# 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.
| Coventry | 5 – 4 | Sheffield | Skydome (19.30) |
| | First period | | Ref: Tom Darnell |
| 1-0 Lewis (LeClare, Kelman) 01.08 | | | Att: 3,500+ |
| 2-0 Calder (Kelman, Carlson) PP 08.10 | | |
| | Second period | | |
| 3-0Calder (Kelman, Carlson) PP 22.00 |
| | | 3-1 Philips (League) PP 29.20 |
| | | 3-2 Gillies (Sarich, Hewitt) 30.18 |
| | Third period | | |
| | | 3-3 Philips (Finerty, Dowd) PP 44.38 |
| 4-3 Carlson (Deschatelets) SH 52.35 |
| | | 4-4 Basiuk (Tait, Talbot) PP 53.28 |
| | Overtime | | |
| 5-4 Calder (Carlson, Weaver) PP 60.26 |

## 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

| | Team | GP | W | OTW | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | Belfast Giants | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 8 | 8 |
| 2 | Manchester Phoenix | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 12 | 6 |
| 3 | Newcastle Vipers | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 18 | 4 |
| 4 | Sheffield Steelers | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 17 | 2 |
| 5 | Edinburgh Capitals | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 21 | 0 |

#### Group B

| | Team | GP | W | OTW | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | Basingstoke Bison | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 16 | 6 |
| 2 | Coventry Blaze | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 13 | 5 |
| 3 | Nottingham Panthers | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 11 | 4 |
| 4 | Cardiff Devils | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 12 | 4 |
| 5 | Hull Stingrays | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 18 | 1 |

#### Semi-finals

Coventry Blaze 1 - 1 Belfast Giants (1st Leg)
Belfast Giants 4 - 1 Coventry Blaze (2nd Leg)
Belfast Win 5 - 2 on Aggregate
Basingstoke Bison 2 - 5 Manchester Phoenix (1st Leg)
Manchester Phoenix 6 - 1 Basingstoke Bison (2nd Leg)
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

| Regular season standings | GP | W | OTW | L | OTL | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Sheffield Steelers | 54 | 35 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 201 | 115 | +86 | 89 |
| Coventry Blaze | 54 | 34 | 4 | 14 | 2 | 228 | 151 | +77 | 78 |
| Nottingham Panthers | 54 | 33 | 4 | 13 | 4 | 226 | 154 | +72 | 78 |
| Belfast Giants | 54 | 29 | 6 | 15 | 4 | 216 | 170 | +46 | 74 |
| Cardiff Devils | 54 | 21 | 7 | 19 | 7 | 174 | 143 | +31 | 63 |
| Manchester Phoenix | 54 | 22 | 5 | 23 | 4 | 198 | 179 | +19 | 58 |
| Newcastle Vipers | 54 | 14 | 7 | 29 | 4 | 147 | 184 | −37 | 46 |
| Edinburgh Capitals | 54 | 18 | 1 | 29 | 6 | 179 | 243 | −64 | 44 |
| Hull Stingrays | 54 | 13 | 3 | 33 | 5 | 154 | 243 | −89 | 37 |
| Basingstoke Bison | 54 | 5 | 3 | 43 | 3 | 131 | 272 | −141 | 19 |

## Elite League Playoffs

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Sheffield Steelers | 12 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Edinburgh Capitals | 7 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Edinburgh Capitals | 7 | 1 | Sheffield Steelers | 5 | | | |
| | | | 5 | Cardiff Devils | 2 | | | |
| 4 | Belfast Giants | 5 | 5 | Cardiff Devils | 2 | | | |
| 5 | Cardiff Devils | 6 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Cardiff Devils | 6 | | | | 1 | Sheffield Steelers | 2 |
| | | | | | | 3 | Nottingham Panthers | 0 |
| 2 | Coventry Blaze | 6 | | | | | | | 3 | Nottingham Panthers | 0 |
| 7 | Newcastle Vipers | 4 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Newcastle Vipers | 4 | 2 | Coventry Blaze | 2 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Nottingham Panthers | 6 | | | |
| 3 | Nottingham Panthers | 9 | 3 | Nottingham Panthers | 6 | | | |
| 6 | Manchester Phoenix | 5 | | | | | | |

## 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

* ↑ The Official Site of the Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey Team
* ↑ "bmibaby Elite League confirm 2007/08 competitions". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2008-09-22.