Five teams are still in with a chance of claiming the 2014–15 Elite Ice Hockey League title with just a month left of the season. Scottish side Braehead Clan currently sit top of the tree, but their position is by no means secured, as this thrilling season in Britain’s top tier looks set to go right down to the wire.

by Jon Rowson

Inconsistency plagued the Braehead Clan’s 2013–14 EIHL campaign. Blessed with a wealth of attacking talent, the Glasgow-based club just could not keep the puck out of the net. A fifth-placed finish was fair for Ryan Finnerty’s team, representing a solid improvement from eighth the season before. 

Playing out of the Braehead Arena, the Clan joined the EIHL as part of the league’s Scottish expansion in 2010 along with the Dundee Stars, and eventually the Fife Flyers in 2011. After three seasons spent cutting their teeth among British hockey’s biggest names, the Clan are now making their name known, and 2014–15 looks to be the start of something truly special north of the border.

The EIHL is an anomaly in world hockey, as due to the truncated nature of the playoff system, the 54-game regular season is the league’s greatest accolade. With 44 games played, the Clan currently sit three points ahead of both the Sheffield Steelers and the Cardiff Devils, with the former having a solitary game in hand over both the Clan and the Devils. Despite holding losing records so far against both the Steelers (1–2–0) and the Devils (1–2–1), the Clan have consolidated their league position thanks to their incredible record against fellow Gardiner Conference opponents. 

The EIHL is split into two five-team conferences (Gardiner and Erhardt) with teams playing inter-conference eight times and intra-conference four times, and the Clan have dominated their fellow northern opponents, winning 22 out of 27 games. Last weekend the Clan clinched the Gardiner Conference title for the second time in three years, but this appears to be a secondary prize in the club’s desire to claim overall EIHL glory.

All signs point to Thursday, 4 March, where the Clan and the Sheffield Steelers face off at the Braehead Arena in what will be the biggest game of the season for both clubs, as the Steelers could potentially leapfrog the Clan and claim their record-equalling fourth EIHL title. However, the Steelers are entering the run in with serious injury problems between the pipes. The club’s starting goaltender Frank Doyle went down with a hand injury in late January, forcing the Steelers to take swift action to bring in American Josh Unice, who has claimed seven victories in his nine starts for the club. Luck has not been with the Yorkshire club, and on Thursday Unice was forced to leave Thursday night’s Challenge Cup semi-final against this season’s CHL representatives, the Nottingham Panthers. British back-up goaltender Geoff Woolhouse performed admirably this weekend, going 1–1 as the Steelers lost to the Coventry Blaze before rallying to beat the Belfast Giants on Sunday.

Speaking of the Panthers, it remains to be seen whether this season’s CHL representatives will be able to reclaim their place in the Europe’s premier club competition. Last week the CHL announced that there would be two EIHL representatives in 2015–16. These positions would be allocated to the teams placed first and second at the end of the EIHL’s 54-game season, meaning that the Panthers, who currently sit in fourth place, have a chance of making it back into the CHL and potentially repeating their historic victory against the Hamburg Freezers back in September. Injuries have plagued the Panthers throughout the season. The club lost last season’s top scorer David Clarke for the season in the autumn, whilst Stephen Lee and Maxime Langelier-Parent have both spent extended periods of time on the treatment table. Long-time starting goaltender Craig Kowalski has also struggled for fitness this season, but former Luleå Hockey goalie Mattias Modig has proven to be a worthy replacement in black and gold. 

It’s been a frustrating season for fans at the National Ice Centre. The Panthers have gone from looking imperious one game to being decidedly average in the next. A 6–3 victory over the league leading Clan in January was followed up by a disappointing loss to the struggling Coventry Blaze. The Panthers rallied to defeat last season’s EIHL Champions, the Belfast Giants twice in the first weekend of February, but followed this up by 4–2 and 5–2 losses to the Steelers and Hull Stingrays respectively. With a match with the Clan looming on Friday and another clash with the Steelers to come, the Panthers, despite being nine points back from the Clan, still have a chance of sneaking into the CHL spaces. 

In order to do that though, they will have to overtake the third place Cardiff Devils, who embarrassed the Panthers recently with a 7–2 thrashing at the Cardiff Bay Arena. It has been a resurgent season for the Devils after last year’s fiasco which saw the club finish ninth in the EIHL. However, a new general manager in the form of Todd Kelman, and a new player-coach in Andrew Lord has seen the Devils bring back the physical, high-scoring, crash and bang style of hockey that the Welsh faithful know and love. A new look team, led by the likes of Joey Martin, Brent Walton and young British goaltender Ben Bowns, the Devils have won five games in a row and look to be playing their best hockey at the right time of the season. In the last month, the Devils have shut out both the Steelers and the Clan 3–0 and 4–0 respectively, and are hot on the heels of both the Steelers and the Clan in the title and CHL qualification race.

Mathematically, last season’s champions Belfast Giants have a chance of gaining CHL qualification, but the form guide is not on their side as the wheels have fallen off the Northern Irish club’s wagon in recent weeks. It was looking promising around Christmas time but the Giants have failed to win a game in February, dropping eight straight. However, there is a month left to go in the season, and the Giants have all the talent to win games against the EIHL’s best.

In what has been truly one of the most competitive seasons in the league’s history, it remains too close to call as to who will get their hands on the EIHL championship. The Braehead Clan are in the box seat, but the Sheffield Steelers, Cardiff Devils and perhaps even the Nottingham Panthers are still in with a shout of snatching glory from the grip of the Clan. It would be the first time a Scottish club has claimed the EIHL championship if the Clan were to win, and Finnerty’s team are hot favourites to do so. 

It just may be that the Champions Hockey League will be heading to Scotland next season. However, nothing is ever certain in hockey, and it may just be that the Clan’s game at home to the Fife Flyers on 22 March, the final game of the season, may be a must-win for the Clan to claim their first, and Scotland’s first, EIHL title. Last season the Panthers proved that they could compete with some of Europe’s best, and you can be sure that next season’s EIHL representatives in the CHL will be looking to do the same.