Rapid Solicitors Elite Ice Hockey League ... The season so far

If you see a coach travelling through the night on our motorways, there’s a strong chance it’s one of the UK’s professional ice hockey teams. Covering three countries with a huge fixture programme takes some doing.
With many of the players coming from places such as Canada, Russia and Scandinavia, you can’t be afraid of travel if you want to compete in the UK championship. In certain parts of the World, ice hockey is the number one sport and crowds dwarf those of other sports such as Football. There’s no reason why the sport shouldn’t grow – it’s got everything most spectators enjoy, like end to end action, plenty of goals and dare I say the odd altercation. The race for the UK title got a little tighter following recent results, with seven points now separating the top three. Belfast Giants, who beat Edinburgh but then lost to the Nottingham Panthers, remain as leaders. The Panthers from Nottingham have secured a play-off place already, along with Belfast. Present champions Sheffield Steelers are currently in third spot and multiple Elite League champions Coventry Blaze lie in fourth place. Hull Stingrays enjoyed their 10th win of the season to take them to 24 points from 37 matches.