Wikipedia mirror

2025–26 EIHL season

2025–26 EIHL season
LeagueElite Ice Hockey League
SportIce hockey
Duration
  • 13 September 2025 – 19 April 2026
Regular season
Challenge Cup
Playoffs

The 2025–26 EIHL season is the 22nd season of the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), the highest level of domestic ice hockey played in the United Kingdom. The league is running three separate competitions to be played between 13 September 2025 and 19 April 2026.[1]

The Belfast Giants are defending the League Championship as well as the Challenge Cup, while the Nottingham Panthers are the reigning playoff champions.

Teams

The same ten teams that competed in the 2024–25 EIHL season will compete in the 2025–26 season.

Team City/Town Arena Capacity
Belfast Giants Northern Ireland Belfast SSE Arena Belfast 8,700
Cardiff Devils Wales Cardiff Vindico Arena 3,110
Coventry Blaze England Coventry Planet Ice Coventry 3,000
Dundee Stars Scotland Dundee Dundee Ice Arena 2,700
Fife Flyers Scotland Kirkcaldy Fife Ice Arena 3,525
Glasgow Clan Scotland Glasgow Braehead Arena 4,000
Guildford Flames England Guildford Guildford Spectrum 2,200
Manchester Storm England Altrincham Planet Ice Altrincham 2,440
Nottingham Panthers England Nottingham Motorpoint Arena Nottingham 7,500
Sheffield Steelers England Sheffield Utilita Arena Sheffield 9,300

Regular season

League standings

Each team will play 54 games, playing each of the other nine teams six times: three times on home ice, and three times away from home. Points will be awarded for each game: two points for all victories, regardless of whether it is in regulation time or after overtime or game-winning shots, one point for losing in overtime or game-winning shots, and zero points for losing in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points will be crowned league champions and is expected to qualify for the 2026–27 Champions Hockey League. The top eight teams will qualify for the playoffs.[2]

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Belfast Giants (Q) 38 23 5 4 6 147 83 +64 60 Qualification to playoffs
2 Cardiff Devils 39 21 5 4 9 137 89 +48 56
3 Sheffield Steelers 39 20 6 3 10 147 95 +52 55
4 Nottingham Panthers 38 20 4 6 8 137 98 +39 54
5 Manchester Storm 38 10 10 6 12 116 114 +2 46
6 Coventry Blaze 39 13 5 6 15 119 124 −5 42
7 Guildford Flames 39 14 3 6 16 118 119 −1 40
8 Glasgow Clan 39 12 4 7 16 96 120 −24 39
9 Dundee Stars 37 6 4 3 24 87 170 −83 23
10 Fife Flyers 40 5 3 4 28 91 183 −92 20
Updated to match(es) played on 15 February 2026. Source: Elite League
Rules for classification:
  • In-season: 1) Points; 2) Fewest games played; end of season criteria as below.
  • End of season: 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) Goal difference; 9) Fewest penalty minutes; 10) Drawing of lots.

(Q) Qualified to the phase indicated

Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup was split into two stages: an initial group stage where the league's ten teams were divided into two groups based on geographical distance – one group of six teams (Group A) and a group of four teams (Group B).[3] The teams in Group A (the five English teams and the Cardiff Devils) played each of the other teams twice for a total of ten games, while the teams in Group B (the three Scottish teams and the Belfast Giants) played each of the other teams four times for a total of twelve games.

The top two teams in Group A and the winners of Group B qualified for the semi-finals. The runners-up in Group B faced the third-placed team in Group A in a semi-final playoff game held at the arena of the team with a higher group stage points percentage to determine the final semi-finalist.[4]

Group stage

Group A

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Sheffield Steelers 10 5 2 1 2 32 21 +11 15 Qualification to semi-finals
2 Coventry Blaze 10 4 2 1 3 29 31 −2 13
3 Nottingham Panthers 10 5 1 0 4 33 31 +2 12[a] Qualification to play-in match
4 Cardiff Devils 10 5 1 0 4 29 24 +5 12[a]
5 Manchester Storm 10 2 1 2 5 28 34 −6 8
6 Guildford Flames 10 2 0 3 5 28 38 −10 7
Source: Elite League
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) Goal difference; 9) Fewest penalty minutes; 10) Drawing of lots.
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Away points: Nottingham 8, Cardiff 6.

Group B

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Belfast Giants 12 7 0 3 2 48 31 +17 17 Qualification to semi-finals
2 Glasgow Clan 12 6 2 0 4 38 30 +8 16 Qualification to play-in match
3 Dundee Stars 12 3 3 1 5 43 46 −3 13
4 Fife Flyers 12 2 1 2 7 24 46 −22 8
Source: Elite League
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) Goal difference; 9) Fewest penalty minutes; 10) Drawing of lots.

Knockout stage

Bracket

  • Play-in match
  • (December 2025)
  • Semi-finals
  • (February 2026)
  • Final
  • (TBD)
1Sheffield Steelers
B2Glasgow Clan14Nottingham Panthers
A3Nottingham Panthers4
2Belfast Giants2
3Coventry Blaze3

Play-in match

17 December 2025
19:30		Glasgow Clan1–4
(0–0, 1–2, 0–2)		Nottingham PanthersBraehead Arena
Attendance: 2,323
Game reference
Sami AittokallioGoaliesKevin CarrReferees:
Andy Dalton
Daniel Ferguson
Linesmen:
Scott Rodger
James Nelson
0–122:11 – David Noël
Tristin Langan – 34:301–1
1–239:47 – Matt Marcinew
1–352:36 – Matt Spencer
1–457:37 – Tim Doherty (ENG)
2 minPenalties8 min
28Shots24

Semi-finals

In a change for the 2025–26 season, the semi-final matchups were determined on win percentage from the group stage – between both group winners (the Sheffield Steelers and the Belfast Giants) for the number one and two seeds, and the remaining two teams (the Coventry Blaze and the Nottingham Panthers) for the number three and four seeds.[5][6]

(1) Sheffield Steelers vs. (4) Nottingham Panthers
18 February 2026 Nottingham Panthers – Sheffield Steelers Nottingham Arena
25 February 2026 Sheffield Steelers – Nottingham Panthers Sheffield Arena
Series tied 0–0 on aggregate.
(2) Belfast Giants vs. (3) Coventry Blaze
11 February 2026 Coventry Blaze 3–2 Belfast Giants Coventry Skydome  
  • Jack Hopkins – 1:54
  • Kim Tallberg – 13:28
 First period 8:41 – Ben Lake
Grayson Constable – 16:57 Second period 9:46 – Scott Conway
No scoring Third period No scoring
Mat Robson (44 shots / 42 saves) Goalie stats Alexis Gravel (18 shots / 15 saves)
18 February 2026 Belfast Giants – Coventry Blaze SSE Arena Belfast
Coventry Blaze lead 3–2 on aggregate.

References

  1. ^ "Gamecentre". EIHL. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  2. ^ "Standings 2025/2026 Elite Ice Hockey League". EIHL. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  3. ^ Crow, Allan (13 May 2024). "EIHL's new Challenge Cup format revealed after fans' survey criticism – and it still feels clunky". Fife Free Press. National World. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  4. ^ "Elimination Game scheduled for 17 December". Elite Ice Hockey League. Pendulum Management. 10 November 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  5. ^ "Tweak to Challenge Cup knockout stages". Elite Ice Hockey League. Pendulum Management. 26 August 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  6. ^ "Line-up for Challenge Cup Semi-Finals". Elite Ice Hockey League. Pendulum Management. 17 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.