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Elite League Info

The Elite Ice Hockey League is a professional league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003, it is the highest level of ice hockey competition in the UK.

Ten teams from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland currently compete in the Elite League.

Professional ice hockey has been played in the UK since the 1930s and the Great Britain team won the Olympic gold medal in 1936.

Ice hockey is now the number-one attended indoor professional sport in the UK and overall it is the third largest winter spectator sport in the UK after football and rugby union.

ELITE LEAGUE

The Elite League is a 10-team league with each side facing each other six times – three home and three away for a total of 54 games.

The league champion is the team with the highest number of points over the regular season.

PLAYOFFS

Knockout Stages

a. The teams placed one to eight at the end of the regular season will take part in the quarter-finals of the Playoffs in a two-legged aggregate encounter, with the overall winner of each series progressing further in the competition.

b. Seedings for the Playoffs are based on final league standings at the conclusion of the regular season. The Elite League winners will be seeded #1 for the playoffs, the league runners-up #2 and so on down to #8.

c. The 1st seed will play the 8th seed, 2nd v 7th, 3rd v 6th and 4th v 5th. The higher seed in each quarter-final will get the choice of when they play their home leg.

Playoff Finals Weekend – POFW

a. Playoff Finals Weekend takes place at the end of the season, with the semi-finals taking place on the Saturday and the third v fourth-placed match and Grand Final on the Sunday.

b. All games played at POFW are standalone with the two semi-final winners progressing to the Grand Final on the Sunday and the two losing teams the third v fourth-placed match.

c. Seedings for the semi-final and final will be determined by the original quarter-final ranking, so the highest-placed team left in the playoffs will be ranked as the highest seed.

i. The highest seed will play the lowest seed in the first semi-final, with the remaining seeds playing in the second semi-final.

ii. The highest seeded team in each game will have the home advantage.

CHALLENGE CUP

Group Stage
There are three groups:

  • Group A: Belfast Giants, Dundee Stars, Fife Flyers, Glasgow Clan (1 Home, 1 Away)
  • Group B: Cardiff Devils, Coventry Blaze, Guildford Flames (2 Home, 2 Away)
  • Group C: Manchester Storm, Nottingham Panthers, Sheffield Steelers (2 Home, 2 Away)

Group winners will advance directly to the quarter-finals as top seeds.

The remaining seven teams shall be ranked according to their points percentage, with those placed four to eight also advancing to the quarter-finals. The teams ranked ninth and tenth will be eliminated.

In the event of a tie, teams will be separated according to the tie-break rules.

Knockout Stages
The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played as home and away over two legs, with the aggregate scoring determining the winners.

The Challenge Cup final is a one-off final, usually held at the venue of the highest seed remaining in the competition.