1996–97 ISL season

The 199697 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the inaugural season of the Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL).

The league was formed by the owners of the Ayr Scottish Eagles, Basingstoke Bison, Bracknell Bees, Cardiff Devils, Manchester Storm, Newcastle Cobras, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers. Ayr was the only new team with the rest of the teams having left the British Hockey League.

Benson & Hedges Cup

The Benson & Hedges Cup consists of the teams from the ISL and the top teams from the British Hockey League. Sixteen teams in total were split into four regional groups playing each team in their group at home and away. The top two teams of each group then progressed to the quarter finals where the teams were paired off and the winning team on aggregate (after playing home and away) progressed to the semi finals. Again the winning team on aggregate progressed to the one-off final game held at Sheffield Arena.

Group A

Group A GP W T L GF GA Pts
Ayr Scottish Eagles 6 5 1 0 48 14 11
Newcastle Cobras 6 4 1 1 43 16 9
Kingston Hawks 6 1 0 5 17 50 2
Telford Tigers 6 1 0 5 20 48 2

Group B

Group B GP W T L GF GA Pts
Cardiff Devils 6 6 0 0 36 14 12
Manchester Storm 6 3 1 2 25 24 7
Slough Jets 6 1 2 3 19 30 4
Swindon Ice Lords 6 0 1 5 23 35 1

Group C

Group C GP W T L GF GA Pts
Sheffield Steelers 6 5 0 1 46 13 10
Nottingham Panthers 6 4 1 1 46 23 9
Solihull Blaze 6 2 1 3 25 35 5
Peterborough Pirates 6 0 0 6 10 56 0

Group D

Group D GP W T L GF GA Pts
Basingstoke Bison 6 6 0 0 43 11 12
Bracknell Bees 6 4 0 2 40 12 8
Guildford Flames 6 2 0 4 25 31 4
Medway Bears 6 0 0 6 9 63 0

Quarter finals

Ayr Scottish Eagles vs Manchester Storm

Basingstoke Bison vs Bracknell Bees

Cardiff Devils vs Nottingham Panthers

Sheffield Steelers vs Newcastle Cobras

Semi finals

Nottingham Panthers vs Sheffield Steelers

Basingstoke Bison vs Ayr Scottish Eagles

Final

The final took place at Sheffield Arena between Ayr Scottish Eagles and Nottingham Panthers.

League

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
Cardiff Devils 42 30 3 1 8 208 130 64
Sheffield Steelers 42 27 4 2 9 168 127 60
Ayr Scottish Eagles 42 21 6 0 15 171 157 48
Nottingham Panthers 42 21 1 2 18 160 147 45
Newcastle Cobras 42 17 2 5 18 158 172 41
Bracknell Bees 42 15 2 1 24 169 202 33
Manchester Storm 42 14 3 1 24 142 191 32
Basingstoke Bison 42 11 3 3 25 152 202 28

Playoffs

All eight teams in the league took part in the playoffs. Group A consisted of Ayr, Cardiff, Manchester and Newcastle while Group B consisted of Basingstoke, Bracknell, Nottingham and Sheffield. The top two teams from each playoff group qualified for the playoff weekend at NYNEX Arena.

Group A

Group A GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
Cardiff Devils 6 6 0 0 0 29 14 12
Ayr Scottish Eagles 6 3 0 0 3 24 22 6
Newcastle Cobras 6 2 0 0 4 16 23 4
Manchester Storm 6 1 0 0 5 11 21 2

Group B

Group B GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
Nottingham Panthers 6 5 0 1 0 26 16 11
Sheffield Steelers 6 5 0 0 1 22 15 10
Basingstoke Bison 6 1 1 1 3 16 26 4
Bracknell Bees 6 0 1 1 4 16 23 2

Semi Finals

The finals weekend took place at NYNEX Arena in Manchester.

Winner A vs Runner-Up B

Winner B vs Runner-Up A

Final

Winner A vs Winner B

Awards

All Star team

Pos Player Team
G Steve Lyle Cardiff Devils
D Kip Noble Cardiff Devils
D Garth Premak Nottingham Panthers
F Paul Adey Nottingham Panthers
F Ivan Matulik Cardiff Devils
F Vezio Sacratini Cardiff Devils
C Justin Farkas Nottingham Panthers

Scoring leaders

References

Preceded by
1994–95 BHL season
ISL seasons Succeeded by
1997–98 ISL season
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