After sitting out of the challenge cup last season, for the first time in history, due to fixture congestion, the Giants will be back in the tournament this season it seems.  According to the Elite League the tournament takes a very odd shape this season seeing the 10 teams playing across 4 different groups.  Yes it doesn’t make much sense to me either but here’s how it looks…

GROUP A: Belfast Giants, Manchester Phoenix
GROUP B: Sheffield Steelers, Nottingham Panthers
GROUP C: Edinburgh Capitals, Hull Stingrays, Newcastle Vipers
GROUP D: Cardiff Devils, Coventry Blaze, Basingstoke Bison

I’m not totally sure what is going on here, but I assume that the top team from each group will go through to the semi-finals.  I’d also assume that each team will play one home and one away game in their group.  Why they didn’t just go with two groups of five I don’t know, but again I will assume that the big arena teams (Belfast, Sheffield and Nottingham) couldn’t get hold of their ice for 5 extra home games on top of the league schedule.

Still it will prove interesting and it may also be a ploy by the league to ignite rivalries throughout the league.  Group B is set, Nottingham and Sheffield already have a huge rivalry in place, Group B sees Northerly teams go head to head and then Group A with the Giants sees them up against the returning Manchester Phoenix.  A couple of league ties with them on top of this group battle could very well spark Elite Hockey’s newest rivalry.  The last couple of seasons have seen the Giants strike up a big rivalry with Coventry but the league has opted to keep them apart.

Of course this is all assuming that the groups weren’t drawn at random… No, I very much doubt it.

Category: Uncategorized » Fixtures |

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