SILVERWARE

Several competitions fall under the jurisdiction of the Elite League. In 2009-10, the EIHL ran a total of four competitions: the league, playoffs, Challenge Cup and a one day 20:20 tournament. The league consists of a single division, each team playing three home games and three away games against the other teams in the league.

After the regular season is complete, the 8 teams with the best regular season records enter the playoffs. Unlike North America, the EIHL league championship is a very, very big goal to all the EIHL clubs, and is commonly seen as more important than the Playoffs.

The playoffs themselves don't follow the normal North American format: after the initial qualification, the knockout rounds result in the final four teams going forward to a single play-off weekend in April - with semi-finals on the Saturday, and a final on the Sunday.

The Challenge Cup is around two five team groups played on a round robin basis at the beginning of the season. The semi finals and final are two-legged games, the winner being the team with the highest aggregate score at the end of the second game.

The 20:20 tournament is a one day tournament where all teams play a short knockout tournament with 4 out skaters on a running clock basis. Each game is based on one 20 minute period.