2017–18 EIHL season

The 2017–18 EIHL season was the 15th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season commenced on 9 September 2017 and ended on 25 March 2018. The reigning league champions were the Cardiff Devils, who won the championship for the first time in 2016–17. The Devils retained their regular season title, with a 3–2 victory away at the Belfast Giants on 16 March 2018.^[1] The Devils also won the playoff title, beating the Sheffield Steelers – who had defeated the Devils 12 months prior in a 6–5 double overtime game – 3–1 in the final, winning a first playoff title since 1998–99.^[7][9]

2017–18 EIHL season
League	Elite Ice Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	9 September 2017 – 25 March 2018
Number of matches	336
Total attendance	904,161
Average attendance	2,690
Regular season
League	Cardiff Devils[1]
Season MVP	Joey Martin (Cardiff Devils)[2]
Top scorer	Mike Hammond (Manchester Storm) (83 points)[3]
Challenge Cup
Winners	Belfast Giants[4]
Conference
Erhardt champions	Cardiff Devils[1]
Gardiner champions	Fife Flyers[5]
Patton champions	Manchester Storm[6]
Playoffs
Champions	Cardiff Devils[7]
Runners-up	Sheffield Steelers[7]
Finals MVP	Justin Faryna (Cardiff Devils)[8]

Teams

The league expanded from ten teams to twelve teams for the 2017–18 season, with the introduction of two former English Premier Ice Hockey League teams; the Guildford Flames and the Milton Keynes Lightning.^[10]

Starting from the 2017–18 season, the league featured three conferences of four teams compared to the previous season's two conferences of five teams. The Gardiner Conference became an all-Scottish division, with the Braehead Clan, the Dundee Stars, the Edinburgh Capitals and the Fife Flyers. The Manchester Storm, who were part of the Gardiner Conference in 2016–17, moved to a new Southern conference: the Patton Conference. Also part of the division were the Coventry Blaze (moving from the Erhardt Conference), the Guildford Flames and the Milton Keynes Lightning. The final conference was the Erhardt Conference, consisting of the four "Arena" teams: the Belfast Giants, the Cardiff Devils, the Nottingham Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers.^[11]

Team	City/Town	Conference	Arena	Capacity
Belfast Giants	Belfast	Erhardt	SSE Arena Belfast	7,200
Braehead Clan	Glasgow	Gardiner	Braehead Arena	4,000
Cardiff Devils	Cardiff	Erhardt	Ice Arena Wales	3,088
Coventry Blaze	Coventry	Patton	SkyDome Arena	3,000
Dundee Stars	Dundee	Gardiner	Dundee Ice Arena	2,400
Edinburgh Capitals	Edinburgh	Gardiner	Murrayfield Ice Rink	3,700
Fife Flyers	Kirkcaldy	Gardiner	Fife Ice Arena	3,525
Guildford Flames	Guildford	Patton	Guildford Spectrum	2,001
Manchester Storm	Altrincham	Patton	Altrincham Ice Dome	2,000
Milton Keynes Lightning	Milton Keynes	Patton	Planet Ice Milton Keynes	2,800
Nottingham Panthers	Nottingham	Erhardt	National Ice Centre	7,500
Sheffield Steelers	Sheffield	Erhardt	Motorpoint Arena	9,000

Standings

Overall

All games counted towards the overall Elite League standings. Each team played 56 matches; 24 matches against their three Conference rivals, and 32 against the eight teams from the other Conferences. The Cardiff Devils became regular season champions for the second successive season, with a 3–2 win over the Belfast Giants on 16 March 2018 at SSE Arena Belfast.^[1]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cardiff Devils (Q)	56	41	12	3	37	234	149	+85	85	Regular season champions Qualification to playoffs
2	Manchester Storm (Q)	56	35	16	5	28	216	169	+47	75	Qualification to playoffs
3	Sheffield Steelers (Q)	56	34	19	3	32	217	140	+77	71
4	Nottingham Panthers (Q)	56	33	18	5	25	203	177	+26	71
5	Belfast Giants (Q)	56	34	20	2	30	227	200	+27	70
6	Guildford Flames (Q)	56	30	17	9	27	215	173	+42	69
7	Fife Flyers (Q)	56	33	21	2	27	218	172	+46	68
8	Coventry Blaze (Q)	56	25	26	5	22	189	186	+3	55
9	Braehead Clan	56	24	26	6	24	161	186	−25	54
10	Dundee Stars	56	22	30	4	16	167	233	−66	48
11	Milton Keynes Lightning	56	20	34	2	16	180	229	−49	42
12	Edinburgh Capitals	56	5	50	1	5	118	331	−213	11

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 three teams in the Conference eight times, for a total of 24 matches. The Cardiff Devils won the Conference for the third season in a row, with a 3–2 win over the Belfast Giants on 16 March 2018 at SSE Arena Belfast.^[1]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cardiff Devils	24	15	7	2	13	91	71	+20	32	Conference champions
2	Belfast Giants	24	13	9	2	11	77	83	−6	28
3	Sheffield Steelers	24	10	12	2	10	68	63	+5	22
4	Nottingham Panthers	24	10	14	0	8	78	97	−19	20

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 three teams in the Conference eight times, for a total of 24 matches. The Fife Flyers won the Conference for the first time, with a 7–6 overtime win over the Dundee Stars on 18 February 2018 at the Dundee Ice Arena.^[5]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Fife Flyers	24	19	3	2	17	123	57	+66	40	Conference champions
2	Braehead Clan	24	14	8	2	14	85	72	+13	30
3	Dundee Stars	24	13	10	1	9	86	96	−10	27
4	Edinburgh Capitals	24	2	21	1	2	59	128	−69	5

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.

Patton Conference

Only intra-conference games counted towards the Patton Conference standings. Each team played the other three teams in the Conference eight times, for a total of 24 matches. The Manchester Storm won the inaugural Conference, after the Coventry Blaze defeated the Storm's closest challengers, the Guildford Flames, 3–1 on 18 March 2018 at the Guildford Spectrum.^[6]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Manchester Storm	24	15	8	1	13	91	71	+20	31	Conference champions
2	Guildford Flames	24	13	6	5	12	91	75	+16	31
3	Coventry Blaze	24	12	11	1	11	87	91	−4	25
4	Milton Keynes Lightning	24	8	15	1	4	70	102	−32	17

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.

Playoffs

Bracket

	Quarter-finals (30 March – 1 April)							Semi-finals (7 April)					Grand Final (8 April)
	1	Cardiff Devils	4	4	8
	8	Coventry Blaze	2	3	5
								1	Cardiff Devils	4
								7	Fife Flyers	0
	2	Manchester Storm	4	1	5
	7	Fife Flyers	1	5	6
													1	Cardiff Devils	3
	(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
													3	Sheffield Steelers	1
	3	Sheffield Steelers	5	4	9
	6	Guildford Flames	2	5	7
								3	Sheffield Steelers	5			Third place game (8 April)
								4	Nottingham Panthers	4
	4	Nottingham Panthers	3	5	8								4	Nottingham Panthers	8
	5	Belfast Giants	4	3	7								7	Fife Flyers	2

Quarter-finals

(1) Cardiff Devils vs. (8) Coventry Blaze

30 March 2018	Coventry Blaze		2–4		Cardiff Devils	SkyDome Arena Attendance: 2,528	Recap
Ben Lake (PPG) – 1:18		First period			No scoring
Danick Paquette – 4:43		Second period			2:30 – Joey Haddad 10:56 – Sean Bentivoglio (PPG)
No scoring		Third period			3:00 – Joey Martin (PPG) 9:32 – Matt Pope
Kevin Nastiuk (35 shots / 31 saves)		Goalie stats			Ben Bowns (32 shots / 30 saves)

1 April 2018	Cardiff Devils		4–3		Coventry Blaze	Ice Arena Wales Attendance: 3,095	Recap
Justin Faryna – 18:24		First period			0:34 – Ryan Dingle
No scoring		Second period			4:18 – Brett Robinson (PPG) 17:42 – Ross Venus
Josh Batch – 2:47 Matt Pope – 3:26 Justin Faryna (2; ENG) – 18:03		Third period			No scoring
Ben Bowns (15 shots / 12 saves)		Goalie stats			Kevin Nastiuk (22 shots / 19 saves)

Cardiff Devils win 8–5 on aggregate.

(2) Manchester Storm vs. (7) Fife Flyers

31 March 2018	Fife Flyers		1–4		Manchester Storm	Fife Ice Arena Attendance: 2,440	Recap
No scoring		First period			15:09 – Chris Auger
No scoring		Second period			15:22 – Linden Springer (PPG) 19:01 – Andrew McKinney
Dan Correale – 0:35		Third period			7:01 – Matt Beca
Andy Iles (26 shots / 22 saves)		Goalie stats			Mike Clemente (31 shots / 30 saves)

1 April 2018	Manchester Storm		1–5	OT	Fife Flyers	Altrincham Ice Dome Attendance: 2,293	Recap
No scoring		First period			4:19 – Danick Gauthier
Mike Hammond – 16:47		Second period			1:14 – Carlo Finucci 11:13 – Jim Jorgensen (PPG)
No scoring		Third period			6:31 – Liam Heelis (PPG)
No scoring		First overtime period			0:47 – Carlo Finucci (2)
Mike Clemente (26 shots / 21 saves)		Goalie stats			Andy Iles (26 shots / 25 saves)

Fife Flyers win 6–5 on aggregate.

(3) Sheffield Steelers vs. (6) Guildford Flames

31 March 2018	Sheffield Steelers		5–2		Guildford Flames	Motorpoint Arena Attendance: 5,971	Recap
No scoring		First period			8:38 – Charles Wells
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
John Armstrong – 2:45 Robert Dowd (PPG) – 11:33 John Armstrong (2) – 13:13 Andreas Valdix – 14:34 Mark Matheson (PPG) – 19:36		Third period			6:21 – Brett Ferguson (PPG)
Ervīns Muštukovs (30 shots / 28 saves)		Goalie stats			Chris Carrozzi (32 shots / 27 saves)

1 April 2018	Guildford Flames		5–4		Sheffield Steelers	Guildford Spectrum Attendance: 2,086	Recap
Jesse Craige (PPG) – 7:39		First period			1:51 – John Armstrong 3:22 – Mark Matheson
Rhett Rachinski – 1:08		Second period			1:43 – Colton Fretter 13:44 – Eric Neiley
Ben Davies (PPG) – 1:34 Kruise Reddick (PPG) – 3:00 Ben Davies (2) – 19:22		Third period			No scoring
Chris Carrozzi (27 shots / 23 saves)		Goalie stats			Ervīns Muštukovs (43 shots / 38 saves)

Sheffield Steelers win 9–7 on aggregate.

(4) Nottingham Panthers vs. (5) Belfast Giants

30 March 2018	Belfast Giants		4–3		Nottingham Panthers	SSE Arena Belfast Attendance: 5,645	Recap
Darcy Murphy – 9:11 David Rutherford (PPG) – 10:22 Colin Shields (PPG) – 13:16		First period			19:53 – David Clarke
John Kurtz – 12:34		Second period			0:38 – Mark Derlago
No scoring		Third period			8:15 – David Clarke (2)
Jackson Whistle (26 shots / 23 saves)		Goalie stats			Patrick Galbraith (48 shots / 44 saves)

1 April 2018	Nottingham Panthers		5–3	OT	Belfast Giants	National Ice Centre Attendance: 5,555	Recap
No scoring		First period			3:01 – Jonathan Ferland (PPG) 3:20 – Kevin Raine
Mark Derlago – 3:07 Evan Mosey (SHG) – 14:58		Second period			No scoring
Brett Perlini – 1:29 Yann Sauvé (PPG) – 15:16		Third period			15:46 – Jim Vandermeer
Dan Spang – 4:34		First overtime period			No scoring
Patrick Galbraith (37 shots / 34 saves)		Goalie stats			Jackson Whistle (29 shots / 24 saves)

Nottingham Panthers win 8–7 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

7 April 2018 13:00

Cardiff Devils

4–0 (0–0, 1–0, 3–0)

Fife Flyers

National Ice Centre, Nottingham Attendance: 7,300

Game reference
	Ben Bowns	Goalies	Andy Iles	Referees: Tom Darnell Stefan Hogarth Linesmen: James Kavanagh Allan Ward
	Tyson Strachan – 35:36 1–0 Matt Pope – 46:42 2–0 Layne Ulmer – 47:41 3–0 Justin Faryna – 52:02 4–0
	10 min	Penalties	8 min
	38	Shots	19

---

7 April 2018 17:00

Sheffield Steelers

5–4 (OT) (1–2, 1–2, 2–0, 1–0)

Nottingham Panthers

National Ice Centre, Nottingham Attendance: 7,300

Game reference
	Ervīns Muštukovs	Goalies	Patrick Galbraith	Referees: Dean Smith Mike Hicks Linesmen: Ilia Kisil Danny Beresford
	0–1 0:47 – Alexander Mokshantsev 0–2 12:25 – Luke Pither Mathieu Roy – 15:24 1–2 Jonathan Phillips – 24:53 2–2 2–3 26:50 – Luke Pither (2; PPG) 2–4 33:45 – Jeff Brown Ben O'Connor (PPG) – 48:37 3–4 Levi Nelson – 58:21 4–4 John Armstrong – 63:47 5–4
	10 min	Penalties	6 min
	42	Shots	36

Third-place match

8 April 2018 12:00

Nottingham Panthers

8–2 (3–1, 3–1, 2–0)

Fife Flyers

National Ice Centre, Nottingham Attendance: 7,300

Game reference
	Michael Garnett (26:58) Sam Gospel (33:02)	Goalies	Jordan Marr	Referees: Stefan Hogarth Dean Smith Linesmen: Ilia Kisil Allan Ward
	Jeff Brown – 4:39 1–0 1–1 7:01 – Jim Jorgensen Luke Pither – 15:02 2–1 Zack Phillips – 16:45 3–1 3–2 22:15 – Carlo Finucci Ollie Betteridge – 26:42 4–2 Mark Derlago – 31:02 5–2 Zack Phillips (2) – 32:42 6–2 Ollie Betteridge (2) – 42:24 7–2 David Clarke – 57:18 8–2
	0 min	Penalties	0 min
	41	Shots	27

Grand Final

8 April 2018 16:00

Cardiff Devils

3–1 (0–0, 2–0, 1–1)

Sheffield Steelers

National Ice Centre, Nottingham Attendance: 7,300

Game reference
	Ben Bowns	Goalies	Ervīns Muštukovs	Referees: Tom Darnell Mike Hicks Linesmen: James Kavanagh Danny Beresford
	Matt Pope (PPG) – 24:53 1–0 Andrew Hotham – 38:41 2–0 2–1 46:55 – Eric Neiley Jake Morissette (SHG; ENG) – 59:43 3–1
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	32	Shots	24

Regular season statistics

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the regular season.^[3]

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Mike Hammond	Manchester Storm	56	32	51	83	10
John Dunbar	Guildford Flames	55	22	59	81	34
Matt Beca	Manchester Storm	56	24	51	75	14
Brendan Connolly	Belfast Giants	53	27	46	73	154
Joey Martin	Cardiff Devils	55	27	46	73	26
Sébastien Sylvestre	Belfast Giants	54	32	40	72	152
Dane Byers	Manchester Storm	55	24	46	70	107
Luke Moffatt	Manchester Storm	56	34	32	66	73
Kruise Reddick	Guildford Flames	54	27	39	66	36
Marc-Olivier Vallerand	Coventry Blaze	48	34	31	65	145

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average, while playing at least 1200 minutes, at the conclusion of the regular season.^[12]

Player	Team	GP	TOI	W	L	OTL	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Ervīns Muštukovs	Sheffield Steelers	53	3097:39	31	19	3	122	9	.918	2.36
Ben Bowns	Cardiff Devils	51	2937:01	38	10	3	119	6	.912	2.43
Patrick Galbraith	Nottingham Panthers	27	1445:25	19	8	0	62	2	.924	2.57
Andy Iles	Fife Flyers	42	2369:49	28	10	2	106	2	.913	2.68
Chris Carrozzi	Guildford Flames	43	2589:09	25	13	5	119	3	.904	2.76

Playoff statistics

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the playoffs.^[13]

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
John Armstrong	Sheffield Steelers	4	4	2	6	0
Matt Pope	Cardiff Devils	4	4	2	6	0
Luke Pither	Nottingham Panthers	4	3	3	6	0
David Clarke	Nottingham Panthers	4	3	3	6	4
Mark Matheson	Sheffield Steelers	4	2	3	5	0
Mike Hammond	Manchester Storm	2	1	4	5	2
Joey Martin	Cardiff Devils	4	1	4	5	0
Jake Morissette	Cardiff Devils	4	1	4	5	0
Colton Fretter	Sheffield Steelers	4	1	4	5	2
Mark Derlago	Nottingham Panthers	4	3	1	4	2
Justin Faryna	Cardiff Devils	4	3	1	4	2
Carlo Finucci	Fife Flyers	4	3	1	4	2

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average, while playing at least 60 minutes, at the conclusion of the playoffs.^[14]

Player	Team	GP	TOI	W	L	OTL	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Ben Bowns	Cardiff Devils	4	240:00	4	0	0	6	1	.939	1.50
Mike Clemente	Manchester Storm	2	120:47	1	0	1	6	0	.895	2.98
Andy Iles	Fife Flyers	3	180:47	1	2	0	9	0	.899	2.99
Ervīns Muštukovs	Sheffield Steelers	4	243:25	2	2	0	13	0	.909	3.20
Kevin Nastiuk	Coventry Blaze	2	117:20	0	2	0	7	0	.891	3.58