give back to the communities that have supported the sport and the Belfast Giants over the past 16 years. We want to make this event open to all and we expect that the city of Belfast will, once again, open it’s arms to our US guests as well as be excited to see this standard of ice-hockey return to their home arena again in 2016.'

Quinnipiac University, The University of Vermont, St. Lawrence University and University of Massachusetts Amherst will travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland for the 2016 Friendship Four tournament to compete for the Belpot Trophy across Friday 25th and Saturday 26th November. Just as in 2015, each of the teams compete in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division One, the top level of university ice-hockey in the United States with information on ticketing being announced in due course.