2004–05 EIHL season
LeagueElite Ice Hockey League
SportIce hockey
DurationSeptember - March
Regular season
ChampionsCoventry Blaze
Playoffs
ChampionsCoventry Blaze
Challenge Cup
ChampionsCoventry Blaze

The 200405 Elite Ice Hockey League season was the second season of the British Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). Manchester Phoenix did not ice due as they could not agree a deal with the Manchester Evening News Arena.[1]

The second season of the EIHL saw a series of games between the EIHL clubs and the members of the British National League (BNL). In addition to three home games and three away games against their Elite opponents, each club also played one home game and one away game against the BNL clubs in crossover matchups. Results in these crossover games would count towards a team's points tally. The NHL lockout also saw a number of National Hockey League (NHL) players join British clubs. Coventry Blaze won a Grand Slam of all three titles, winning the Championship with an overtime victory over the Nottingham Panthers.[2]

The crossover games with the BNL clubs were seen by many to be the first stage towards the amalgamation of the two organisations into one league. However, early in the season it was revealed that teams including Edinburgh Capitals and Newcastle Vipers were seeking to resign from the BNL and join the Elite League.[3] A withdrawal of these clubs would leave the BNL with only a small number of participating teams. This situation led to the resigning teams temporarily withdrawing their Elite League applications and entering into collective discussions on the entire BNL joining the EIHL instead. The Elite League offered the BNL clubs invitations to join the EIHL structure,[4] which were declined due to unfavourable terms. Subsequently Edinburgh and Newcastle resubmitted individual applications to the Elite League, both of which were accepted. A combination of this and Bracknell Bees owner John Nike's announcement that he was withdrawing funding from the BNL team prompted the collapse of the BNL at the end of the 2004–05 season.

Challenge Cup

During the early part of the season, the results from league games also counted towards a separate Challenge Cup table. However, in a change to the previous season, there were two groups of teams, Group A with three teams and Group B with four teams. After each team had played each team in their group once at home and once away, the top two teams of each group qualified for the semi-finals.

Group A

Group A GP W T OTL1 L GF GA Pts
Coventry Blaze4211011106
Sheffield Steelers430011086
Basingstoke Bison4011210132

1 1 point awarded for an overtime loss.

Group B

Group B GP W T OTL1 L GF GA Pts
Cardiff Devils6500117810
Nottingham Panthers6310219157
Belfast Giants6300314156
London Racers601149212

1 1 point awarded for an overtime loss.

Semi-finals

Winner A (Coventry) vs Runner-up B (Nottingham)

  • Coventry Blaze 2–1 Nottingham Panthers
  • Nottingham Panthers 3–3 Coventry Blaze (Coventry win 5–4 on aggregate)

Winner B (Cardiff) vs Runner-up A (Sheffield)

  • Sheffield Steelers 2–2 Cardiff Devils
  • Cardiff Devils 3–1 Sheffield Steelers (Cardiff win 5–3 on aggregate)

Final

First Leg

  • Coventry Blaze 6–1 Cardiff Devils

Second Leg

  • Cardiff Devils 4–5 Coventry Blaze (Coventry win 11–5 on aggregate)

Elite League Table

The top six teams qualified for the playoffs.

Regular season standings GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
Coventry Blaze503365618110477
Belfast Giants5031721017010471
Cardiff Devils5030411515212165
Nottingham Panthers5025561413610161
Sheffield Steelers5025531711811058
London Racers5019931911612450
Basingstoke Bison5015522812817837

Elite League Play Offs

The top six teams qualified for the playoffs. Group A consisted of Coventry, Nottingham and London while Group B consisted of Belfast, Cardiff and Sheffield. Each team played the other teams in its group twice at home and twice away. The top two of each group then qualified for the playoff weekend at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham.

Group A

Group A GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
Coventry Blaze85201291512
Nottingham Panthers8320321298
London Racers8200619254

Group B

Group B GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
Cardiff Devils84301181211
Sheffield Steelers83401221510
Belfast Giants8030514273

Semi-finals

Winner A vs Runner-up B

  • Coventry Blaze 3–0 Sheffield Steelers

Winner B vs Runner-up A

  • Cardiff Devils 1–3 Nottingham Panthers

Third place playoff

Loser A vs Loser B

  • Sheffield Steelers 4–2 Cardiff Devils

Final

Winner A vs Winner B

  • Coventry Blaze 2–1 Nottingham Panthers (after overtime)

Other competitions

Crossover Cup

Crossover Cup GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
Belfast Giants1412110672726
Cardiff Devils1412002623124
Nottingham Panthers1411012552723
Coventry Blaze1410013573121
London Racers149104463319
Basingstoke Bison149014594819
Sheffield Steelers148105392917
Bracknell Bees147115483316
Guildford Flames144118334410
Dundee Stars144001029568
Hull Stingrays144001022528
Fife Flyers143011040697
Newcastle Vipers142111024566
Edinburgh Capitals140011330751

Awards

All Star teams

First teamPositionSecond Team
Jody Lehman, Coventry Blaze G Martin Klempa, Belfast Giants
Neal Martin, Coventry Blaze D Wade Belak, Coventry Blaze
Doug Schueller, Coventry Blaze D Calle Carlsson, Nottingham Panthers
Tony Hand, Belfast Giants F John Cullen, Cardiff Devils
Adam Calder, Coventry Blaze F George Awada, Belfast Giants
Vezio Sacratini, Cardiff Devils F Ashley Tait, Coventry Blaze

Scoring leaders

The scoring leaders are taken from all league games.

References

Footnotes

  1. "Phoenix pull out of league". BBC. 2004-07-08. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  2. "Grand Slam triumph for Coventry". BBC. 2005-04-10. Retrieved 2007-06-02.
  3. Nigel Duncan (2004). "Capitals eyeing their place among the elite". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2006-07-03.
  4. Bolton Evening News (2005). "Leagues look set to merge at last". This is Lancashire. Archived from the original on 2006-02-16. Retrieved 2006-07-03.
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