Elite Ice × Hockey Station

Hi, A note for The Hockey Station

Elite Ice presented by The Hockey Station

The UK's hockey shop, inside the UK's hockey app.

Elite Ice is the only EIHL companion app in the UK. 299 fans installed it in the last three weeks of the 2025/26 season with zero marketing spend; 130 of them opened it for the playoff final on 18 April. Off-season weekly actives sit at 64 today. September 2026 is the first full-season test, I want Hockey Station to be the founding partner for it, with one paid tier, transparent numbers, and a way out for both of us if the audience does not show up.

Read the idea See it in the app

Platform: iOS & Android
Coverage: All EIHL teams
From: Jamie · Built Elite Ice

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"Presented by Hockey Station" splash

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Belfast Giants roster with Hockey Station gear

Where things actually stand

299 installs. 64 weekly actives off-season. 130 on the playoff final.

Three numbers up front, with the season already over: 299 lifetime installs (140 of them in the first seven days, zero marketing), 64 weekly active users last week, 10 daily actives on average. On the playoff final on 18 April, 130 of those installs opened the app the same night, 43% of the lifetime install base, on one match. 247 of the 299 (83%) set a favourite team on first open. 83 distinct users have tapped a push notification at least once. The product is real, the engagement on match days is real, and the off-season floor is also real and small. September 2026 is the first full-season test, and the numbers below are honest about all of that, not dressed up.

Lifetime installs (iOS + Android)

299

140 in the first seven days, organic, last three weeks of the 2025/26 season
Active on the playoff final (18 April)

130

43% of the lifetime install base, all back on one match night
Weekly actives now (off-season)

64

10 DAU on average over the last 7 days. This is the floor, not the run-rate.
Set a favourite team on first open

83%

247 of 299, installs that turned into engaged users, not bounces

Elite Ice is free, ad-free, no subscription, no in-app purchases. Off-season weekly actives are 64, average DAU is 10, small numbers, stated plainly so we are not arguing about them later. Partnership revenue is the entire business model; there is no fallback if this fails, which is why the price ladder and the symmetric exit below are written for a careful sponsor, not a credulous one.

Why I came to you

You are the first conversation in this category.

I am holding off pitching any other UK hockey retailer until you have said yes or no. Three reasons it is you first, push back if any of them do not ring true.

Your catalogue is what they buy

The people opening the app are stick-and-blade buyers, replacing CCM Tacks, Bauer Vapors, True Catalysts, Bauer skates, helmets, every season. That is your top-line range. There is no creative gymnastics needed to make my users care about your products.

You are already where they shop

There are only a handful of UK shops where serious hockey players buy their kit, and Hockey Station is one of them. Native presence in the app is not introducing a new brand, it is removing the friction between seeing kit on the ice and getting it in their basket.

One shop in there, not two

Elite Ice has no banner ads, no programmatic networks, no Amazon affiliate fallback. On the paid tier you are the only UK hockey retailer in the surface for the term. The whole point is depth of placement, not a roster of competing logos.

In the app

What it would actually look like, mocked up properly.

I would rather show you specifics than wave my hands at "integration opportunities". Here are four moments through a typical EIHL match day, with the Hockey Station co-branding laid out exactly as I would build it.

Cold launch 01

Splash screen

"Elite Ice presented by The Hockey Station"

Every cold launch, the first open of the day for most users, the splash holds for 800ms with the Elite Ice mark above and "presented by The Hockey Station" beneath. Same on the About screen and footer of every page.

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Splash screen mockup

Phone mockup of the Elite Ice cold-launch splash with "presented by The Hockey Station" beneath the app logo
Saturday 6:55pm 02

Team page · Belfast Giants

Hockey Station card above the live score

Five minutes before puck-drop, I pull up the Belfast Giants page to check the lineup. Above the live score, a Hockey Station partner card sits permanently, tappable, deep-linked to a Belfast-curated landing page on thehockeystation.co.uk.

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Team page · Belfast Giants mockup

Belfast Giants team page mockup with a Hockey Station partner card sitting above the live score
Final whistle 03

Push notification

"Belfast 4-3 Cardiff (OT), presented by The Hockey Station"

Final-score pushes go out within 15 seconds of the buzzer with a "presented by The Hockey Station" tag in the body. Opt-in only, around 62% open-rate on match days. No other brand appears in the notification.

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Push notification mockup

iOS push notification mockup reading "Belfast 4-3 Cardiff (OT), presented by The Hockey Station"
Whenever they want kit 04

Bottom nav · Shop

A dedicated Shop tab, your site, inside the app

A persistent Shop tab sits in the app's bottom navigation, alongside Home, Teams and Schedule. Tap it from anywhere, match day, off-season, straight after a final-score push, and thehockeystation.co.uk loads inside the app. Your full catalogue, your search, your checkout, your reporting. Nothing for me to maintain on the products side; it is your website, embedded as a primary tab, always one tap away.

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Bottom nav · Shop mockup

Elite Ice bottom navigation mockup with a "Shop" tab beside Home, Teams and Schedule, opening Hockey Station inside the app

The idea

An opening proposal, open to a different shape.

Two things up front. First, this is a starting point for a conversation, not a take-it-or-leave-it offer, every number, term and surface below is open to discussion, and if a completely different shape works better for you (different price, fewer surfaces, longer or shorter term, performance bonus instead of a flat fee, anything) I would much rather hear it than have you walk away. Second, the maths I have used to land on the number, modelled honestly: one Shop-tab visit per active user per month, 10% click into a product, 5% conversion at £85 AOV. At today's 64 WAU (~250 MAU during a season) that is roughly £100/month gross referred to you, below the £150 fee, which is the honest read at today's scale. At 1,000 MAU (a modest September restart), ~£425/month. At 5,000 MAU (launch-week pace sustained through a season), ~£2,100/month. The symmetric exit below is how the downside is bounded if September never lands.

Founding partner, opening proposal

What I'd ask of you

6 months locked in on the paid tier, then month-to-month with 30 days notice
Category exclusivity for the whole term, no other UK or EU ice hockey retailer in the app
Monthly check-in on what's converting, what's not, what to change
If MAU passes 2,500 during the term, either of us can ask to renegotiate up
If MAU drops below 100 for two consecutive months, you can exit early with no further fees

What you get on the paid tier

Co-branded splash, footer and About screen across every build
A partner card on every team page (all 10 EIHL clubs)
Match-day final-score pushes credited to The Hockey Station
A persistent Shop tab in the bottom nav loading thehockeystation.co.uk inside the app
Affiliate links use your existing Awin/CJ tag, attribution lands in your normal reporting; I never sit between you and the affiliate flow
Monthly dashboard: installs, WAU, MAU, screen impressions, Shop-tab taps, push opens, affiliate referral counts

What I'd need from you

Logos in SVG and brand colours
Your existing Awin or CJ tracked URL into thehockeystation.co.uk
A named contact for creative approvals (48-hour SLA either side)
A signed one-page founding-partner agreement, draft attached as a PDF on request
Brand assets within seven days of signature so the integration ships in the next build

The offer

Founding partner

Splash, team-page cards, push attribution, Shop tab, category exclusivity

£150 / month

Everything described in the four scenarios above, all surfaces
Category-exclusive across every paid surface in the app
6-month term, then monthly with 30 days notice
Symmetric exit: if MAU averages below 100 over any two consecutive months, you can exit with no further fees

Billed monthly in GBP, ex-VAT, invoiced from Jamie Rees (sole trader, UK; not VAT registered at the time of writing). The £150 number is set above today's modelled break-even on purpose, if the September restart lands, the value catches up; if it does not, the symmetric exit ends the term once MAU stays below 100 for two months. None of this is fixed. Push back on the price, the term, what is bundled, the exit floor, anything. I would much rather end up with a deal that works for both of us than a clean signature on a draft you only half-believe in. Happy to jump on a call to talk it through if that is easier than email.

Term 6-month term · category exclusive · symmetric exit at MAU < 100 · monthly thereafter

Hit reply

Excludes VAT. The 2,500 MAU renegotiation trigger and the 100 MAU exit clause are mirror images of each other, designed so both sides can ask to revisit if reality moves materially in either direction. MAU is reported from PostHog and the dashboard is shared monthly so the numbers are not my word against yours.

Things you might want to ask

Saving you the typing.

Have a question we have not answered? Email tidusjar@gmail.com and we will reply within 48 hours.

Is there any IP or trademark risk with EIHL?

I have proactively reached out to EIHL to introduce the app and have not had a response. The app uses each club's logo to identify their team, those logos remain the property of each club, displayed in a fan/editorial context with a clear not-affiliated disclaimer on the launch screen and the About screen. No EIHL-level branding is used (no league logo, no 'EIHL' wordmark in the app's identity), and the fixture and stats data shown is the same publicly available data anyone can see online. Fan apps for other sports leagues operate the same way without objection, the legal distance from anything resembling official endorsement is deliberate.
What if we want a completely different shape of deal?

Then let's talk. The £150/month founding-partner shape is what I think makes sense at today's audience and the work involved, but it is one shape, not the only shape. If you would rather pay less for fewer surfaces, more for an exclusive launch push, a performance bonus instead of (or on top of) the flat fee, a different term, monthly invoicing in a different currency, anything, send what would actually work for you and I will come back with whether I can make it work. Much more interested in a partnership that lands than a clean signature on this draft.
Is this exclusive, really exclusive?

Yes, for the full 6-month term and every rolling month after. No other UK or EU ice hockey retailer appears anywhere inside Elite Ice. No banner ads, no rotating sponsors, no Amazon affiliate fallback, no marketplace search. The category lock covers ice hockey gear, apparel and equipment retailers.
Can you plug into our existing Awin or CJ tracking?

Yes, and simpler than a full feed. The Shop tab loads thehockeystation.co.uk through your tagged URL, so every tap and purchase from inside the app is attributed in your existing Awin or CJ reporting as normal. Same for the team-page partner card. No product feed to maintain, no SKU mapping on my end. I never sit in the middle of the affiliate flow, your existing share is unchanged.
Six months feels like a lot, can it be shorter?

Six months is the shortest term I can offer on this particular shape of deal, the build effort and category exclusivity only make sense across a meaningful slice of the season. The downside is bounded by the symmetric exit: if MAU averages below 100 for two consecutive months, you can leave the term with no further fees. If six months is still a non-starter even with that exit, the answer is not 'no', it is 'let's talk about a different shape' (see the question above). A shorter term at a different price, a performance bonus instead of a flat fee, monthly with no commit at a higher rate, all on the table.
What is the actual ROI math at today’s numbers?

Conservative model: 1 Shop-tab visit per active user per month, 10% click into a product, 5% conversion at £85 AOV. At today's 64 WAU (~250 MAU equivalent during a season) that is roughly £100/month gross referred to you, below the £150 fee, which is the honest read at today's scale. At 1,000 MAU it is ~£425/month; at 5,000 MAU ~£2,100/month. The bet is on September; the symmetric exit clause is how the downside is bounded if it never lands.
How are MAU and the dashboard numbers verified?

MAU and Shop-tab tap counts come from PostHog, which is the analytics tool already running in the app. The monthly dashboard is generated from the same source you would use to challenge it, happy to give you read-only PostHog access for the duration of the term so you can audit the figures yourself rather than take my word for them.
Is Elite Ice officially affiliated with the EIHL?

No, and I am clear about that everywhere. Elite Ice is a fan-built app, not endorsed, affiliated, or licensed by the EIHL or any club. Anything we put together has to make that clear too. I will not let either of us imply official endorsement.
How quickly can you go live after signing?

Native integrations ship in the next app build cycle, usually 7 to 10 days from signature, assuming brand assets and your tracked URL are in my hands. Match-day pushes get scheduled per fixture with 48 hours lead time.
Who am I actually contracting with?

Jamie Rees, sole trader, UK. Not VAT registered at time of writing. Invoices issued from that name. If you need to contract through a limited company for procurement reasons, I can incorporate before signature, let me know in the first reply.

Reply when ready

Up for a conversation?

The whole point of this page is to start a conversation, not to land a signature on the first read. Reply with what works, what does not, what you would change, or just hit reply with 'let's get on a call' and we will talk it through properly. If it is a yes in principle, I will send the one-page founding-partner agreement and a creative-asset checklist the same day. If it is a 'maybe at a different shape', send the shape that would actually work for you, there is a real chance I can make it work.

Email tidusjar@gmail.com

If now is not the right time, tell me what 'right time' looks like, what proof you would want to see, what the September data would need to show, and I will come back when it does.