2002–03 ISL season

The 2002–03 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the seventh and final season of the Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL).

The Ayr Scottish Eagles, under new management, moved from the Centrum Arena in Ayr to the Braehead Arena just outside Glasgow and shortened their name to simply the Scottish Eagles. [cite web | first = Stuart | last = Hughes | publisher = BBC Sports Online | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/2166619.stm | title = Eagles fly to Glasgow | date = 2002-08-01 | accessdate = 2007-12-17 ]

The Ahearne Trophy was played for again this season with the competition taking with teams from the Norwegian Eliteserien.

Starting the season with seven teams, the league invited members of the British National League (BNL) to take part in the Challenge Cup. The call was taken up by the Coventry Blaze, meaning eight teams took part in the competition. However, after playing their Challenge Cup games, the Manchester Storm went into liquidation and their record for the Challenge Cup and league games was expunged. [Citation | first = Simon | last = Crosse | title = Dark days ahead for league | newspaper = The Daily Telegraph | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2002/11/07/soiceh07.xml | date = 6 November 2002 | accessdate = 2007-12-17 ] Not long after, the Scottish Eagles confirmed they had withdrawn from the league with the intention of re-launching the following season. [Citation | title = Sports Round-up | newspaper = The Daily Telegraph | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2002/11/15/sosrup15.xml | date = 14 November 2002 | accessdate = 2007-12-17 ] The Eagles' record was also expunged and their place in the Challenge Cup semi-finals was taken by third place team Belfast Giants. On 30 November 2002, the Bracknell Bees announced that they would be moving from the ISL to the BNL for the following season. [cite web | publisher = Get Bracknell | url = http://www.getbracknell.co.uk/sport/18/18044/bees_quit_superleague | title = Bees Quit Superleague | date = 2002-12-06 | accessdate = 2007-12-17 ] When the London Arena was sold for development the London Knights had played their final game. [Citation | first = Simon | last = Crosse | title = Knights' future in doubt | newspaper = The Daily Telegraph | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2003/03/27/soicey27.xml | date = 26 March 2003 | accessdate = 2007-12-17 ]

Leaving the ISL with only three teams, the league folded at the end of the season and the three surviving clubs – Belfast Giants, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers – helped form the Elite Ice Hockey League for the following season (see 2003–04 EIHL season).

Challenge Cup

With eight teams taking part in the Challenge Cup and with a British National League team taking part, the competition was separate to the league and the teams were split into two groups of four teams: Belfast Giants, Manchester Storm, Scottish Eagles and Sheffield Steelers were in Group A and Bracknell Bees, Coventry Blaze, London Knights and Nottingham Panthers were in Group B. The top two teams of each group progressed to the semi finals. The semi finals and finals were all one off games.

Group A

League

Each team played four home games and four away games against each of their opponents. All five teams in the league were entered into the playoffs.

coring leaders

The scoring leaders are taken from all league games.

*Most points: 36 Lee Jinman (Nottingham Panthers)
*Most goals: 16 Den Ceman (Bracknell Bees)
*Most assists: 24 Lee Jinman (Nottingham Panthers) and Robby Sandrock (Belfast Giants)
*Most PIMs: 150 Barry Nieckar (Nottingham Panthers)

References

* [http://www.ihjuk.co.uk/ Ice Hockey Journalists UK]
* [http://www.hockeydb.com/index.html The Internet Hockey Database]
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/malcolm.preen/hockey.html Malcolm Preen's Ice Hockey Results and Tables]

Footnotes