2007–08 EIHL season

The 2007–08 Elite Ice Hockey League season began September 5, 2007 and ran until April 6, 2008. It was the fifth season of Elite League competition.
The defending league champions were the Coventry Blaze, who were also the holders of the Challenge Cup. The Nottingham Panthers looked to defend the Play Off Championship they won for the first time in eighteen years in 2007.
==Movements between Elite League teams==
Player 	From 	To 	Date
Pavel Gomenyuk 	Hull Stingrays 	Newcastle Vipers 	April 19
Sergiy Rublivsky	Hull Stingrays 	Newcastle Vipers 	April 24
Mark Richardson 	Cardiff Devils 	Nottingham Panthers	May 1
Ashley Tait 	Coventry Blaze 	Sheffield Steelers 	May 9
Jonathan Weaver 	Newcastle Vipers 	Coventry Blaze 	May 9
Doug Shepard 	Basingstoke Bison 	Sheffield Steelers 	May 10
Slava Koulikov 	Hull Stingrays 	Basingstoke Bison 	May 14
Phil Hill 	Sheffield Steelers 	Cardiff Devils 	May 17
Russ Cowley 	Cardiff Devils 	Coventry Blaze 	May 29
Derek Campbell 	Manchester Phoenix 	Newcastle Vipers 	May 31
Paul Moran 	Sheffield Steelers 	Belfast Giants 	May 31
Johan Molin 	Manchester Phoenix 	Nottingham Panthers	June 4
Marc Levers 	Belfast Giants 	Nottingham Panthers	June 6
Matus Petricko 	Nottingham Panthers	Cardiff Devils 	June 6
Curtis Huppe 	Belfast Giants 	Coventry Blaze 	June 12
Jeff Hutchins 	Belfast Giants 	Newcastle Vipers 	July 3
Jeremy Cornish 	Newcastle Vipers 	Sheffield Steelers 	July 16
==Charity Shield==
The season began on September 5, 2007 with a "Charity Shield" style game between the 2006–07 league champions and Challenge Cup winning Coventry Blaze and the playoff champions Nottingham Panthers at the National Ice Centre.The Official Site of the GMB Nottingham Panthers Ice Hockey Team The Panthers defeated the Blaze 7-6 to win the inaugural event.
 	 	 	 		
September 5	 	 	 		
 	Nottingham 	7 – 6 	Coventry 		National Ice Centre (19.30)
 	 	First period 	 		Ref: Michael Hicks
 	 	 	0-1 Cloutier (Weaver, Ndur) 00.52 		Att: 3,500+
 	 	 	0-2 Huppe (Cloutier, Cowley) 05.44 		
 	1-2 McAslan (Pelletier, Drouin) SH 13.19	 	 		
 	 	 	1-3 Martin (Moore) PP 13.57 		
 	2-3 Drouin (McAslan, Neilson) SH 15.42 	 	 		
 	3-3 Drouin (Meyers, Richardson) 18.45 	 	 		
 	 	Second period	 		
 	4-3 Pelletier (Myers) 25.15 	 	 		
 	 	 	4-4 Stewart (Martin, Moore) 4-on-4 32.12		
 	 	 	4-5 Cowley (Stewart, Moore) 35.15 		
 	5-5 Stancok (Richardson) PP 36.25 	 	 		
 	 	Third period 	 		
 	 	 	5-6 Carlson (Weaver) SH 40.38 		
 	6-6 Neilson (Drouin) PP 41.18 	 	 		
 	7-6 Drouin (Neilson, McAslan) PP 48.56 	 	 		
==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.bmibaby Elite Ice Hockey League | News - bmibaby Elite League confirm 2007/08 competitions The top two in each group advanced to the semi finals of the competition.
===Group stage===
====Group A====
 	Team 	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	Nottingham Panthers	4	3	0	1	12	7 	7
2	Cardiff Devils 	4	2	1	1	13	9 	5
3	Coventry Blaze 	4	1	1	2	9 	6 	4
4	Basingstoke Bison 	4	1	2	1	14	18	3
5	Belfast Giants 	4	0	3	1	9 	17	1
====Group B====
 	Team 	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	Sheffield Steelers	4	3	1	0	15	9 	6
2	Newcastle Vipers 	4	3	1	0	12	7 	6
3	Manchester Phoenix	4	2	2	0	15	11	4
4	Edinburgh Capitals	4	2	2	0	7 	10	4
5	Hull Stingrays 	4	0	4	0	6 	18	0
===Semi Finals===
====Winner A (Nottingham) vs Runner Up B (Newcastle)====
Date 	Date 	Home 	Away 	Result 	Venue 	 	
1 	November 20 	Nottingham Panthers 5 	Newcastle Vipers 4 	Final 	National Ice Centre 	 	
2 	November 30 	Newcastle Vipers 1 	Nottingham Panthers 5 	Final 	Metro Radio Arena 	 	
Nottingham won 10–5 on aggregate	Nottingham won 10–5 on aggregate	Nottingham won 10–5 on aggregate	Nottingham won 10–5 on aggregate	Nottingham won 10–5 on aggregate	Nottingham won 10–5 on aggregate	Nottingham won 10–5 on aggregate	Nottingham won 10–5 on aggregate
====Winner B (Sheffield) vs Runner Up A (Cardiff)====
Date 	Date 	Home 	Away 	Result 	Venue 	 	
1 	November 28 	Cardiff Devils 4 	Sheffield Steelers 4 	Final 	Cardiff Bay Ice Rink 	 	
2 	December 5 	Sheffield Steelers 2 	Cardiff Devils 0 	Final 	IceSheffield 	 	
Sheffield won 6–4 on aggregate	Sheffield won 6–4 on aggregate	Sheffield won 6–4 on aggregate	Sheffield won 6–4 on aggregate	Sheffield won 6–4 on aggregate	Sheffield won 6–4 on aggregate	Sheffield won 6–4 on aggregate	Sheffield won 6–4 on aggregate
===Final===
Date 	Date 	Home 	Away 	Result 	Venue 	 	
1 	January 23 	Sheffield Steelers 3 	Nottingham Panthers 6 	Final 	Sheffield Arena 	 	
2 	February 20 	Nottingham Panthers 3 	Sheffield Steelers 4 	Final 	National Ice Centre 	 	
Nottingham won 9–7 on aggregate	Nottingham won 9–7 on aggregate	Nottingham won 9–7 on aggregate	Nottingham won 9–7 on aggregate	Nottingham won 9–7 on aggregate	Nottingham won 9–7 on aggregate	Nottingham won 9–7 on aggregate	Nottingham won 9–7 on aggregate
==League==
Regular season standings	GP	W 	L 	OTL	GF 	GA 	Pts
Coventry Blaze 	54	41	11	2 	217	157	85
Sheffield Steelers 	54	38	14	2 	190	128	78
Nottingham Panthers 	54	33	18	3 	172	133	69
Belfast Giants 	54	33	19	2 	184	150	68
Newcastle Vipers 	54	28	22	4 	159	174	60
Cardiff Devils 	54	26	25	3 	164	174	55
Manchester Phoenix 	54	23	28	3 	162	179	49
Edinburgh Capitals 	54	19	32	3 	155	208	41
Basingstoke Bison 	54	16	33	5 	172	222	37
Hull Stingrays 	54	13	34	7 	119	197	33
==Playoffs==
==Team Photos==
07-08CovBla.jpg|Coventry Blaze
==Footnotes==
Category:EIHL seasons
EIHL season, 2007-08
EIHL season, 2007-08