2017–18 EIHL season

The 2017–18 EIHL season was the 15th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season commenced on 9 September 2017 and ended on 25 March 2018. The reigning league champions were the Cardiff Devils, who won the championship for the first time in 2016–17. The Devils retained their regular season title, with a 3–2 victory away at the Belfast Giants on 16 March 2018.[1] The Devils also won the playoff title, beating the Sheffield Steelers – who had defeated the Devils 12 months prior in a 6–5 double overtime game – 3–1 in the final, winning a first playoff title since 1998–99.[7][9]

2017–18 EIHL season
LeagueElite Ice Hockey League
SportIce hockey
Duration9 September 2017 – 25 March 2018
Number of matches336
Total attendance904,161
Regular season
LeagueCardiff Devils[1]
Season MVPJoey Martin (Cardiff Devils)[2]
Top scorerMike Hammond (Manchester Storm)
(83 points)[3]
Challenge Cup
WinnersBelfast Giants[4]
Conference
Erhardt championsCardiff Devils[1]
Gardiner championsFife Flyers[5]
Patton championsManchester Storm[6]
Playoffs
ChampionsCardiff Devils[7]
  Runners-upSheffield Steelers[7]
Finals MVPJustin Faryna (Cardiff Devils)[8]

Teams

The league expanded from ten teams to twelve teams for the 2017–18 season, with the introduction of two former English Premier Ice Hockey League teams; the Guildford Flames and the Milton Keynes Lightning.[10]

Starting from the 2017–18 season, the league featured three conferences of four teams compared to the previous season's two conferences of five teams. The Gardiner Conference became an all-Scottish division, with the Braehead Clan, the Dundee Stars, the Edinburgh Capitals and the Fife Flyers. The Manchester Storm, who were part of the Gardiner Conference in 2016–17, moved to a new Southern conference: the Patton Conference. Also part of the division were the Coventry Blaze (moving from the Erhardt Conference), the Guildford Flames and the Milton Keynes Lightning. The final conference was the Erhardt Conference, consisting of the four "Arena" teams: the Belfast Giants, the Cardiff Devils, the Nottingham Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers.[11]

Team City/Town Conference Arena Capacity
Belfast Giants BelfastErhardtSSE Arena Belfast7,200
Braehead Clan GlasgowGardinerBraehead Arena4,000
Cardiff Devils CardiffErhardtIce Arena Wales3,088
Coventry Blaze CoventryPattonSkyDome Arena3,000
Dundee Stars DundeeGardinerDundee Ice Arena2,400
Edinburgh Capitals EdinburghGardinerMurrayfield Ice Rink3,700
Fife Flyers KirkcaldyGardinerFife Ice Arena3,525
Guildford Flames GuildfordPattonGuildford Spectrum2,001
Manchester Storm AltrinchamPattonAltrincham Ice Dome2,000
Milton Keynes Lightning Milton KeynesPattonPlanet Ice Milton Keynes2,800
Nottingham Panthers NottinghamErhardtNational Ice Centre7,500
Sheffield Steelers SheffieldErhardtMotorpoint Arena9,000

Standings

Overall

All games counted towards the overall Elite League standings. Each team played 56 matches; 24 matches against their three Conference rivals, and 32 against the eight teams from the other Conferences. The Cardiff Devils became regular season champions for the second successive season, with a 3–2 win over the Belfast Giants on 16 March 2018 at SSE Arena Belfast.[1]

Pos Team Pld W L OTL RW GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Cardiff Devils (Q) 56 41 12 3 37 234 149 +85 85 Regular season champions
Qualification to playoffs
2 Manchester Storm (Q) 56 35 16 5 28 216 169 +47 75 Qualification to playoffs
3 Sheffield Steelers (Q) 56 34 19 3 32 217 140 +77 71
4 Nottingham Panthers (Q) 56 33 18 5 25 203 177 +26 71
5 Belfast Giants (Q) 56 34 20 2 30 227 200 +27 70
6 Guildford Flames (Q) 56 30 17 9 27 215 173 +42 69
7 Fife Flyers (Q) 56 33 21 2 27 218 172 +46 68
8 Coventry Blaze (Q) 56 25 26 5 22 189 186 +3 55
9 Braehead Clan 56 24 26 6 24 161 186 25 54
10 Dundee Stars 56 22 30 4 16 167 233 66 48
11 Milton Keynes Lightning 56 20 34 2 16 180 229 49 42
12 Edinburgh Capitals 56 5 50 1 5 118 331 213 11
Source: EIHL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Games won in regulation time; 3) Number of games won; 4) Head-to-head results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 5) Fewest regulation losses; 6) Away game results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 7) Goals scored; 8) Drawing of lots.

Erhardt Conference

Only intra-conference games counted towards the Erhardt Conference standings. Each team played the other three teams in the Conference eight times, for a total of 24 matches. The Cardiff Devils won the Conference for the third season in a row, with a 3–2 win over the Belfast Giants on 16 March 2018 at SSE Arena Belfast.[1]

Pos Team Pld W L OTL RW GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Cardiff Devils 24 15 7 2 13 91 71 +20 32 Conference champions
2 Belfast Giants 24 13 9 2 11 77 83 6 28
3 Sheffield Steelers 24 10 12 2 10 68 63 +5 22
4 Nottingham Panthers 24 10 14 0 8 78 97 19 20
Source: EIHL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Games won in regulation time; 3) Number of games won; 4) Head-to-head results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 5) Fewest regulation losses; 6) Away game results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 7) Goals scored; 8) Drawing of lots.

Gardiner Conference

Only intra-conference games counted towards the Gardiner Conference standings. Each team played the other three teams in the Conference eight times, for a total of 24 matches. The Fife Flyers won the Conference for the first time, with a 7–6 overtime win over the Dundee Stars on 18 February 2018 at the Dundee Ice Arena.[5]

Pos Team Pld W L OTL RW GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Fife Flyers 24 19 3 2 17 123 57 +66 40 Conference champions
2 Braehead Clan 24 14 8 2 14 85 72 +13 30
3 Dundee Stars 24 13 10 1 9 86 96 10 27
4 Edinburgh Capitals 24 2 21 1 2 59 128 69 5
Source: EIHL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Games won in regulation time; 3) Number of games won; 4) Head-to-head results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 5) Fewest regulation losses; 6) Away game results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 7) Goals scored; 8) Drawing of lots.

Patton Conference

Only intra-conference games counted towards the Patton Conference standings. Each team played the other three teams in the Conference eight times, for a total of 24 matches. The Manchester Storm won the inaugural Conference, after the Coventry Blaze defeated the Storm's closest challengers, the Guildford Flames, 3–1 on 18 March 2018 at the Guildford Spectrum.[6]

Pos Team Pld W L OTL RW GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Manchester Storm 24 15 8 1 13 91 71 +20 31 Conference champions
2 Guildford Flames 24 13 6 5 12 91 75 +16 31
3 Coventry Blaze 24 12 11 1 11 87 91 4 25
4 Milton Keynes Lightning 24 8 15 1 4 70 102 32 17
Source: EIHL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Games won in regulation time; 3) Number of games won; 4) Head-to-head results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 5) Fewest regulation losses; 6) Away game results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 7) Goals scored; 8) Drawing of lots.

Playoffs

Bracket

  Quarter-finals
(30 March – 1 April)
Semi-finals
(7 April)
Grand Final
(8 April)
                               
  1 Cardiff Devils 4 4 8 1 Cardiff Devils 4  
8 Coventry Blaze 2 3 5 7 Fife Flyers 0  
  2 Manchester Storm 4 1 5
7 Fife Flyers 1 5 6     1 Cardiff Devils 3
  3 Sheffield Steelers 1
  3 Sheffield Steelers 5 4 9
6 Guildford Flames 2 5 7
Third place game
(8 April)
  4 Nottingham Panthers 3 5 8 3 Sheffield Steelers 5
5 Belfast Giants 4 3 7 4 Nottingham Panthers 4   4 Nottingham Panthers 8
7 Fife Flyers 2

(1) Cardiff Devils vs. (8) Coventry Blaze

Cardiff Devils win 8–5 on aggregate.

(2) Manchester Storm vs. (7) Fife Flyers

Fife Flyers win 6–5 on aggregate.

(3) Sheffield Steelers vs. (6) Guildford Flames

Sheffield Steelers win 9–7 on aggregate.

(4) Nottingham Panthers vs. (5) Belfast Giants

Nottingham Panthers win 8–7 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

7 April 2018
13:00
Cardiff Devils4–0
(0–0, 1–0, 3–0)
Fife FlyersNational Ice Centre, Nottingham

7 April 2018
17:00
Sheffield Steelers5–4 (OT)
(1–2, 1–2, 2–0, 1–0)
Nottingham PanthersNational Ice Centre, Nottingham

Third-place match

8 April 2018
12:00
Nottingham Panthers8–2
(3–1, 3–1, 2–0)
Fife FlyersNational Ice Centre, Nottingham

Grand Final

8 April 2018
16:00
Cardiff Devils3–1
(0–0, 2–0, 1–1)
Sheffield SteelersNational Ice Centre, Nottingham

Regular season statistics

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the regular season.[3]

Player Team GP G A Pts PIM
Mike Hammond Manchester Storm 56 32 51 83 10
John Dunbar Guildford Flames 55 22 59 81 34
Matt Beca Manchester Storm 56 24 51 75 14
Brendan Connolly Belfast Giants 53 27 46 73 154
Joey Martin Cardiff Devils 55 27 46 73 26
Sébastien Sylvestre Belfast Giants 54 32 40 72 152
Dane Byers Manchester Storm 55 24 46 70 107
Luke Moffatt Manchester Storm 56 34 32 66 73
Kruise Reddick Guildford Flames 54 27 39 66 36
Marc-Olivier Vallerand Coventry Blaze 48 34 31 65 145

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average, while playing at least 1200 minutes, at the conclusion of the regular season.[12]

Player Team GP TOI W L OTL GA SO SV% GAA
Ervīns Muštukovs Sheffield Steelers 53 3097:39 31 19 3 122 9 .918 2.36
Ben Bowns Cardiff Devils 51 2937:01 38 10 3 119 6 .912 2.43
Patrick Galbraith Nottingham Panthers 27 1445:25 19 8 0 62 2 .924 2.57
Andy Iles Fife Flyers 42 2369:49 28 10 2 106 2 .913 2.68
Chris Carrozzi Guildford Flames 43 2589:09 25 13 5 119 3 .904 2.76

Playoff statistics

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the playoffs.[13]

Player Team GP G A Pts PIM
John Armstrong Sheffield Steelers 4 4 2 6 0
Matt Pope Cardiff Devils 4 4 2 6 0
Luke Pither Nottingham Panthers 4 3 3 6 0
David Clarke Nottingham Panthers 4 3 3 6 4
Mark Matheson Sheffield Steelers 4 2 3 5 0
Mike Hammond Manchester Storm 2 1 4 5 2
Joey Martin Cardiff Devils 4 1 4 5 0
Jake Morissette Cardiff Devils 4 1 4 5 0
Colton Fretter Sheffield Steelers 4 1 4 5 2
Mark Derlago Nottingham Panthers 4 3 1 4 2
Justin Faryna Cardiff Devils 4 3 1 4 2
Carlo Finucci Fife Flyers 4 3 1 4 2

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average, while playing at least 60 minutes, at the conclusion of the playoffs.[14]

Player Team GP TOI W L OTL GA SO SV% GAA
Ben Bowns Cardiff Devils 4 240:00 4 0 0 6 1 .939 1.50
Mike Clemente Manchester Storm 2 120:47 1 0 1 6 0 .895 2.98
Andy Iles Fife Flyers 3 180:47 1 2 0 9 0 .899 2.99
Ervīns Muštukovs Sheffield Steelers 4 243:25 2 2 0 13 0 .909 3.20
Kevin Nastiuk Coventry Blaze 2 117:20 0 2 0 7 0 .891 3.58

References

  1. Marsh, Philip (16 March 2018). "Elite League Ice Hockey: Belfast Giants 2-3 Cardiff Devils". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  2. "Devils' Joey Martin leads EIHL awards winners". EliteLeague.co.uk. Elite Ice Hockey League. 9 April 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  3. "Scoring Leaders". EliteLeague.co.uk. Elite Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 25 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  4. "Challenge Cup Final: Cardiff Devils 3-6 Belfast Giants". BBC Sport. BBC. 4 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  5. "Flyers Seal Gardiner Conference Championship". Fife Flyers. Fife Flyers Ltd. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  6. "Sunday night round-up". EliteLeague.co.uk. Elite Ice Hockey League. 18 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018. Manchester Storm edged closer to firming up second place after this shootout win against Nottingham in Altrincham, but the night was made better with the news Storm had won the Patton Conference.
  7. "Elite League Play-off Final: Cardiff Devils 3-1 Sheffield Steelers". BBC Sport. BBC. 8 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  8. "Cardiff Devils vs Sheffield Steelers: 3-1". EliteLeague.co.uk. Pointstreak, Elite Ice Hockey League. 8 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  9. "Cardiff Devils 3 Sheffield Steelers 1". EliteLeague.co.uk. Elite Ice Hockey League. 8 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018. Cardiff Devils made history as they won their first ever play-off title in Elite League history and first since the old Super League era in 1999.
  10. Harrison, Phil (24 February 2017). "And then there were 12 - Why Guildford Flames have made the step up to the Elite League". The Yorkshire Post. Yorkshire Post Newspapers. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  11. Black, Michael (27 April 2017). "EIHL announce new conference structure". British Ice Hockey. JDG Media. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  12. "Goalie Leaders". EliteLeague.co.uk. Elite Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 25 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  13. "Scoring Leaders". EliteLeague.co.uk. Elite Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 8 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  14. "Goalie Leaders". EliteLeague.co.uk. Elite Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 8 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
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