| 2024–25 EIHL season | |
| League: | Elite Ice Hockey League |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Prevseason Year: | 2023–24 |
| No Of Teams: | 10 |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Season2: | Challenge Cup |
| Finals: | Playoffs |
| Seasonslistnames: | EIHL |
| Nextseason Year: | 2025–26 |
The 2024–25 EIHL season is the 21st season of the Elite Ice Hockey League, the highest level of domestic ice hockey played in the United Kingdom. The regular season began on 7 September 2024, and the final match day will be on 6 April 2025. The season again consists of three competitions; the League itself, consisting of ten teams in a six-round round-robin to crown a regular season EIHL champion; the top eight teams from the regular season enter the second competition, the EIHL playoffs, in which the quarter-finals will be held on the weekend of 12–13 April, with the Playoff final weekend to be held the following weekend to crown the British national champion for the year; and the Challenge Cup, involving group play and single elimination knock out rounds to crown a cup champion.[1] [2]
Sheffield Steelers enter the season as champion in all three trophies, having completed a domestic treble in 2023-24.
The same ten teams that competed in 2023–24 competed in the 2024–25 season.
Each team plays 54 games, playing each of the other nine teams six times: three times on home ice, and three times away from home. Points are awarded for each game, two points are awarded for all victories, regardless of whether it was in regulation time or after overtime or game-winning shots. One point is awarded for losing in overtime or game-winning shots, and zero points for losing in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points will be crowned the league champion, and may qualify for the 2025–26 Champions Hockey League. The top eight teams will qualify for the playoffs.[3]
The following players led the league in points, at the conclusion of games played on 1 December 2024.[4] If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.
| Player | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast Giants | 14 | 11 | 9 | 20 | +15 | 0 | ||
| Cardiff Devils | 17 | 10 | 10 | 20 | +10 | 0 | ||
| Cardiff Devils | 17 | 9 | 11 | 20 | +12 | 0 | ||
| Coventry Blaze | 14 | 8 | 12 | 20 | +9 | 7 | ||
| Cardiff Devils | 16 | 9 | 10 | 19 | +11 | 16 | ||
| Fife Flyers | 15 | 6 | 13 | 19 | +6 | 6 | ||
| Fife Flyers | 15 | 11 | 7 | 18 | +6 | 4 | ||
| Coventry Blaze | 14 | 10 | 8 | 18 | +8 | 0 | ||
| Manchester Storm | 14 | 8 | 10 | 18 | +5 | 10 | ||
| Belfast Giants | 14 | 7 | 11 | 18 | +10 | 10 |
The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, at the conclusion of games played on 1 December 2024.[5]
| Player | Team(s) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardiff Devils | 12 | 717:25 | 10 | 2 | 23 | 0 | 94.07% | 1.92 | ||
| Sheffield Steelers | 9 | 542:42 | 8 | 1 | 19 | 0 | 92.31% | 2.10 | ||
| Guildford Flames | 8 | 477:38 | 6 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 93.18% | 2.26 | ||
| Nottingham Panthers | 13 | 760:53 | 8 | 5 | 30 | 0 | 91.40% | 2.37 | ||
| Belfast Giants | 10 | 606:12 | 5 | 5 | 25 | 1 | 90.91% | 2.47 |
The Challenge Cup is split into two stages: an initial group stage where the league's ten teams were divided into two groups based on geographical distance – one group of six teams (Group A) and a group of four teams (Group B).[6] The teams in Group A (the five English clubs plus Cardiff Devils} play each of the other teams twice for a total of ten games, while the teams in Group B (the three Scottish clubs plus Belfast Giants) play each of the other teams four times for a total of twelve games.
The top two teams in Group A and the winners of Group B qualify for the semi-finals. The runners-up in Group B will face the third-placed team in Group A in a one-off game, held at the arena of the team with a higher group stage points percentage, to determine the final semi-finalist.[7]
The following players led the league in points, at the conclusion of games played on 1 December 2024.[8] If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.
| Player | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast Giants | 11 | 6 | 11 | 17 | +10 | 4 | ||
| Glasgow Clan | 12 | 8 | 7 | 15 | +9 | 6 | ||
| Fife Flyers | 12 | 7 | 8 | 15 | –5 | 6 | ||
| Coventry Blaze | 9 | 6 | 9 | 15 | +9 | 12 | ||
| Belfast Giants | 12 | 7 | 7 | 14 | +5 | 6 | ||
| Belfast Giants | 10 | 5 | 9 | 14 | +9 | 8 | ||
| Manchester Storm | 10 | 5 | 9 | 14 | –4 | 6 | ||
| Glasgow Clan | 12 | 2 | 12 | 14 | +8 | 53 | ||
| Dundee Stars | 12 | 5 | 8 | 13 | +5 | 11 | ||
| Belfast Giants | 12 | 5 | 7 | 12 | +11 | 2 |
The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, at the conclusion of games played on 1 December 2024.[9]
| Player | Team(s) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast Giants | 7 | 425:51 | 6 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 92.12% | 1.83 | ||
| Belfast Giants | 5 | 303:20 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 94.15% | 1.98 | ||
| Nottingham Panthers | 6 | 356:03 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 92.57% | 2.19 | ||
| Glasgow Clan | 7 | 420:04 | 4 | 3 | 18 | 1 | 91.86% | 2.57 | ||
| Glasgow Clan | 5 | 295:28 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 0 | 89.26% | 2.64 |