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, with the playoffs taking place over the following two weekends. The previous campaign in 2020–21 was suspended indefinitely in September 2020, 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.
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. 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, 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.
Teams The same ten teams that competed in the last regular season in 2019–20 competed in the 2021–22 season.
Belfast Giants Belfast SSE Arena Belfast 8,700 Cardiff Devils Cardiff Ice Arena Wales 3,100 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. 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.
Results
Statistics Scoring leaders The following players led the league in points, at the conclusion of the regular season.
Player Team Belfast Giants 52 35 45 80 +48 22 Belfast Giants 53 33 45 78 +37 56 Dundee Stars 52 30 35 65 +4 44 Belfast Giants 53 28 33 61 +27 25 Dundee Stars 51 28 32 60 +8 6 Manchester Storm 54 25 35 60 −28 24 Glasgow Clan 53 33 26 59 +8 46 Cardiff Devils 52 31 28 59 +7 10 Sheffield Steelers 45 26 33 59 +24 44 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.
Player Team Belfast Giants 41 2384:47 32 9 67 6 93.17% 1.69 Cardiff Devils 41 2355:05 24 16 84 5 93.67% 2.14 Sheffield Steelers 35 2107:06 24 11 79 2 92.53% 2.25 Guildford Flames 49 2910:39 23 26 140 3 90.95% 2.89 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 The quarter-final schedule was announced after the conclusion of the final-day regular season matches.
(1) Belfast Giants vs. (8) Coventry Blaze
(2) Sheffield Steelers vs. (7) Dundee Stars
(3) Cardiff Devils vs. (6) Glasgow Clan
(4) Nottingham Panthers vs. (5) Guildford Flames
Semi-finals The schedule for the Playoff Finals weekend was announced after the conclusion of the quarter-final matches.
Third-place match
Final
References
External links