London Knights
City	London, United Kingdom
League	Ice Hockey Superleague 1998 - 2003
Founded	1998
Folded	2003
Home arena	London Arena (capacity: 12,500)
Colours	Red, navy blue, gold, white
Owner(s)	Anschutz Entertainment Group
Head coach	Jim Brithén
Captain	Paul Rushforth
Championships
Playoff championships	2000

London Knights was anEnglishice hockey team based inLondon. They played in the UK'sIce Hockey Superleague between September1998 and April2003.

The Knights were founded in 1998 byAnschutz Entertainment Group in the hope of being able to partake in theBritish ice hockey boom of the 1990s, when teams likeManchester Storm andSheffield Steelers drew in large crowds of up to 8000 on average and up to 17,000 in single games. Anschutz hoped that a London-based team would help raise the awareness of the sport not only in London, but in the whole of the UK. Furthermore, the team was founded in order to help make the financially strugglingLondon Arena (which was co-owned by Anschutz andSMG) more profitable.

The team shared its name with theOntario Hockey League team, theLondon Knights, but they had nothing to do with each other as the origin of the name came from the then policy ofAnschutz Entertainment Group to brand its ice hockey franchises with a regal theme associated with its flagshipLos Angeles KingsNHL franchise, hence theOntario Reign,Reading Royals and theManchester Monarchs andMunich Barons, both of whom are now defunct as well.

The Knights enjoyed some success in their brief existence. They won theBritish Super League playoffs in 2000, thus becomingBritish league champion, but their biggest success was reaching the final of theContinental Cup in 2001, becoming the first British team to do so and being the most successful British team in the history of the tournament until it was won by theNottingham Panthers in2017. They beatHC Slovan Bratislava 5:2 and the Munich Barons 4:1, but lost to theZSC Lions 0:1.

They were coached byJim Fuyarchuk,Chris McSorley,Bob Leslie andJim Brithén. McSorley would later go on to coach Great Britain and work as assistant coach toTeam Canada. His brotherMarty McSorley, then of theBoston Bruins, was almost signed by the Knights while serving a 100-game ban in theNHL.^[1][2]

Despite their on-ice success, their attendance figures were always rather disappointing as they never drew much more than 3000 people on average^[3] - which certainly wasn't bad considering that before the Knights, there hadn't been a professional ice hockey team in London for decades, but on the other hand, there was certainly much more potential, considering the size of the town, the attendance figures of the other teams in the league and the fact that the arena could hold up to 12,500 people and Anschutz invested much in marketing.

In 2003, the team's arena, theLondon Arena, was sold, and the team were left homeless. There were hopes they would find a temporary home for two years before moving to theO2 Arena in 2005,^[4] but when the Superleague folded after the 2002–03 season, the team announced that it would "not be icing" in the following season, and never returned.

After the demise of the Superleague, theElite Ice Hockey League was founded as its replacement, and theLondon Racers were established as a successor to the Knights, but they were much more low-profile and played ata much smaller venue, and after only two and a half seasons, they folded in late 2005 due to safety problems at their home venue. Since then, there hasn't been a London-based ice hockey team in the top-tier league again.

This table shows the Knights' standings and results^[5] in the BritishIce Hockey Superleague.

The team finished bottom of the league in their first season, but followed that in the1999-2000 season by winning the playoffs, beating theNewcastle Jesters 7–3 in the final.

The Knights became the first British team to reach the finals of theContinental Cup in January 2001, where they narrowly missed taking the title at their first attempt. Their run included a surprise 4-1 win over Anschutz stablemates theMunich Barons, and only a 1-0 loss to eventual champions Zurich Lions denied them further glory. Their silver medal was considered a major success for a British side.^[6]

The Knights performed well in theBensons and Hedges Cup, making two semifinals and one final in three seasons.

The Knights also took part in theChallenge Cup, making three semifinals in five seasons.

The majority of Knights players were Canadian-born; only a handful were British natives. Rich Bronilla is the most-capped Knights player with 125 appearances, and fellow Canadian Ian McIntyre was London's top scorer, with 25 goals. The following is a list of players who played for the Knights.^[7]

• London Knights (UK)
• Ice hockey clubs established in 1998
• Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2003
• Ice hockey teams in London
• Defunct ice hockey teams in the United Kingdom
• 1998 establishments in England
• Sport in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
• Sports clubs and teams established in 1998
• Millwall
• Ice Hockey Superleague

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from February 2015
• Use British English from February 2015
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English