The 2008–09 EIHL season was the sixth

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

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 ...

. It began in September 2008, and ran through to April 2009. The ten clubs in the League competed for 4 different competitions: the Elite League, the Play-Offs, the Challenge Cup, and the Knockout Cup. The winners of the regular season will compete in the 2009–2010 Champions Hockey League. For this season, the Coventry Blaze represented Great Britain in the Continental Cup.

Charity Shield

The season began on September 3, 2008, with a "Charity Shield" game between the 2007–08 league champions and Knockout Cup winning

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 ren ...

and the playoff champions

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. ...

at the SkyDome.The Official Site of the Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey Team
/ref> The Blaze narrowly beat the Steelers 5–4 in sudden death overtime.

Challenge Cup

For the preliminary round, teams were divided into two groups of five with teams playing each of their opponents once with two homes games and two away games. The home and away games for each club were determined by a random draw. The top two in each group advanced to the semi finals of the competition.

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Semi-Finals

Coventry Blaze 1 - 1 Belfast Giants (1st Leg) Belfast Giants 4 - 1 Coventry Blaze (2nd Leg) Belfast Win 5 - 2 on Aggregate Basingstoke Bison 2 - 5 Manchester Phoenix (1st Leg) Manchester Phoenix 6 - 1 Basingstoke Bison (2nd Leg) Manchester Win 11 - 3 on Aggregate

Final

Manchester Phoenix 4 - 3 Belfast Giants Belfast Giants 3 - 1 Manchester Phoenix Belfast Giants win 6 - 5 on aggregate

Elite League Table

Elite League Playoffs

All-star game

On February 19th, 2009, the SkyDome in Coventry staged the 2009 EIHL All-Star Game. This game was played out between the North All-Stars and the South All-Stars. Dave Matsos of the

was chosen to coach the North, while Paul Thompson of the

was chosen to coach the South. The rosters for each team consisted of players representing all 10 Elite League clubs.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 EIHL season Elite Ice Hockey League seasons 1

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