The 2023–24 EIHL season was the 20th anniversary season of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The regular season commenced on 23 September 2023, and the final match day was on 7 April 2024; the playoff quarter-finals were held over the weekend of 14 April and the Playoff final weekend was held the following weekend.
The Sheffield Steelers won their sixth league title – and first since 2015–16 – having opened up an unassailable 14-point lead over the Cardiff Devils with a 7–3 victory over the Guildford Flames on 24 March 2024. The Steelers had also won the Challenge Cup 11 days earlier, beating the Flames 3–1 in the final. The Steelers ultimately completed their first Grand Slam in the EIHL era, defeating the Belfast Giants 3–1 in the playoff final.
The season was marred by the death of Nottingham Panthers forward Adam Johnson during a Challenge Cup match between the Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers, held on 28 October, at the Sheffield Arena. Johnson had suffered a cut to his neck by the blade of a skate, and received emergency treatment on the ice before being transferred to the Northern General Hospital, but died from his injuries. The EIHL postponed all scheduled matches for the following day, 29 October, and subsequent matches on 31 October and 1 November were also postponed. Teams returned to action on 4 November, with the exception of Sheffield and Nottingham, who returned to the ice a week and two weeks later.
Teams The same ten teams that competed in 2022–23 competed in the 2023–24 season.
Belfast Giants BelfastSSE Arena Belfast8,700Cardiff Devils CardiffVindico Arena3,100Coventry Blaze CoventryCoventry Skydome3,000Dundee Stars DundeeDundee Ice Arena2,400Fife Flyers KirkcaldyFife Ice Arena3,525Glasgow Clan GlasgowBraehead Arena4,000Guildford Flames GuildfordGuildford Spectrum2,001Manchester Storm AltrinchamAltrincham Ice Dome2,351Nottingham Panthers NottinghamMotorpoint Arena Nottingham7,500Sheffield Steelers SheffieldUtilita Arena Sheffield9,300
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 2024–25 Champions Hockey League. The top eight teams qualified for the playoffs.
Statistics Scoring leaders
The following players led the league in points, at the conclusion of the regular season. If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.
Player Team Sheffield Steelers 54 23 43 66 +23 8 Fife Flyers 52 28 32 60 +1 26 Dundee Stars 53 27 33 60 –11 18 Dundee Stars 54 32 27 59 +1 2 Cardiff Devils 54 29 29 58 +13 56 Sheffield Steelers 53 22 36 58 +27 16 Glasgow Clan 54 27 29 56 –25 30 Cardiff Devils 54 4 51 55 +25 70 Sheffield Steelers 49 24 29 53 +27 38 Fife Flyers 47 22 31 53 +2 28
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(s) Sheffield Steelers 47 2826:00 38 9 91 8 92.96% 1.93 Guildford Flames 30 1794:44 14 15 75 2 91.88% 2.51 Manchester Storm 47 2795:17 23 23 118 3 92.93% 2.53 Cardiff Devils 38 2257:12 25 12 97 5 92.38% 2.58 Belfast Giants 36 2049:28 21 14 96 1 89.39% 2.81
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 on 7 April 2024, following the conclusion of the final-day regular season matches.
(1) Sheffield Steelers vs. (8) Fife Flyers
(2) Cardiff Devils vs. (7) Dundee Stars
(3) Belfast Giants vs. (6) Coventry Blaze
(4) Manchester Storm vs. (5) Guildford Flames
Semi-finals Following the conclusion of the quarter-final matchups, the schedule for the Finals weekend was confirmed.
Third-place match
Final
Statistics Scoring leaders
The following players led the league in points, at the conclusion of the playoffs. If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.
Player Team Guildford Flames 4 4 2 6 +1 0 Sheffield Steelers 4 3 3 6 +2 0 Guildford Flames 4 3 2 5 +5 0 Sheffield Steelers 4 1 4 5 +6 2 Sheffield Steelers 4 1 4 5 +3 0 Sheffield Steelers 4 3 1 4 +3 2 Guildford Flames 4 3 1 4 +3 2 Cardiff Devils 4 2 2 4 0 2 Sheffield Steelers 4 2 2 4 +3 4 Sheffield Steelers 4 1 3 4 +4 0
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 playoffs.
Player Team(s) Belfast Giants 4 246:22 2 1 5 0 94.57% 1.22 Coventry Blaze 2 117:58 0 1 3 0 94.92% 1.53 Cardiff Devils 3 188:05 2 1 6 0 94.83% 1.91 Guildford Flames 3 177:39 2 1 6 1 93.75% 2.03 Sheffield Steelers 3 180:00 3 0 8 0 89.61% 2.67
Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup was split into two stages: an initial group stage where the league's ten teams were divided into three groups based on geographical distance – one group of four teams (Group A) and two groups of three teams (Groups B and C). The three group winners, along with the five best remaining teams on win percentage qualified for the knockout stage. The quarter-finals and semi-finals were held over two legs, with a one-off final.
Group stage Group A
Group B
Group C Following the death of Adam Johnson, the Nottingham Panthers withdrew from the Challenge Cup on 8 November 2023. The game between the Sheffield Steelers and Nottingham, which was being led 2–1 by Sheffield at the time of its abandonment, was not considered in the standings or for potential tie-breaking scenarios between Sheffield and the Belfast Giants.
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals Following the conclusion of the league phase of the Challenge Cup, the quarter-final matchups (except for Belfast–Coventry) were determined on 29 November 2023. The Belfast–Coventry game dates were confirmed two days later.
(1) Sheffield Steelers vs. (8) Manchester Storm
(2) Belfast Giants vs. (7) Coventry Blaze
(3) Cardiff Devils vs. (6) Glasgow Clan
(4) Fife Flyers vs. (5) Guildford Flames
Semi-finals The game dates for the Sheffield–Coventry matchup were confirmed on 21 December 2023, with the Guildford–Glasgow matchup dates not confirmed until 4 January 2024.
(1) Sheffield Steelers vs. (7) Coventry Blaze
(5) Guildford Flames vs. (6) Glasgow Clan
Final As number 1 seeds, the Sheffield Steelers hosted the final on 13 March, at Sheffield Arena.
Statistics Scoring leaders
The following players led the league in points, at the conclusion of the Challenge Cup. If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.
Player Team Sheffield Steelers 12 6 11 17 +7 4 Sheffield Steelers 12 5 10 15 +11 2 Guildford Flames 13 9 5 14 +3 2 Sheffield Steelers 11 6 8 14 +9 2 Sheffield Steelers 12 4 9 13 +7 10 Cardiff Devils 10 6 6 12 +8 4 Cardiff Devils 10 1 11 12 +10 12 Guildford Flames 13 8 3 11 +3 4 Belfast Giants 7 4 7 11 +5 2 Sheffield Steelers 12 0 11 11 +9 6
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 Challenge Cup.
Player Team(s) Sheffield Steelers 8 453:47 8 0 11 0 94.47% 1.45 Belfast Giants 6 354:23 4 1 12 0 90.77% 2.03 Cardiff Devils 6 342:27 4 2 13 1 92.40% 2.28 Guildford Flames 6 341:01 4 1 13 1 91.03% 2.29 Glasgow Clan 6 329:45 3 2 13 1 92.74% 2.37
Notes
References
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