# 1998–99 ISL season

The 1998–99 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the third season of the Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL). Having reached a sponsorship deal with Sekonda, the league was now formally known as the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague.
Basingstoke Bison left the league and joined the British National League. The London Knights were formed and joined the ISL playing out of London Arena. The Newcastle franchise also changed their name from the Newcastle Cobras to the Newcastle Riverkings.
Losing the Daily Express sponsorship, the Express Cup was renamed the Challenge Cup. The competition was also integrated into the league fixtures with the first round of games between teams (home and away) counting towards the Challenge Cup table and the league table. The league season was therefore increased to forty-two rounds.

## Benson & Hedges Cup

The Benson & Hedges Cup consisted of the teams from the ISL and the top teams from the British National League. In the 1998–99 season, sixteen teams in total were split into four groups (two ISL and two BNL) playing each team in their group once at home and once away. All sixteen teams then progressed to a challenge round of a home and away game with the winners on aggregate progressing. The quarter finals and semi finals were also home and away aggregate rounds with the final being a one off game held at Sheffield Arena.

### Group A

| Group A | GP | W | T | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| Bracknell Bees | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 20 | 8 |
| Ayr Scottish Eagles | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 29 | 25 | 8 |
| Cardiff Devils | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 21 | 25 | 5 |
| Newcastle Riverkings | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 24 | 29 | 3 |

### Group B

| Group B | GP | W | T | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| Manchester Storm | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 12 | 10 |
| Sheffield Steelers | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 18 | 7 |
| Nottingham Panthers | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 16 | 6 |
| London Knights | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 24 | 1 |

### Group C

| Group C | GP | W | T | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| Telford Tigers | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 26 | 20 | 8 |
| Fife Flyers | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 25 | 20 | 7 |
| Edinburgh Capitals | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 19 | 26 | 5 |
| Paisley Pirates | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 23 | 4 |

### Group D

| Group D | GP | W | T | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| Guildford Flames | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 23 | 9 |
| Slough Jets | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 19 | 9 |
| Peterborough Pirates | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 25 | 32 | 3 |
| Kingston Hawks | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 23 | 29 | 3 |

### Finals

Note: The first home team is shown first
| Challenge round | Challenge round | Challenge round | Challenge round | Challenge round | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| B2 | Sheffield Steelers | 15 | 8 | 23 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| D3 | Peterborough Pirates | 2 | 1 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| D3 | Peterborough Pirates | 2 | 1 | 3 | B1 | Manchester Storm | 2 | 4 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | B2 | Sheffield Steelers | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| B1 | Manchester Storm | 7 | 9 | 16 | B2 | Sheffield Steelers | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| D4 | Kingston Hawks | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| D4 | Kingston Hawks | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | B1 | Manchester Storm | 3 | 1 | 4 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | B3 | Nottingham Panthers | 2 | 3 | 5 | | | | | | |
| B3 | Nottingham Panthers | 14 | 5 | 19 | | | | | | | | | | | B3 | Nottingham Panthers | 2 | 3 | 5 | | | | |
| D2 | Slough Jets | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| D2 | Slough Jets | 0 | 0 | 0 | B3 | Nottingham Panthers | 3 | 4 | 7 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | A4 | Newcastle Riverkings | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| A4 | Newcastle Riverkings | 3 | 6 | 9 | A4 | Newcastle Riverkings | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| C1 | Telford Tigers | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| C1 | Telford Tigers | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | B3 | Nottingham Panthers | | | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A2 | Ayr Scottish Eagles | | | 1 |
| A2 | Ayr Scottish Eagles | 14 | 9 | 23 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A2 | Ayr Scottish Eagles | 1 |
| C3 | Edinburgh Capitals | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| C3 | Edinburgh Capitals | 0 | 2 | 2 | A1 | Bracknell Bees | 1 | 4 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | A2 | Ayr Scottish Eagles | 7 | 4 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| A1 | Bracknell Bees | 11 | 13 | 24 | A2 | Ayr Scottish Eagles | 7 | 4 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| C4 | Paisley Pirates | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| C4 | Paisley Pirates | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | | | A2 | Ayr Scottish Eagles | 6 | 6 | 12 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | B4 | London Knights | 4 | 0 | 4 | | | | | | |
| A3 | Cardiff Devils | 13 | 9 | 22 | | | | | | | | | | | B4 | London Knights | 4 | 0 | 4 | | | | |
| C2 | Fife Flyers | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| C2 | Fife Flyers | 0 | 0 | 0 | B4 | London Knights | 3 | 5 | 8 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | A3 | Cardiff Devils | 0 | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| D1 | Guildford Flames | 1 | 3 | 4 | A3 | Cardiff Devils | 0 | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| B4 | London Knights | 10 | 6 | 16 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

## Challenge Cup

All eight teams in the league competed in the newly renamed Challenge Cup. The first round was the first home and away meeting of each team in the league with the points counting towards both the Challenge Cup table and the league table. The top four teams progressed to the semi-finals. The semi finals were home and away games with the winner on aggregate progressing to the one off final game.

### First round

| Challenge Cup | GP | W | T | OTL | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| Manchester Storm | 14 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 47 | 28 | 23 |
| Nottingham Panthers | 14 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 50 | 36 | 20 |
| Cardiff Devils | 14 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 41 | 33 | 18 |
| Sheffield Steelers | 14 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 55 | 46 | 16 |
| Ayr Scottish Eagles | 14 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 40 | 43 | 15 |
| Bracknell Bees | 14 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 39 | 52 | 13 |
| Newcastle Riverkings | 14 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 36 | 43 | 12 |
| London Knights | 14 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 39 | 66 | 7 |

### Semi-finals

1st place (Manchester) vs 4th place (Sheffield)
* Sheffield Steelers 5–0 Manchester Storm
* Manchester Storm 1–3 Sheffield Steelers (Sheffield win 8–1 on aggregate)
2nd place (Nottingham) vs 3rd place (Cardiff)
* Cardiff Devils 2–3 Nottingham Panthers
* Nottingham Panthers 3–3 Cardiff Devils (after overtime, Nottingham win 6–5 on aggregate)

### Final

Winner A vs Winner B
* Sheffield Steelers 4–0 Nottingham Panthers

## League

Each team played three home games and three away games against each of their opponents. All eight teams were entered into the playoffs.
| Superleague | GP | W | T | OTL | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| Manchester Storm | 42 | 30 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 155 | 86 | 65 |
| Cardiff Devils | 42 | 27 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 144 | 102 | 59 |
| Nottingham Panthers | 42 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 140 | 134 | 53 |
| Bracknell Bees | 42 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 144 | 149 | 44 |
| Ayr Scottish Eagles | 42 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 136 | 140 | 42 |
| Sheffield Steelers | 42 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 19 | 135 | 141 | 40 |
| Newcastle Riverkings | 42 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 117 | 150 | 32 |
| London Knights | 42 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 25 | 114 | 183 | 27 |

## Playoffs

All eight teams in the league took part in the playoffs. Group A consisted of Bracknell, London, Manchester and Sheffield while Group B consisted of Ayr, Cardiff, Newcastle and Nottingham. The top two teams from each playoff group qualified for the finals weekend. The third place playoff was dropped for this season.

### Group A

| Group A | GP | W | T | OTL | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| Manchester Storm | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 9 | 10 |
| Bracknell Bees | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 19 | 10 |
| Sheffield Steelers | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 23 | 4 |
| London Knights | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 30 | 1 |

### Group B

| Group B | GP | W | T | OTL | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| Nottingham Panthers | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 16 | 10 |
| Cardiff Devils | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 16 | 7 |
| Ayr Scottish Eagles | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 20 | 5 |
| Newcastle Riverkings | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 23 | 4 |

### Semi-finals

Winner A vs Runner-Up B
* Manchester Storm 0-4 Cardiff Devils
Winner B vs Runner-Up A
* Nottingham Panthers 4–3 Bracknell Bees

### Final

Winner A vs Winner B
* Cardiff Devils 2-1 Nottingham Panthers

## Awards

* Coach of the Year Trophy – Kurt Kleinendorst, Manchester Storm
* Player of the Year Trophy – Frank Pietrangelo, Manchester Storm
* Ice Hockey Annual Trophy – Tony Hand, Sheffield Steelers
* British Netminder of the Year – Stevie Lyle, Cardiff Devils
* Alan Weeks Trophy – Stephen Cooper, Newcastle Riverkings

### All Star teams

| First team | Position | Second Team |
| Frank Pietrangelo, Manchester Storm | G | Trevor Robins, Nottingham Panthers |
| Kip Noble, Cardiff Devils | D | Kris Miller, Manchester Storm |
| Troy Neumeier, Manchester Storm | D | Rob Stewart, Bracknell Bees |
| Greg Hadden, Nottingham Panthers | F | Ivan Matulik, Cardiff Devils |
| Ed Courtenay, Sheffield Steelers | F | Jeff Tomlinson, Manchester Storm |
| Paul Adey, Nottingham Panthers | F | Jeff Jablonski, Manchester Storm |

## Scoring leaders

The scoring leaders are taken from all league games.
* Most points: 56 Paul Adey (Nottingham Panthers)
* Most goals: 29 Greg Hadden (Nottingham Panthers)
* Most assists: 35 Paul Adey (Nottingham Panthers)
* Most PIMs: 152 Paxton Schulte (Bracknell Bees)