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2021–22 NIHL National League season

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The 2021/22 edition of the NIHL National League involved 9 teams from across the United Kingdom.

Season overview

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The NIHL National hosted 4 tournaments across the season:

  • National Autumn Cup
  • National Cup
  • National League
  • National Playoffs
Competition Champions Runners-up
National Autumn Cup Swindon Wildcats Leeds Knights
National Cup Sheffield Steeldogs Telford Tigers
National League Telford Tigers
National Playoffs

National Autumn Cup

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2021/22 National Autumn Cup
Tournament details
Dates17 September 2021 – 23 December 2021
Teams9
Final positions
ChampionsSwindon Wildcats
Runner-upLeeds Knights
Tournament statistics
Scoring leader(s)Jason Hewitt (Sheffield Steeldogs) (26 points)
2022/23 →

The National Autumn Cup was hosted between 17 September and 23 November 2021, each team playing each other once in the group stage (either home or away) totalling 8 matches.[1]

Group stage

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The group stage took place between 17 September and 10 October 2021. Teams receive 2 points for a win and 1 point for an overtime loss. In the event that two or more teams were tied on points, goal difference was used to determine the rankings.

Group Stage Table[2]
Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA Pts Qualification
1 Sheffield Steeldogs 8 6 0 1 1 41 20 13 Advance to the semi-finals
2 Leeds Knights 8 6 0 0 2 45 25 12
3 Telford Tigers 8 5 0 0 3 31 30 10
4 Swindon Wildcats 8 4 0 1 3 29 28 9
5 Peterborough Phantoms 8 3 1 0 4 27 34 8
6 Basingstoke Bison 8 3 0 1 4 27 28 7
7 Bees IHC 8 3 0 0 5 26 36 6
8 Milton Keynes Lightning 8 1 2 0 5 23 36 6
9 Raiders IHC 8 1 1 1 5 28 40 5

Knockouts

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The knockouts took place between 11 November and 23 December 2021. Since Sheffield Steeldogs placed 1st in the group stage, they got to select their semi-final opponent and chose Leeds Knights[3] Matches were played over two legs, one home and one away with the aggregate score (shown in bold) the decider of who advances. If it was level after the 120 minutes of play, 5 minutes of overtime was played and if still not tied it went to a shootout.

Semifinals Final
          
1 Sheffield Steeldogs 1 5 6
2 Leeds Knights 3 6 9
2 Leeds Knights 2 4 6
4 Swindon Wildcats 3 5 8
3 Telford Tigers 3 4 7
4 Swindon Wildcats 6 6 12

Final rankings

[edit]
Pos Team
1 Swindon Wildcats Champions[4]
2 Leeds Knights Runners-up
=3 Sheffield Steeldogs
=3 Telford Tigers
5 Peterborough Phantoms
6 Basingstoke Bison
7 Bees IHC
8 Milton Keynes Lightning
9 Raiders IHC

Leaders

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Points
Pos Player Team Points
1 Jason Hewitt Sheffield Steeldogs 26
2 Kerian Brown Leeds Knights 24
=3 Matt Bissonnette Sheffield Steeldogs 22
=3 Brandon Whistle Leeds Knights 22
5 Aaron Nell Swindon Wildcats 19
Goals
Pos Player Team Goals
1 Jason Hewitt Sheffield Steeldogs 14
2 Kerian Brown Leeds Knights 13
3 Brandon Whistle Leeds Knights 11
4 Emil Svec Swindon Wildcats 10
=5 Aaron Connolly Raiders IHC 9
Assists
Pos Player Team Points
1 Matt Bissonnette Sheffield Steeldogs 16
2 Jason Hewitt Sheffield Steeldogs 12
3 Thomasz Malasinski Swindon Wildcats 12
=4 Cole Shudra Leeds Knights 11
=4 Kieran Brown Leeds Knights 11

National Cup

[edit]
2021/22 National Cup
Tournament details
Dates16 October 2021 – 30 March 2022
Teams9
2022/23 →

The National Cup was hosted between 16 October 2021 and 2 January 2022. These matches were the same matches that counted towards the National League, the first time each team player each other home and away.[1]

Group stage

[edit]

The group stage took place between 16 October 2021 and 2 January 2022. Teams receive 2 points for a win and 1 point for an overtime loss. In the event that two or more teams were tied on points, goal difference was used to determine the rankings.

Group Stage Table[5]
Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA Pts Qualification
1 Swindon Wildcats 16 9 3 3 1 67 41 27 Advance to the semi-finals
2 Telford Tigers 16 10 1 1 4 70 51 23
3 Sheffield Steeldogs 16 10 0 0 6 54 47 20
4 Milton Keynes Lightning 16 10 0 0 6 61 63 20
5 Leeds Knights 16 6 1 0 2 57 67 14
6 Peterborough Phantoms 16 6 0 1 9 55 57 13
7 Bees IHC 16 6 0 1 9 53 58 13
8 Raiders IHC 16 4 1 1 10 46 65 11
9 Basingstoke Bison 16 4 1 0 11 58 72 10

Knockouts

[edit]

Since Swindon Wildcats placed 1st in the Group Stage, they got to select their semi-final opponent and chose Sheffield Steeldogs[6] Matches were played over two legs, one home and one away with the aggregate score (shown in bold) the decider of who advances. If it was level after the 120 minutes of play, 5 minutes of overtime was played and if still tied it went to a shootout.

Semifinals Final
          
1 Swindon Wildcats 1 3 4
3 Sheffield Steeldogs 1 4 5
2 Telford Tigers 3 2 5
3 Sheffield Steeldogs 6 2 8
2 Telford Tigers 4 6 10
4 Milton Keynes Lightning 6 2 8

Final rankings

[edit]
Pos Team
1 Sheffield Steeldogs Champions[7]
2 Telford Tigers Runners-up
=3 Swindon Wildcats
=3 Milton Keynes Lightning
5 Leeds Knights
6 Peterborough Phantoms
7 Bees IHC
9 Raiders IHC
6 Basingstoke Bison

National League

[edit]
2021/22 National Cup
Tournament details
Dates16 October 2021 – 3 April 2022
Teams9
2022/23 →

The National League makes the majority of the games within the season, with each time playing each other a total of 6 times, 3 home and 3 away. The top 8 teams also qualify for the National Playoffs, with the 9th team missing out[1]

Table[8]
Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA Pts Qualification
C Telford Tigers (Q) 48 29 4 4 11 208 150 70 National League Playoffs
2 Swindon Wildcats (Q) 48 23 4 6 15 179 170 60
3 Sheffield Steeldogs (Q) 48 25 2 3 18 164 151 53
4 Leeds Knights (Q) 48 23 4 2 19 186 172 56
5 Milton Keynes Lightning (Q) 48 23 2 4 19 197 195 54
6 Peterborough Phantoms (Q) 48 22 3 2 21 173 160 52
7 Basingstoke Bison (Q) 48 17 4 3 24 177 190 45
8 Bees IHC (Q) 48 14 1 3 30 161 200 33
9 Raiders IHC 46 12 4 1 31 135 192 30*

*Raiders IHC were deducted 3 points for failure to fulfill a fixture on 19 December 2021[9]

(Q) Qualified for the National League Playoffs

National League playoffs

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Group stage

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The 8 teams that make it to the playoffs are split into two groups,[10] Group A and B based on their placing in the National League. Each team plays each other twice, one at home and once away. The top 2 from each group proceed to the Final 4 weekend.

Group A
Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA Pts Qualification
1 Telford Tigers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to Final 4
2 Leeds Knights 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Milton Keynes Lightning 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Eliminated
4 Bees IHC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Group B
Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA Pts Qualification
1 National League 2nd place 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to Final 4
2 National League 3rd place 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 National League 6th place 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Eliminated
4 National League 7th place 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

References

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  1. ^ a b c "NIHL National – National Ice Hockey League – Press Releases and News from the NIHL National League". Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  2. ^ "FixturesLive". w.fixtureslive.com. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  3. ^ "NIHL Autumn Cup Announcement". Leeds Knights. 25 October 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  4. ^ "'The boys got exactly what they deserved' – Wildcats crowned Autumn Cup champions". Swindon Advertiser. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  5. ^ "FixturesLive". w.fixtureslive.com. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Bespoke Guardians Swindon Wildcats – BREAKING NEWS". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Sheffield Steeldogs crowned NIHL National Cup champions". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  8. ^ "FixturesLive". w.fixtureslive.com. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  9. ^ "NIHL: cancelled games on weekend 18/19 December – English Ice Hockey Association". Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  10. ^ "NEWS: announcing the NIHL Championship Series 2022 – English Ice Hockey Association". Retrieved 1 April 2022.
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