2014–15 EIHL season

2014–15 EIHL season
League	Elite Ice Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	September - March
Regular season
League	Sheffield Steelers
Top scorer	Mathieu Roy, Sheffield Steelers
Challenge Cup
Champions	Cardiff Devils
Conference
Erhardt champions	Nottingham Panthers
Erhardt runners-up	Sheffield Steelers
Gardiner champions	Braehead Clan
Gardiner runners-up	Fife Flyers
Playoffs
Champions	Coventry Blaze
Runners-up	Sheffield Steelers

The 2014–15 Elite Ice Hockey League season is the 12th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season begins early September and will end in March.

On 30 April 2014, the Elite League announced changes to the import rules, as from the 2014–15 season, the number of non British-trained players would rise from 11 to 12, while the number of work-permit players would remain at 11. The number of non British-trained players would then rise to 13 in season 2015-16 and 14 in season 2016-17, with the number of work-permit players again remaining at 11.

The EIHL lost some top British players such as Jonathan Weaver and Danny Meyers along with Matt Towe and Sam Zajac to the EPIHL, the first team to take advantage of the rule changes was the Steelers with them announcing the signing of British/Canadian Rod Sarich.

Teams

The ten teams were split into two conferences. Teams played the sides in their conferences four times, home and away (32 games), and played the sides in the other conferences twice, home and away (20 games).

Conference champions Braehead Clan and Sheffield Steelers took the top two spots in the league, but neither side could continue their success in the playoffs, which was won by Coventry Blaze, who beat the Steelers 4-2 in the final.^[1]

The Challenge Cup went to the Cardiff Devils, with the Steelers again finishing runners-up, losing 2-1. ^[2]

Erhardt Conference TEAM CITY/TOWN ARENA CAPACITY Belfast Giants Belfast Odyssey Arena 8,700 Cardiff Devils Cardiff Cardiff Arena 2,500 Coventry Blaze Coventry SkyDome Arena 3,000 Nottingham Panthers Nottingham National Ice Centre 7,500 Sheffield Steelers Sheffield Motorpoint Arena 8,500

Gardiner Conference TEAM CITY/TOWN ARENA CAPACITY Braehead Clan Glasgow Braehead Arena 4,000 Dundee Stars Dundee Dundee Ice Arena 2,400 Edinburgh Capitals Edinburgh Murrayfield Ice Rink 3,700 Fife Flyers Kirkcaldy Fife Ice Arena 3,525 Hull Stingrays Hull Hull Arena 3,150

Standings

Overall

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sheffield Steelers (Q)	52	30	5	4	13	193	134	+59	74	Regular season champions Qualification to playoffs
2	Braehead Clan (Q)	52	33	2	3	14	190	136	+54	73	Qualification to playoffs
3	Cardiff Devils (Q)	52	29	5	4	14	210	151	+59	72
4	Nottingham Panthers (Q)	52	23	6	7	16	166	141	+25	65
5	Belfast Giants (Q)	52	25	2	6	19	177	148	+29	60
6	Coventry Blaze (Q)	52	17	7	3	25	127	145	−18	51
7	Hull Stingrays (Q)	52	16	4	9	23	154	192	−38	49
8	Fife Flyers (Q)	52	18	4	3	27	170	180	−10	47
9	Edinburgh Capitals	52	13	7	6	26	135	215	−80	46
10	Dundee Stars	52	6	8	5	33	123	203	−80	33

Source: EIHL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Games won in regulation time; 3) Number of games won; 4) Head-to-head results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 5) Fewest regulation losses; 6) Away game results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 7) Goals scored; 8) Drawing of lots.

Erhardt Conference

Only intra-conference games counted towards the Erhardt Conference standings. Each team played the other four teams in the Conference eight times, for a total of 32 matches.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Nottingham Panthers	32	13	5	4	10	94	81	+13	40	Conference champions
2	Sheffield Steelers	32	15	3	3	11	97	94	+3	39
3	Cardiff Devils	32	17	1	2	12	114	103	+11	38
4	Belfast Giants	32	13	2	4	13	97	94	+3	34
5	Coventry Blaze	32	8	3	1	20	75	105	−30	23

Source: EIHL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Games won in regulation time; 3) Number of games won; 4) Head-to-head results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 5) Fewest regulation losses; 6) Away game results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 7) Goals scored; 8) Drawing of lots.

Gardiner Conference

Only intra-conference games counted towards the Gardiner Conference standings. Each team played the other four teams in the Conference eight times, for a total of 32 matches.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Braehead Clan	32	25	1	1	5	135	69	+66	53	Conference champions
2	Fife Flyers	32	15	2	1	14	120	102	+18	35
3	Hull Stingrays	32	11	3	5	13	104	123	−19	33
4	Edinburgh Capitals	32	10	4	4	14	87	119	−32	32
5	Dundee Stars	32	4	5	4	19	84	117	−33	22

Source: EIHL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Games won in regulation time; 3) Number of games won; 4) Head-to-head results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 5) Fewest regulation losses; 6) Away game results, ranked by criteria 1 to 3; 7) Goals scored; 8) Drawing of lots.

League Officials

Position	Name
Chairman	Tony Smith
Media Representative	Chris Ellis
Head of Discipline	Moray Hansen
Head Referee	Mick Hicks

Match Officials

Referees: Tom Darnell, Mike Hicks, James Ashton, Jonny Liptrott, Dean Smith, Neil Wilson and Stefan Hogarth.

Linesmen: Scott Dalgleish, Andrew Dalton, Ally Flockhart, Pavel Halas, James Kavanagh, Sam Motton, Gordon Pirry, Danny Beresford, Matt Rose, Luke Palmer, Paul Brooks, Paul Staniforth and Lee Young.

References

1. "Blaze beat Steelers in play-off final". BBC Sport.
2. "Devils beat Steelers in Cup final". BBC Sport.