2008–09 EIHL season


The 2008-09 EIHL season was the sixth season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. 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 and the playoff champions Sheffield Steelers at the SkyDome. 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

TeamGPWOTWLOTLGFGAPts
1Belfast Giants440001888
2Manchester Phoenix4301019126
3Newcastle Vipers4202015184
4Sheffield Steelers4103014172
5Edinburgh Capitals4004010210

Group B

TeamGPWOTWLOTLGFGAPts
1Basingstoke Bison4301019166
2Coventry Blaze4201117135
3Nottingham Panthers4110212114
4Cardiff Devils4202010124
5Hull Stingrays4003111181

Semi-Finals

Coventry Blaze 1 - 1 Belfast Giants
Belfast Giants 4 - 1 Coventry Blaze
Belfast Win 5 - 2 on Aggregate
Basingstoke Bison 2 - 5 Manchester Phoenix
Manchester Phoenix 6 - 1 Basingstoke Bison
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 Sheffield Steelers was chosen to coach the North, while Paul Thompson of the Coventry Blaze was chosen to coach the South. The rosters for each team consisted of players representing all 10 Elite League clubs.

Footnotes