2009–10 EIHL season

2009–10 EIHL season
2009–10 EIHL season
League	Elite Ice Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	September - March
Regular season
Champions	Coventry Blaze
Playoffs
Champions	Belfast Giants
Challenge Cup
Champions	Nottingham Panthers
EIHL seasons
	← 2008–09 2010–11 →

The 2009–10 EIHL season is the seventh season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. It began in September 2009 and concluded in April 2010.

League business

On 25 March 2009, Basingstoke Bison announced their decision to depart from the Elite Ice Hockey League to join the second tier English Premier League, citing considerable financial losses as their reason for withdrawing.^[1] In the build up to the 2008–09 season finale, rumours circulated over the possible exclusion from the league of the Edinburgh Capitals, Manchester Phoenix and Newcastle Vipers, and the EIHL operating with six teams.^[2] Although it was initially stated that the league would continue with nine teams,^[3] it was announced on 1 May 2009 that Manchester Phoenix would also play in the English Premier League.^[4]

The resulting change in the format will see teams play a 56-game schedule, facing each of their opponents 8 times (4 home, 4 away) during the course of the regular season.^[5]

Teams

Team	Arena(s)
Belfast Giants	Odyssey Arena
Cardiff Devils	Cardiff Arena
Coventry Blaze	SkyDome Arena
Edinburgh Capitals	Murrayfield Ice Rink
Hull Stingrays	Hull Arena
Newcastle Vipers	Whitley Bay Ice Rink
Nottingham Panthers	National Ice Centre
Sheffield Steelers	Motorpoint Arena/IceSheffield

Elite League Table

Team positions determine seeding for Play Offs

Regular season standings	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	Pts
Coventry Blaze	56	33	5	0	18	76
Belfast Giants	56	32	1	5	16	75
Nottingham Panthers	56	29	5	2	20	70
Cardiff Devils	56	25	6	3	22	65
Sheffield Steelers	56	21	3	6	26	54
Edinburgh Capitals	56	18	4	8	26	52
Newcastle Vipers	56	17	4	4	31	46
Hull Stingrays	56	14	5	5	32	43

GP=Games Played W=Win, OTW=Over Time Wins, OTW=Over Time Loses, L=Loses, Pts=Points,

Elite League playoffs

After two legged quarter finals the end of season playoffs were held at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham from 3 to 4 April. The final was contested between the Cardiff Devils and the Belfast Giants. The match was 2-2 after all three periods and stayed 2-2 after 10 minutes of sudden death overtime. The match then went to a shootout which the Belfast Giants won in the sudden death stage of the shootout 1–0.

Quarter-finals			Semi-finals		Final

1	Coventry Blaze	6 (2,4)

8	Hull Stingrays	2 (1,1)
			Coventry Blaze	3

			Cardiff Devils	6
4	Cardiff Devils	9 (4,5)

5	Sheffield Steelers	5 (2,3)
					Cardiff Devils	2

					Belfast Giants	2 (1-0 pens)
3	Nottingham Panthers	9 (5,4)

6	Edinburgh Capitals	4 (0,4)
			Nottingham Panthers	1

			Belfast Giants	1 (3-2 pens)
2	Belfast Giants	10 (4,6)

7	Newcastle Vipers	3 (1,2)

20/20 Hockey Fest

The 2009-10 Elite League Ice hockey season begun with a one-day competition at Sheffield Steelers, Sheffield Arena. The tournament was called the 20/20 Hockey fest and was designed to make British Ice hockey more exciting. It contested of 2 periods of 20-minute non-stop clock. The tournament winners were the hosts the Sheffield Steelers.

Quarter-finals

Sheffield Steelers 5-1 Hull Stingrays Belfast Giants 2-3 Cardiff Devils (After Penalty Shoot out) Edinburgh Capitals 0-1 Newcastle Vipers Coventry Blaze 6-0 Nottingham Panthers

Semi-finals

Sheffield Steelers 4-1 Cardiff Devils Newcastle Vipers 2-3 Coventry Blaze

Final

Sheffield Steelers 3-2 Coventry Blaze

References

^ "Bison Move to EPL". Basingstoke Bison. Archived from the original on 29 March 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
^ "We Want Some Answers : Vipers". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
^ "Elite League members reach agreement on exciting new future". Elite League. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
^ "Elite League to run with eight clubs as Manchester opts for the EPL". Elite League. Archived from the original on 4 May 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2009.
^ "100 hectic days to go, but Longmuir can't wait". Newcastle Vipers. Retrieved 30 May 2009. ^{[dead link]}

[1] "Bison Move to EPL". Basingstoke Bison. Archived from the original on 29 March 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2009.

[2] "We Want Some Answers : Vipers". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 10 April 2009.

[3] "Elite League members reach agreement on exciting new future". Elite League. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2009.

[4] "Elite League to run with eight clubs as Manchester opts for the EPL". Elite League. Archived from the original on 4 May 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2009.

[5] "100 hectic days to go, but Longmuir can't wait". Newcastle Vipers. Retrieved 30 May 2009. ^{[dead link]}

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v t e British Ice Hockey seasons
British Ice Hockey (1929–1955)	1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 Not held between 1940–41 and 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55
British National League (1954–1960)	1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
British Ice Hockey (1960–1982)	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82
British Hockey League (1982–1996)	1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96
Ice Hockey Superleague (1996–2003)	1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03
Elite Ice Hockey League (2003–present)	2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2021–22 2022-23 2023–24 2024–25