The 2017–18 EIHL season was the 15th season of the

Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...

. The regular season commenced on 9 September 2017 and ended on 25 March 2018. The reigning league champions were the

Cardiff Devils The Cardiff Devils are a Welsh ice hockey team who play in the British Elite Ice Hockey League. The team play at Ice Arena Wales in Cardiff Bay. Cardiff are the reigning EIHL play-off champions, winning their third title in a row after beating ...

, 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 The Belfast Giants (known officially as the Stena Line Belfast Giants due to sponsorship) are a professional ice hockey team based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They compete in the UK's Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) and are the current cham ...

on 16 March 2018. The Devils also won the playoff title, beating the

Sheffield Steelers The Sheffield Steelers are a professional ice hockey team located in Sheffield, England. They were formed in 1991 (see 1991 in sport) and play their home games at the Utilita Arena. They are currently a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League. ...

– 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.

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 The English Premier Ice Hockey League (EPIHL) was an ice hockey league of 10 teams, all of which were based in England. Headquartered in Blackpool, the EPIHL was one of two professional ice hockey leagues in the United Kingdom (the other being th ...

teams; the

Guildford Flames The Guildford Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Guildford, Surrey and they play their home games in the Guildford Spectrum. They compete in the top-tier of hockey in the United Kingdom, the Elite Ice Hockey League. Founded in ...

and the

Milton Keynes Lightning The Milton Keynes Lightning are an ice hockey team founded in 2002 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. The Lightning currently play in Britain's second-tier professional league, the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL), since the 2019–20 season. T ...

. 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 Glasgow Clan (formerly ''Braehead Clan'') is a Scotland, Scottish professional ice hockey team. It was formed in 2010 as the UK Elite Ice Hockey League expanded into the west of Scotland market, and are based at the Braehead Arena in Renfrewshir ...

, the

Dundee Stars The Dundee Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in the Scottish city of Dundee. They were formed in 2001 and play their home games at the Dundee Ice Arena, situated off the city's main Kingsway dual carriageway. The current title sp ...

, the

Edinburgh Capitals The Edinburgh Capitals are a Scottish ice hockey club, playing in the Scottish National League (SNL). They are based in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. The team play at the Murrayfield Ice Rink, close to Murrayfield Rugby stadium. In Apri ...

and the

Fife Flyers Fife Flyers is the oldest professional ice hockey club in the UK, established in 1938. The Flyers play their home games at Fife Ice Arena in Kirkcaldy which has a capacity of just over 3000 (seated and standing). They joined the EIHL in 2011. ...

. 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 Coventry Blaze are an ice hockey team based in Coventry, England. They currently compete in the British Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) and play their home games at SkyDome Arena. The club was founded in 1965 as the ''Solihull Barons'' and rena ...

(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

, the

Nottingham Panthers The Nottingham Panthers are a British professional ice hockey club based in Nottingham, England. They are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. Their main team sponsor is the Nottingham Building Society. The Nottingham Panthers have won four ...

and the

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

became regular season champions for the second successive season, with a 3–2 win over the

on 16 March 2018 at

SSE Arena Belfast The Odyssey Complex, formerly Odyssey Centre, is a sports and entertainment complex located within the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The complex originated in 1992 and came into fruition in June 1998. It opened in December 200 ...

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

won the Conference for the third season in a row, with a 3–2 win over the

on 16 March 2018 at

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

won the Conference for the first time, with a 7–6 overtime win over the

on 18 February 2018 at the

Dundee Ice Arena Dundee Ice Arena is a multi-purpose ice rink arena located in the Camperdown area of Dundee. The arena has a capacity of 2,400 seats making it the fourth largest ice rink arena by capacity in Scotland after the Braehead Arena, Murrayfield Ice Rin ...

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

defeated the Storm's closest challengers, the

, 3–1 on 18 March 2018 at the

Guildford Spectrum Guildford Spectrum is a leisure complex in Guildford, Surrey, England. Owned by Guildford Borough Council, it was opened on 23 February 1993 at a cost of £28 million. It is the home of ice hockey teams the Guildford Flames and the Guildford Pho ...

Playoffs

Bracket

Quarter-finals

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

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

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

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

Semi-finals

----

Third-place match

Grand Final

Regular season statistics

Scoring leaders

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

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in

goals against average Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on s ...

, while playing at least 1200 minutes, at the conclusion of the regular season.

Playoff statistics

Scoring leaders

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

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in

, while playing at least 60 minutes, at the conclusion of the playoffs.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 EIHL season Elite Ice Hockey League seasons 1

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...