EIHL and EPIHL play-offs set for finals weekend
The finals weekends are set in Nottingham and Coventry and there are only a few games left in both respective leagues to find a champion. Both series will take place on the 4th and 5th of April at the SkyDome in Coventry and the National Ice Center in Nottingham.
Starting with the EIHL play-offs, they will be contested by the Sheffield Steelers, Hull Stingrays, Belfast Giants and Coventry Blaze. The preceding games took place on the weekend of the 28th and 29th of March to decide who would advance. The Sheffield Steelers beat the Fife Flyers 6-5 (3-2 & 3-3), the Giants beat the Cardiff Devils 8-3 (1-0 & 7-3). The Coventry Blaze beat the hosts Nottingham 5-4 (3-3 & 2-1) despite being heavily out shot across both games. Finally, the Hull Stingrays required overtime to beat the Braehead Clan 3-1 on the 29th of March to advance on aggregate 5-4 after losing the first leg 3-2.
In the finals the Hull Stingrays will face the Sheffield Steelers and the Coventry Blaze will go up against the Belfast Giants for the chance to play in the final. There are still tickets available and if I was to take an uneducated guess as to who will win I would go with the Sheffield Steelers.
The EPIHL play-offs were also decided on the same weekend and it saw Tony Hand's career prolonged for at least one more game as the Manchester Phoenix came back from a one goal deficit in a 5-4 home loss to the Basingstoke Bison by beating them 4-2 in the return leg. Joining them are the favourites, the Telford Tigers, who eased past the Sheffield Steeldogs 11-3 over the two legs. The Milton Keynes Lightning will take the short journey up the road after winning 7-5 against the Guilford Flames and the final place went to the Peterborough Phantoms who defeated the Swindon Wildcats 6-4.
From what I could see the event is sold out, which is good to see and if I had to take another uneducated guess to win then I'd go with the obvious, Telford Tigers. The Tigers dominated their league season winning the title by 18 points and enjoyed scoring goals for fun having scored 226 in their 48 games.
I won't be able to make it to either but I hope they're good events and enjoyable. I'm hoping to cover more British Hockey in the future so there will be more on the topic. I'll also be looking to learn more about it as I know little compared to the NHL.
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