2021–22 EIHL season

The 2021–22 EIHL season was the 18th season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season commenced on 25 September 2021, and finished on 17 April 2022,^[1][2] with the playoffs taking place over the following two weekends. The previous campaign in 2020–21 was suspended indefinitely in September 2020,^[3] due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom; a reduced Elite Series was held in April and May 2021, involving the Sheffield Steelers, the Nottingham Panthers, the Coventry Blaze and the Manchester Storm, to provide competitive ice time for players ahead of the 2021 IIHF World Championship.^[4]

2021–22 EIHL season
League	Elite Ice Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	25 September 2021 – 17 April 2022 (regular season) 23 April – 1 May 2022 (playoffs)
Number of teams	10
Regular season
Regular season winners	Belfast Giants
Playoffs
Finals
Champions	Cardiff Devils
Runners-up	Belfast Giants

The Belfast Giants won the regular season title for a record-equalling fifth time with two games to spare, following their 2–1 overtime win at their closest challengers, the Sheffield Steelers, on 10 April 2022.^[5] Having also won the Challenge Cup, the Belfast Giants as national league and cup champions had an opportunity to seal a Grand Slam in the playoff final by becoming British national champions for the third time,^[6] however they lost 6–3 to the Cardiff Devils – who thereby won their third consecutive playoff title and national championship, denying the table-topping Giants the Grand Slam for the second consecutive season.^[7]

Teams

The same ten teams that competed in the last regular season in 2019–20 competed in the 2021–22 season.^[1]

Team	City/Town	Arena	Capacity
Belfast Giants	Belfast	SSE Arena Belfast	8,700
Cardiff Devils	Cardiff	Ice Arena Wales	3,088
Coventry Blaze	Coventry	Coventry Skydome	3,000
Dundee Stars	Dundee	Dundee Ice Arena	2,400
Fife Flyers	Kirkcaldy	Fife Ice Arena	3,525
Glasgow Clan	Glasgow	Braehead Arena	4,000
Guildford Flames	Guildford	Guildford Spectrum	2,001
Manchester Storm	Altrincham	Altrincham Ice Dome	2,351
Nottingham Panthers	Nottingham	Motorpoint Arena Nottingham	7,500
Sheffield Steelers	Sheffield	Utilita Arena Sheffield	9,300

Regular season

League standings

Each team played 54 games, playing each of the other nine teams six times: three times on home ice, and three times away from home.^[1] Points were awarded for each game, where two points were awarded for all victories, regardless of whether it was in regulation time or after overtime or game-winning shots. One point was awarded 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 finished with the most points was crowned the league champion, and qualified for the 2022–23 Champions Hockey League. The top eight teams qualified for the playoffs.^[1]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belfast Giants (C)	54	37	6	2	9	224	108	+116	88	Regular season champions Qualification to playoffs
2	Sheffield Steelers	54	31	6	7	10	202	138	+64	81	Qualification to playoffs
3	Cardiff Devils	54	30	5	4	15	188	131	+57	74
4	Nottingham Panthers	54	22	3	5	24	163	191	−28	55
5	Guildford Flames	54	19	6	4	25	165	169	−4	54
6	Glasgow Clan	54	21	2	7	24	150	182	−32	53
7	Dundee Stars	54	19	6	3	26	160	185	−25	53
8	Coventry Blaze	54	19	4	5	26	154	173	−19	51
9	Manchester Storm	54	14	4	4	32	150	210	−60	40
10	Fife Flyers	54	12	4	5	33	122	191	−69	37

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.
(C) Champion

Results

Home \ Away	BEL	CAR	COV	DUN	FIF	GLA	GUI	MAN	NOT	SHE	BEL	CAR	COV	DUN	FIF	GLA	GUI	MAN	NOT	SHE	BEL	CAR	COV	DUN	FIF	GLA	GUI	MAN	NOT	SHE
Belfast	—	1–0	6–1	2–3	3–1	3–2	6–2	7–2	7–2	5–1	—	5–3	3–0	7–1	4–1	5–1	5–1	6–2	2–4	2–5	—	1–2 (SO)	7–6	4–1	7–1	5–1	5–0	6–3	4–1	5–4 (OT)
Cardiff	3–2	—	3–4	1–2	5–1	4–2	2–0	3–0	0–3	3–5	4–2	—	6–2	7–1	3–2	3–1	6–2	5–3	5–1	5–4 (OT)	4–1	—	3–0	4–1	4–0	4–2	1–2 (OT)	7–1	5–2	2–6
Coventry	3–5	0–2	—	5–1	2–0	2–5	4–3 (SO)	8–3	0–1	1–2 (SO)	1–7	3–4 (SO)	—	7–2	6–2	8–1	1–5	3–2 (SO)	5–0	1–5	2–3	3–0	—	3–4 (OT)	2–1	2–0	1–5	1–2 (SO)	4–6	1–2
Dundee	1–4	4–6	3–0	—	3–6	5–2	7–0	3–2	4–1	1–2	4–3 (OT)	3–2	2–1	—	2–4	3–5	3–4 (SO)	4–1	5–4 (OT)	3–2	0–7	5–3	4–1	—	6–0	6–3	0–5	3–4 (SO)	8–3	2–1 (OT)
Fife	0–3	3–1	6–2	1–4	—	4–5 (OT)	3–0	8–0	2–4	2–6	2–3 (OT)	2–4	2–3	4–3	—	3–2 (OT)	1–4	1–5	2–4	5–3	2–3 (SO)	2–1 (SO)	3–2 (OT)	1–5	—	3–4	4–2	4–5 (OT)	3–4 (OT)	2–5
Glasgow	0–6	2–5	2–3 (SO)	5–2	4–1	—	4–3	3–1	1–4	3–6	3–1	2–3	4–6	4–3	5–2	—	1–2 (OT)	4–3	2–5	5–3	1–7	6–3	2–4	1–2 (OT)	7–2	—	3–0	7–4	3–4 (OT)	2–0
Guildford	1–3	2–1	3–4 (OT)	3–0	6–1	4–2	—	3–0	3–4	3–6	1–4	2–6	1–2	7–1	1–5	8–2	—	6–5 (OT)	1–3	0–1 (OT)	3–4	6–5 (OT)	4–3	7–3	4–2	1–3	—	4–2	5–4 (OT)	1–3
Manchester	3–0	2–3 (OT)	5–2	6–2	5–0	1–5	2–6	—	4–0	2–7[a]	1–6	5–6	1–4	4–3	0–3	4–2	4–3	—	4–2	0–3	5–6 (OT)	1–4	4–1	3–6	4–1	6–1	1–2	—	7–4	4–3 (SO)
Nottingham	0–5	5–2	2–5	2–1	2–4	2–3	4–3	5–3	—	1–4	2–7	4–1	4–10	4–3 (OT)	4–2	1–2	5–2	4–2	—	3–7	2–3 (SO)	3–7	9–1	5–2	1–2 (OT)	1–2 (OT)	3–5	5–2	—	3–0
Sheffield	7–1	5–4 (OT)	3–4	3–1	5–2	3–2 (OT)	4–6	5–2	5–3	—	1–3	0–5	3–1	5–4	6–0	3–2 (OT)	4–3 (OT)	2–1	4–2	—	1–2 (SO)	2–3 (SO)	5–3	4–5 (SO)	3–1	3–2	6–5	8–2	6–2	—

Source: Elite League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. A medical emergency within the Altrincham Ice Dome resulted in this match being ended with 11:54 remaining.^[8]

Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in points, at the conclusion of the regular season.^[9]

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
J. J. Piccinich	Belfast Giants	52	35	45	80	+48	22
Scott Conway	Belfast Giants	53	33	45	78	+37	56
Charlie Combs	Dundee Stars	52	30	35	65	+4	44
Mark Cooper	Belfast Giants	53	28	33	61	+27	25
Sebastian Bengtsson	Dundee Stars	51	28	32	60	+8	6
Adam Brady	Manchester Storm	54	25	35	60	−28	24
Mathieu Roy	Glasgow Clan	53	33	26	59	+8	46
Brodie Reid	Cardiff Devils	52	31	28	59	+7	10
Marc-Olivier Vallerand	Sheffield Steelers	45	26	33	59	+24	44
David Goodwin	Belfast Giants	48	18	40	58	+33	14

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, at the conclusion of the regular season.^[10]

Player	Team	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Tyler Beskorowany	Belfast Giants	41	2384:47	32	9	67	6	93.17%	1.69
Mac Carruth	Cardiff Devils	41	2355:05	24	16	84	5	93.67%	2.14
Rok Stojanovič	Sheffield Steelers	35	2107:06	24	11	79	2	92.53%	2.25
Kevin Lindskoug	Guildford Flames	49	2910:39	23	26	140	3	90.95%	2.89
C. J. Motte	Coventry Blaze	51	2950:29	21	29	147	4	91.12%	2.99

Playoffs

Bracket

In the two-legged quarter-finals, the highest-ranked team met the lowest-ranked team, the second-highest-ranked team met the second-lowest-ranked team and so forth. The winners of each tie was determined by aggregate scoring over the two games. In the semi-finals, the highest remaining seed was matched against the lowest remaining seed, with the other two teams facing off. The winners of the semi-finals progressed to the Final, with the losers playing in the third-place match.

	Quarter-finals (23–24 April)							Semi-finals (30 April)					Final (1 May)
	1	Belfast Giants	2	2	4
	8	Coventry Blaze	2	1	3
								1	Belfast Giants	6
								7	Dundee Stars	0
	2	Sheffield Steelers	0	3	3
	7	Dundee Stars	1	4	5
													1	Belfast Giants	3
	(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
													3	Cardiff Devils	6
	3	Cardiff Devils	3	2	5
	6	Glasgow Clan	4	0	4
								3	Cardiff Devils	3			Third place
								5	Guildford Flames	2
	4	Nottingham Panthers	4	2	6								5	Guildford Flames	7
	5	Guildford Flames	4	3	7								7	Dundee Stars	5

Quarter-finals

The quarter-final schedule was announced after the conclusion of the final-day regular season matches.^[11]

(1) Belfast Giants vs. (8) Coventry Blaze

23 April 2022	Coventry Blaze		2–2		Belfast Giants	Coventry Skydome Attendance:1,645	Recap
No scoring		First period			5:50 – Darcy Murphy (1)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
Janne Kivilahti (1) – 11:50 Nat Halbert (1) – 18:11		Third period			15:04 – Slater Doggett (1)
C. J. Motte (25 shots / 23 saves)		Goalie stats			Tyler Beskorowany (33 shots / 31 saves)

24 April 2022	Belfast Giants		2–1	SO	Coventry Blaze	SSE Arena Belfast Attendance:4,587	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
Tyler Soy (1) – 5:52		Second period			7:55 – Conner Chaulk (1)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Ben Lake J. J. Piccinich Slater Doggett Scott Conway David Goodwin Scott Conway David Goodwin Scott Conway Ben Lake J. J. Piccinich		Shootout			Janne Kivilahti Luke Ferrara Evan Bloodoff Ross Venus Johnny Curran Janne Kivilahti Luke Ferrara Janne Kivilahti Johnny Curran Janne Kivilahti
Tyler Beskorowany (25 shots / 24 saves)		Goalie stats			C. J. Motte (39 shots / 38 saves)

Belfast Giants win 4–3 on aggregate.

(2) Sheffield Steelers vs. (7) Dundee Stars

23 April 2022	Sheffield Steelers		0–1		Dundee Stars	Sheffield Arena Attendance: 6,083	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			17:21 – Sebastian Bengtsson (1)
Barry Brust (23 shots / 22 saves)		Goalie stats			Adam Morrison (32 shots / 32 saves)

24 April 2022	Dundee Stars		4–3		Sheffield Steelers	Dundee Ice Arena Attendance: 2,157	Recap
No scoring		First period			9:59 – Marc-Olivier Vallerand (1; PPG) 14:22 – Marc-Olivier Vallerand (2)
Kalvis Ozols (1; PPG) – 17:51		Second period			0:59 – Martin Látal (1)
Sebastian Bengtsson (2) – 12:26 Sebastian Bengtsson (3; PPG) – 18:55 Dillon Lawrence (1; ENG) – 19:39		Third period			No scoring
Adam Morrison (19 shots / 16 saves)		Goalie stats			Rok Stojanovič (17 shots / 14 saves)

Dundee Stars win 5–3 on aggregate.

(3) Cardiff Devils vs. (6) Glasgow Clan

23 April 2022	Cardiff Devils		3–4		Glasgow Clan	Ice Arena Wales Attendance: 3,100	Recap
Matthew Register (1; PPG) – 8:53		First period			18:29 – Colin Campbell (1)
Trevor Cox (1) – 14:25		Second period			8:31 – Guillaume Gauthier (1) 10:26 – Nolan LaPorte (1)
Cole Sanford (1) – 17:45		Third period			6:49 – Nolan LaPorte (2)
Mac Carruth (26 shots / 22 saves)		Goalie stats			Shane Starrett (39 shots / 36 saves)

24 April 2022	Glasgow Clan		0–2		Cardiff Devils	Braehead Arena Attendance: 3,327	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			7:41 – Jake Coughler (1; PPG) 17:35 – Trevor Cox (2)
Shane Starrett (25 shots / 23 saves)		Goalie stats			Mac Carruth (26 shots / 26 saves)

Cardiff Devils win 5–4 on aggregate.

(4) Nottingham Panthers vs. (5) Guildford Flames

23 April 2022	Guildford Flames		4–4		Nottingham Panthers	Guildford Spectrum Attendance: 1,546	Recap
No scoring		First period			6:24 – Sean Richards (1)
Turner Ripplinger (1) – 5:04 Mike Crocock (1) – 10:48		Second period			5:40 – Sean Richards (2) 13:07 – Christophe Boivin (1; PPG)
Ian McNulty (1; PPG) – 5:07 Owen Griffiths (1) – 18:16		Third period			13:29 – Matthew Myers (1)
Kevin Lindskoug (36 shots / 32 saves)		Goalie stats			Kevin Carr (34 shots / 30 saves)

24 April 2022	Nottingham Panthers		2–3		Guildford Flames	Motorpoint Arena Nottingham Attendance: 4,051	Recap
Christophe Boivin (2) – 5:01		First period			7:58 – Levi Cable (1)
Jeremy Welsh (1) – 8:20		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			15:31 – Turner Ripplinger (2) 17:11 – Levi Cable (2)
Kevin Carr (25 shots / 22 saves)		Goalie stats			Kevin Lindskoug (37 shots / 35 saves)

Guildford Flames win 7–6 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

The schedule for the Playoff Finals weekend was announced after the conclusion of the quarter-final matches.^[12]

30 April 2022 15:00

Belfast Giants

6–0 (1–0, 3–0, 2–0)

Dundee Stars

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham

Game reference
	Tyler Beskorowany	Goalies	Adam Morrison	Referees: Matt Rose Dean Smith Linesmen: Nathan Carmichael Ilia Kisil
	Mark Cooper (1) – 14:22 1–0 Mark Cooper (2) – 21:03 2–0 Mark Cooper (3) – 28:47 3–0 Jordan Boucher (1) – 37:33 4–0 Lewis Hook (1; PPG) – 50:08 5–0 David Goodwin (1; PPG) – 58:02 6–0
	4 min	Penalties	8 min
	19	Shots	24

---

30 April 2022 19:00

Cardiff Devils

3–2 (1–0, 1–0, 1–2)

Guildford Flames

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham

Game reference
	Mac Carruth	Goalies	Kevin Lindskoug	Referees: Matt Thompson Stefan Hogarth Linesmen: Lee Young Scott Rodger
	Jake Coughler (2) – 12:45 1–0 Cole Sanford (2) – 39:30 2–0 2–1 41:43 – Turner Ripplinger (3) 2–2 55:28 – Turner Ripplinger (4) Justin Crandall (1; PPG) – 57:42 3–2
	6 min	Penalties	4 min
	20	Shots	32

Third-place match

1 May 2022 13:00

Guildford Flames

7–5 (2–1, 2–1, 3–3)

Dundee Stars

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham

Game reference
	Kevin Lindskoug	Goalies	Brython Preece	Referees: Matt Rose Stefan Hogarth Linesmen: Nathan Carmichael Scott Rodger
	Jordan Cownie (1) – 6:10 1–0 1–1 8:42 – Philippe Sanche (1) Kyle Locke (1) – 10:30 2–1 2–2 21:44 – Sebastian Bengtsson (4) Jordan Cownie (2) – 32:49 3–2 Ian McNulty (1) – 33:11 4–2 4–3 42:58 – Charlie Combs (1) 4–4 48:35 – Connor Sills (1) 4–5 53:40 – Michael Poirier (1) Levi Cable (3) – 54:41 5–5 Brett Ferguson (1; PPG) – 58:07 6–5 Owen Griffiths (2; ENG) – 59:15 7–5
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	29	Shots	33

Final

1 May 2022 17:00

Belfast Giants

3–6 (1–2, 1–1, 1–3)

Cardiff Devils

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham

Game reference
	Tyler Beskorowany	Goalies	Mac Carruth	Referees: Liam Sewell Andy Dalton Linesmen: Danny Beresford Ryan Fraley
	0–1 1:44 – Cole Sanford (3) 0–2 6:01 – Jake Coughler (3; PPG) Scott Conway (1; PPG) – 8:32 1–2 Ben Lake (1; PPG) – 25:57 2–2 2–3 39:39 – Stephen Dixon (1) 2–4 42:13 – Brodie Reid (1; PPG) Tyler Soy (2) – 49:03 3–4 3–5 58:09 – Trevor Cox (3; ENG) 3–6 59:19 – Josh Lammon (1; ENG)
	31 min	Penalties	33 min
	37	Shots	23