BREAKING- The battle for the 2013/14 EIHL title is over and Belfast Giants have been crowned EIHL champions.
Its been a long hard faught battle by all ten teams but on Sunday night, Belfast won 3-1 in Nottingham against defending champions, the Panthers. They win it with 10 games to spare and were in a bar in Nottingham when they heard the news! Sheffield Steelers and Braehead Clan had to lose for this to happen. Devils topped Steelers in a 3-2 shootout win in Cardiff and Coventry Blaze won 4-2 against the Clan securing the title.
Their fans were confident they could do it, and they bought a huge batch of supporters from Ireland and they celebrated even though it wasn't confirmed. You could tell they had faith as they chanted "We are #1!"
Nottingham Panthers had won it last season in Belfast and Giants got payback doing the same in their barn and a goal from Chris Higgins in the first period had giants 1-0 up going into the middle session but it only took 16 seconds after the second period face-off as a smack by Steve Lee was deflected by David Clarke to tie it at one a piece. However, just 30 seconds after, Giants re-gained the lead and would take that into the last 20 minutes.
The period looked to be scoreless but with 1:22 remaining, a break-away goal snapped the championship and it was over. Final score: Nottingham Panthers 1-3 Belfast Giants.
Current EIHL table...
| Pos | ELITE | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belfast | 42 | 35 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 72 |
| 2 | Braehead | 42 | 22 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 50 |
| 3 | Sheffield | 40 | 22 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 48 |
| 4 | Dundee | 40 | 22 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 47 |
| 5 | Nottingham | 41 | 20 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 46 |
| 6 | Hull | 44 | 20 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 44 |
| 7 | Coventry | 41 | 19 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 44 |
| 8 | Cardiff | 42 | 21 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 43 |
| 9 | Fife | 41 | 16 | 21 | 2 | 2 | 36 |
| 10 | Edinburgh | 43 | 11 | 29 | 0 | 3 | 25 |
Teams underlined= Champions
Three facts that make Giants champions...
Most wins: 35
Least losses: 7
Least injuries: 0
Bringing back the good times...
Last time Giants won the league was in 2011/12. They broke a Britsh hockey record with the most points. That was a whopping 95!! They said they would re-tain it and they did just that.
What now?
The league table battle isn't just over yet though. Some teams still need to get a playoff spot and teams in the playoffs are now fighting for a high position. Also, Giants may of won the Erhardt conference yet again but the Gardiner conference is still without a champion. One point separates the top three sides. Also, the challenge cup continues. Champions giants are in the final but leading 5-3 on aggregate against the Sheffield Steelers are the Nottingham Panthers. The second leg is in Nottingham tomorrow.
This weekends EIHL scores...
Saturday...
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Sunday...
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