So far it’s been a wonderful weekend of sport for a Giants and Liverpool fan. United lost to Chelsea, Spurs lost to Sunderland and Coventry are out of the playoffs. And that is a very nice set of welcome gifts upon my return to Belfast for my first visit in fifteen months and a nice consolation for not being able to make the playoff final weekend for the second time in a row now.

Still, the weekend goes on as normal and by normal I mean very normal in that the Giants aren’t even there so nothing has changed other than me not being there. Anyhow, here is how the semi-final games went this weekend.

Sheffield Steelers 5 v 2 Cardiff Devils

Coventry Blaze 2 v 6 Nottingham Panthers

So Sheffield play Nottingham in a crunch match final tomorrow. I’ll bring the result then.

On five of the six occasions (you have to exclude their inaugural season) they were one of the favorites to make the final four but always found a way to blow it. This year it was against Cardiff a team who finished well behind the Giants in points during the regular season but come the crunch games could pull it together. If this kind of post-season form carries on for much longer, it won’t be long before fans start uttering the word ‘curse’.

Make no mistake, Giants fans will be gutted, especially those who have forked out the money to make the trip to Nottingham. While the weekend is always fun and drinks are always a-plenty over the weekend even with the team not there, nobody can honestly tell you they aren’t just a little upset when their team doesn’t make it.

These days though I use the word ‘playoffs’ and ‘post-season’ lightly. The sport of hockey is all about the playoffs. The playoffs in the hockey dictionary are described as a grueling post-season competition for the main championship in which teams must overcome tough games, physical fast-paced hockey with a lengthy schedule in which the winning team is left celebrating on its knees.

Here in the Elite League, these days, the playoffs can be won in four games. Four games is the maximum you can play and you can even win by drawing all of them and winning your games in a shootout. Criminal I know that games in the playoffs are decided by a shootout.

For a while now fans have been throwing up ideas on how to improve the post season and make it more competitive. I am certain I have done it a number of times right here on this blog. Fans want to see a longer post season even at the expense of one of the knockout cups or even at the length of the league schedule.

Playoff Series is something that is common place in North America – Seven Game Series’ to decide who goes through to the next round. It creates a rivalry, a true battle and a serious amount of endurance and good quality hockey in order to procede to the next stage. Of course there are a million and one reasons why this cannot work in British Hockey with the main one being the risk of cancelling ice time at the arena because you win your best of seven series 4-0. But something needs to be worked out to replace the two-legged game which books the winner their place in the final-four. Maybe something like a four leg knockout match-up with the best aggregate score over four games progressing. I don’t know, but there are many ways it could be improved to be longer and taken more serious in my opinion. Oh and while I’m at it – I want them to make overtime continuous.

Getting back to the matter in hand though – The Giants are out. That has nothing to do with the current format. At the end of the day that format is the same for everyone and the Giants knew what they had to do and couldn’t get it done.

All in all the season has still been pretty successful. If you claim the playoffs in reality to be nothing more than a third knockout trophy in this league of which the Giants have won the other two then it doesn’t sound so bad! Remember the Giants had to play and win more games to capture the Challenge Cup and Knockout Cup than they would have had to do to win the playoffs.

As for now . . . Well done Sheffield.

For anyone not totally aware the British playoffs work in the following way:

8 of the 10 teams in the league quality. 1st plays 8th, 2nd plays 7th and so forth – one game at home and one game away. The score of the two games is totaled and the winner goes through. Four teams then make the semi-finals which are played on a Saturday in Nottingham followed by the final on the Sunday in Nottingham.

Let me get down to the bones of it and make three points that really stand out at me of why these playoffs are not ‘real’ playoffs in their current format.

1. You can potentially win the playoffs without actually winning a game. In the NHL a team must win 16 games, not counting what it might lose, before it picks up the Stanley Cup. Not in the UK though. Here you can tie both quarter final legs and go through in a shootout and then in Nottingham on the Saturday tie your semi-final and win on a shootout and the same again come the final on the Sunday. A bit of a joke don’t you say?

2. Tied games after only five minutes of OT are settled by a shootout like in the regular season. That is not hockey . . . certainly not playoff hockey. A way must be found for continuous overtime until a winner is scored like every other league does. If it means arena’s being half empty after the third overtime then so be it. They have already paid their way in right? You’re not losing anything.

3. The Belfast Giants finished 4th in the league and played the 5th played Newcastle Vipers. As the teams with the better advantage in the league the Giants should have had the second leg at home whereby if the game went to overtime and a shootout then they would have the home ice advantage. After all there has to be some reward for finishing higher up the league otherwise why even have the regular season.

Now let me make one thing clear before I go on. I love the final-four set-up in it’s current format. It’s a chance for many fans from many teams to come together and see the top four teams battle it out on a big stage with a big crowd. It is a road trip for many fans and for those – like me – who like a few beers; it’s a great chance to knock back a few pints with like minded hockey fans.

The road to the final four MUST change, it must be made more challenging and it most be made to be more of a grind. It must also stand out from any other kind of hockey trophy up for grabs be it the league trophy which rewards consistency or the Challenge Cup and Knockout cups which in reality are exactly what the playoffs are just being held during the regular season on the side of the league games. Dropping at least one of them knockout games is another argument for another day.

In North America be it the NHL, the AHL or even Junior hockey the players and the fans will tell you of the grind it is to go through all the rounds to the respective cup final. Players are left battered and bruised by the end and fans have had a serious fill of action packed, pressure filled, end to end, hard hitting playoff hockey.

In Belfast the Giants fans were treated to just ONE playoff game, and even that was in Dundalk. In all the Giants played in just TWO playoff games before being eliminated and come Sunday the two finalists will only have played FOUR games. Again referring to the NHL, a cup winning team will play a minimum of 16 games and a maximum of 28 games.

Now not for a minute do I think we can do what the NHL is doing here. It’s simply not practical and I’m not going to waste time explaining why, but the EIHL must find a happy medium in order to make their playoffs more than just an end of season knockout trophy that really only happens so that fans can meet up in Nottingham for a few beers.

So your probably sitting there reading me moan and moan about the playoff format and starting to wonder if I actually have any kind of view or idea of how it could be made better? Well I have a few but I do know there are better than the current format. Here are some possibilities:

1. Let me mention the immortal words – Series. It strikes fear into the heart of the British Hockey fan and the first word that comes to mind is “impractical”. In a way it is – a seven game series is to much for teams that have to book arena availability . . . The risk of cancelling their spot in the area is to risky. What about a 5 game series. Two in Belfast for example, two in Newcastle again for example and a decider if necessary in Belfast. Again there’s a risk of arena cancellation though I’m pretty sure this would be ok for teams that own their rinks and I’m sure the arena teams could strike some kind of deal with their arenas that in taking up almost 30 dates they have the option to drop one without charge. I don’t know all the in and out’s but it could work. Anything less than five games, like three game series – although better – is still only giving you one extra game than already in place.

2. The groups. They had it before and it worked and it meant for more games, more cheering, more nerves and tenser hockey. The groups could be seeded to favor the teams with the best record in the regular season and could play each other once home and once away for a total of six games. The top two could advance to Nottingham OR you could have 1 play 4 and 2 play 3 in the groups over two legs to advance. The group games would sort the seeding out for the two legs. Impractical? No because it means a team out of contention of winning the group early won’t just give up if there is still a knockout phase to come. A little too much? When is it ever to much? You may find it being more of a grind to make that final four.

That’s just two ideas that would work better than the current very short format. What do you think? Maybe I’ll get the chance to talk about it with some fans over the weekend and see what opinions are on this.

If nothing else, please end the shootout to decide the knockout games in the pre-final-four rounds.