1999–2000 ISL season

The 1999–2000 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the fourth season of the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL).

1999–2000 Ice Hockey Superleague season
LeagueIce Hockey Superleague
SportIce hockey
Benson & Hedges CupManchester Storm
League championsBracknell Bees
Playoffs championsLondon Knights
Challenge Cup championsSheffield Steelers
Seasons

There were no changes in the teams from the 1998–99 season. However the league introduced a wage cap of £500,000 for this season.[1]

Benson & Hedges Cup

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The 1999 Benson & Hedges Cup consisted of the teams from the ISL and the teams from the British National League (BNL). The BNL teams were split into three groups of four teams (groups A, B and C) and the ISL teams were split into two groups of four teams (groups D and E). Each team played the other teams in the group once at home and away.

The group winners from the BNL groups and the best runner-up entered the knock-out stage in a preliminary challenge round qualifier with the winners progressing to the challenge round to meet the fourth placed teams from the ISL group stage. The winners of the challenge rounds entered the quarter-finals with the top three teams from each ISL group.

All games after the group stages were home and away aggregate scores except for the challenge round and the final itself which were one-off games. The final was held at Sheffield Arena.

First round

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Challenge round qualifier Challenge round Quarter-finals

Group A

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Group A GP W T L GF GA Pts
Fife Flyers 6 5 1 0 49 11 11
Edinburgh Capitals 6 4 1 1 31 19 9
Paisley Pirates 6 2 0 4 21 33 4
Whitley Bay Warriors 6 0 0 6 12 50 0

Group B

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Group B GP W T L GF GA Pts
Hull Thunder 6 4 2 0 31 16 10
Peterborough Pirates 6 4 2 0 40 17 10
Milton Keynes Kings 6 2 0 4 16 24 4
Telford Tigers 6 0 0 6 11 41 0

Group C

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Group C GP W T L GF GA Pts
Basingstoke Bison 6 3 2 1 23 12 8
Slough Jets 6 2 3 1 17 13 7
Guildford Flames 6 2 2 2 21 17 6
Solihull Blaze 6 1 1 4 23 42 3

Group D

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Group D GP W T L GF GA Pts
Cardiff Devils 6 2 2 2 18 14 6
Bracknell Bees 6 2 2 2 27 26 6
London Knights 6 2 2 2 18 18 6
Sheffield Steelers 6 2 2 2 17 22 6

Group E

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Group E GP W T L GF GA Pts
Manchester Storm 6 5 0 1 29 15 10
Ayr Scottish Eagles 6 4 0 2 24 16 8
Newcastle Riverkings 6 2 0 4 14 26 4
Nottingham Panthers 6 1 0 5 14 24 2

Second round

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Challenge round qualifiers

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Peterborough Pirates vs Fife Flyers

  • Peterborough Pirates 2–1 Fife Flyers
  • Fife Flyers 3–4 Peterborough Pirates (Peterborough win 6–4 on aggregate)

Basingstoke Bison vs Hull Thunder

  • Basingstoke Bison 3–2 Hull Thunder
  • Hull Thunder 1–3 Basingstoke Bison (Basingstoke win 6–3 on aggregate)

Challenge round

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  • Peterborough Pirates 3–5 Nottingham Panthers
  • Basingstoke Bison 1–4 Sheffield Steelers

Finals

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Quarter-finals

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Nottingham Panthers vs Cardiff Devils

  • Nottingham Panthers 1–6 Cardiff Devils
  • Cardiff Devils 7–1 Nottingham Panthers (Cardiff win 13–2 on aggregate)

Manchester Storm vs Sheffield Steelers

  • Manchester Storm 6–6 Sheffield Steelers
  • Sheffield Steelers 2–3 Manchester Storm (Manchester win 9–8 on aggregate)

Newcastle Riverkings vs Bracknell Bees

  • Newcastle Riverkings 5–8 Bracknell Bees
  • Bracknell Bees 7–4 Newcastle Riverkings (Bracknell win 15–9 on aggregate)

London Knights vs Ayr Scottish Eagles

  • London Knights 1–0 Ayr Scottish Eagles
  • Ayr Scottish Eagles 0–7 London Knights (London win 7–1 on aggregate)

Semi-finals

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Manchester Storm vs Cardiff Devils

  • Manchester Storm 4–0 Cardiff Devils
  • Cardiff Devils 0–0 Manchester Storm (Manchester win 4–0 on aggregate)

Bracknell Bees vs London Knights

  • Bracknell Bees 3–5 London Knights
  • London Knights 5–3 Bracknell Bees (London win 10–6 on aggregate)

Final

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The final took place at Sheffield Arena between Manchester Storm and London Knights.

Challenge Cup

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All eight teams in the league competed in the Challenge Cup. The first round was the first home and away meeting of each team in the league with the points counting towards both the Challenge Cup table and the league table. The top four teams progressed to the semi-finals. The semi finals were home and away games with the winner on aggregate progressing to the one off final game.

In a repeat of the previous season's Challenge Cup final, Sheffield Steelers took on the Nottingham Panthers and won the competition.

First round

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Challenge Cup GP W T OTL L GF GA PTS
London Knights 14 10 0 0 4 35 34 20
Bracknell Bees 14 7 1 4 2 57 48 19
Sheffield Steelers 14 8 0 2 4 77 56 18
Nottingham Panthers 14 8 0 0 6 55 61 16
Ayr Scottish Eagles 14 6 2 1 5 50 43 15
Manchester Storm 14 6 2 1 5 55 52 15
Cardiff Devils 14 6 1 1 6 48 47 14
Newcastle Riverkings 14 2 0 1 11 28 64 5

Semi-finals

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2nd place (Cardiff) vs 3rd place (Sheffield)

1st place (London) vs 4th place (Nottingham)

Final

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Winner A vs Winner B

League

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Each team played three home games and three away games against each of their opponents. All eight teams were entered into the playoffs.

Superleague GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
Bracknell Bees 42 24 3 5 10 181 138 56
Sheffield Steelers 42 24 2 2 14 188 155 52
Manchester Storm 42 23 2 3 14 155 138 51
London Knights 42 23 3 1 15 135 125 50
Ayr Scottish Eagles 42 17 5 4 16 144 147 43
Nottingham Panthers 42 18 3 1 20 140 165 40
Cardiff Devils 42 17 4 2 19 138 149 40
Newcastle Riverkings 42 11 0 2 29 113 177 24

Playoffs

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All eight teams in the league took part in the playoffs. Group A consisted of Bracknell, London, Newcastle and Nottingham while Group B consisted of Ayr, Cardiff, Manchester and Sheffield. The top two teams from each playoff group qualified for the finals weekend. The third place playoff was dropped for this season.

Group A

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Group A GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
London Knights 6 5 0 0 1 28 14 10
Newcastle Riverkings 6 3 1 2 0 14 12 9
Bracknell Bees 6 3 1 0 2 22 19 7
Nottingham Panthers 6 0 0 1 5 7 26 1

Group B

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Group B GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
Sheffield Steelers 6 4 2 0 0 26 14 10
Ayr Scottish Eagles 6 2 1 1 2 12 19 6
Cardiff Devils 6 2 1 0 3 15 16 5
Manchester Storm 6 1 2 1 2 12 16 5

Semi-finals

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Winner B vs Runner-Up A

  • Sheffield Steelers 1-3 Newcastle Riverkings

Winner A vs Runner-Up B

  • London Knights 2–1 Ayr Scottish Eagles (after overtime)

Final

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Winner B vs Winner A

  • London Knights 7-3 Newcastle Riverkings

Awards

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All Star teams

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First team Position Second Team
Geoff Sarjeant, Ayr Scottish Eagles G Brian Greer, Bracknell Bees
Claudio Scremin, London Knights D Shayne McCosh, Sheffield Steelers
Rob Stewart, Bracknell Bees D Neil Martin, London Knights
Ed Courtenay, Sheffield Steelers F Teeder Wynne, Sheffield Steelers
Kevin Riehl, Bracknell Bees F Mikko Koivunoro, Newcastle Riverkings
Rob Kenny, London Knights F Steve Thornton, Cardiff Devils

Scoring leaders

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The scoring leaders are taken from all league games.

References

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Woods, Mike (14 November 1999), "Money does the talking, but can we afford another casualty", Sunday Herald, findarticles.com, retrieved 2007-12-14