Eihl to initiate a mini series

The EIHL has just announced that it is happy to host a four team tournament beginning in April.

The EIHL has been given the green light to start the 2021 Elite Series in April, which will see four teams taking part in a five-week mini-season. The Coventry Blaze, Manchester Storm, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers will contest a regular season with 24 games in total, culminating in a best-of-three Playoff Final series. All games will be played at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, and will be available to stream online from the beginning of April.

This was after it looked as though there would be no top flight hockey due to lack of funding. But as Chairman Tony smith said this has been re-visited and the numbers now stack up favorably.

Smith also explained what the make-up of teams will look like in the streaming series. "Our number one priority in the Elite Series is to make sure that most of the Great Britain national team players are included. We have already been working with Pete Russell to ensure that as many of the players that he has in mind for the World Championships in May, as possible, will be included, if they’re not already playing abroad. In addition to this, we are hoping to provide roster spots for as many other elite British players as want to play in this series, regardless of which teams they played for last season, plus a fine complement of import players that will ensure compulsive viewing for all hockey fans in the UK and beyond.

The make up will be of 8 imports and 12 British born players with a draft system, similar to the NHL, being implemented to allow teams to choose players.

Great Britain Head Coach Pete Russell added: "It’s superb news that the Elite League are going to be active this season in this mini-series. Firstly, it’s great for ice hockey in the UK; and secondly, it's great for the British players to be able to get back to some normality and get active before the up-and-coming World Championships.

"Many of the potential players in the squad will now get competitive ice time ahead of May’s tournament in Latvia. Some of them haven't played in a long time and others have had interrupted seasons, so it was vital they have some competitive matches ahead of a massive tournament where we will, once again, play the best teams in the world.

Full details of schedule and teams will follow in due course.

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