The 2004–05 Elite Ice Hockey League season was the second season of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to internationally as the British Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey Superleague, it is the highest level ...

(EIHL).

Manchester Phoenix Manchester Phoenix were a semi professional ice hockey team from Greater Manchester, England. The club was formed in 2003 as a result of the efforts of supporters group ''Friends of Manchester Ice Hockey'' to bring top-level ice hockey back to M ...

did not ice due as they could not agree a deal with the

Manchester Evening News Arena Manchester Arena (currently known as AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. Prior to the opening of Co ...

. 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 The NHL lockout may refer to any of the four industrial disputes in the history of the National Hockey League: * The 1992 NHL strike, which postponed 30 games of the 1991–92 season * The 1994–95 NHL lockout, which cancelled many of the gam ...

also saw a number of

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) players join British clubs.

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

won a Grand Slam of all three titles, winning the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

with an overtime victory over 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. RHPS are the Panthers' major sponsor for 2024–25. The Nottingham Panthers have won four league ...

. 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 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 Apr ...

and Newcastle Vipers were seeking to resign from the BNL and join the Elite League. 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, 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 The Berkshire Bees are an ice hockey team from Slough, Berkshire, UK. They compete in the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) National League, the second tier of English Ice Hockey. History Early years The Bracknell Bees were formed in 1987, un ...

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 The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

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

¹ 1 point awarded for an overtime loss.

Group B

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 The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

Elite League Play Offs

The top six teams qualified for the

. 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 The National Ice Centre (NIC) is located in Nottingham, England. It is situated just east of the city centre, close to the historic Lace Market area. The NIC was the first twin Olympic-sized (60m x 30m) ice pad facility in the UK, "heralding ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

Group A

Group B

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

Awards

* Coach of the Year Trophy –

Paul Thompson Paul Thompson may refer to: Education *Paul Thompson (professor) (born 1951), British management professor at the University of Strathclyde *Paul B. Thompson (philosopher) (born 1951), American philosopher at Michigan State University *Paul H. Tho ...

* Player of the Year Trophy –

Tony Hand Anthony Hand MBE (born 15 August 1967) is a Scottish former ice hockey player and coach. He was the first British player to be drafted by an NHL team when he was picked by the Edmonton Oilers in 1986. Nicknamed ''Two point Tony'', he holds seve ...

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, Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). T ...

and Neal Martin, Coventry Blaze *

Ice Hockey Annual Trophy The Ice Hockey Annual Trophy is an ice hockey trophy in the United Kingdom which is awarded to the British player who has scored the most points during the season in league competition only. The award is named after the ''Ice Hockey Annual'', an an ...

– Tony Hand, Belfast Giants * Best British Forward – Tony Hand, Belfast Giants

All Star teams

Scoring leaders

The scoring leaders are taken from all league games. *Most

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

: 76 Dan Carlson,

*Most goals: 37 Adam Calder, Coventry Blaze *Most assists: 55

*Most PIMs: 490

Andre Payette Andre Payette (29 July 1976 – 28 September 2022) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger. Payette was drafted in 1994 by the NHL Philadelphia Flyers, and won a Calder Cup with their American Hockey League affiliate, the Philadelph ...

, Coventry Blaze

References

Ice Hockey Journalists UK

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:2004-05 EIHL season UK Elite Ice Hockey League seasons 1