1998–99 ISL season

The 1998–99 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the third season of the Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL). Having reached a sponsorship deal with Sekonda, the league was now formally known as the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague.

Basingstoke Bison left the league and joined the British National League. The London Knights were formed and joined the ISL playing out of London Arena. The Newcastle franchise also changed their name from the Newcastle Cobras to the Newcastle Riverkings.

Losing the Daily Express sponsorship, the Express Cup was renamed the Challenge Cup. The competition was also integrated into the league fixtures with the first round of games between teams (home and away) counting towards the Challenge Cup table and the league table. The league season was therefore increased to forty-two rounds.

Benson & Hedges Cup

The Benson & Hedges Cup consisted of the teams from the ISL and the top teams from the British National League. In the 1998–99 season, sixteen teams in total were split into four groups (two ISL and two BNL) playing each team in their group once at home and once away. All sixteen teams then progressed to a challenge round of a home and away game with the winners on aggregate progressing. The quarter finals and semi finals were also home and away aggregate rounds with the final being a one off game held at Sheffield Arena.

Group A

Group A GP W T L GF GA Pts
Bracknell Bees 6 4 0 2 25 20 8
Ayr Scottish Eagles 6 3 2 1 29 25 8
Cardiff Devils 6 2 1 3 21 25 5
Newcastle Riverkings 6 1 1 4 24 29 3

Group B

Group B GP W T L GF GA Pts
Manchester Storm 6 4 2 0 19 12 10
Sheffield Steelers 6 3 1 2 20 18 7
Nottingham Panthers 6 2 2 2 19 16 6
London Knights 6 0 1 5 12 24 1

Group C

Group C GP W T L GF GA Pts
Telford Tigers 6 4 0 2 26 20 8
Fife Flyers 6 3 1 2 25 20 7
Edinburgh Capitals 6 2 1 3 19 26 5
Paisley Pirates 6 1 2 3 19 23 4

Group D

Group D GP W T L GF GA Pts
Guildford Flames 6 4 1 1 30 23 9
Slough Jets 6 4 1 1 25 19 9
Peterborough Pirates 6 1 1 4 25 32 3
Kingston Hawks 6 0 3 3 23 29 3

Finals

Note: The first home team is shown first

  Challenge round Quarter finals Semi finals Final
                                                     
B2  Sheffield Steelers 15 8 23  
D3  Peterborough Pirates 2 1 3  
  B1  Manchester Storm 2 4 6  
  B2  Sheffield Steelers 2 2 4  
B1  Manchester Storm 7 9 16
D4  Kingston Hawks 1 2 3  
  B1  Manchester Storm 3 1 4  
  B3  Nottingham Panthers 2 3 5  
B3  Nottingham Panthers 14 5 19  
D2  Slough Jets 0 0 0  
  B3  Nottingham Panthers 3 4 7
  A4  Newcastle Riverkings 0 1 1  
A4  Newcastle Riverkings 3 6 9
C1  Telford Tigers 2 2 4  
  B3  Nottingham Panthers     2
  A2  Ayr Scottish Eagles     1
A2  Ayr Scottish Eagles 14 9 23  
C3  Edinburgh Capitals 0 2 2  
  A1  Bracknell Bees 1 4 5
  A2  Ayr Scottish Eagles 7 4 11  
A1  Bracknell Bees 11 13 24
C4  Paisley Pirates 1 1 2  
  A2  Ayr Scottish Eagles 6 6 12
  B4  London Knights 4 0 4  
A3  Cardiff Devils 13 9 22  
C2  Fife Flyers 0 0 0  
  B4  London Knights 3 5 8
  A3  Cardiff Devils 0 4 4  
D1  Guildford Flames 1 3 4
B4  London Knights 10 6 16  

Challenge Cup

All eight teams in the league competed in the newly renamed 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.

First round

Challenge Cup GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
Manchester Storm 14 10 1 2 1 47 28 23
Nottingham Panthers 14 9 0 2 3 50 36 20
Cardiff Devils 14 8 0 2 4 41 33 18
Sheffield Steelers 14 6 2 2 4 55 46 16
Ayr Scottish Eagles 14 6 2 1 5 40 43 15
Bracknell Bees 14 6 0 1 7 39 52 13
Newcastle Riverkings 14 5 1 1 7 36 43 12
London Knights 14 2 2 1 9 39 66 7

Semi finals

1st place (Manchester) vs 4th place (Sheffield)

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

Final

Winner A vs Winner B

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
Manchester Storm 42 30 1 4 7 155 86 65
Cardiff Devils 42 27 0 5 10 144 102 59
Nottingham Panthers 42 25 1 2 14 140 134 53
Bracknell Bees 42 19 2 4 17 144 149 44
Ayr Scottish Eagles 42 18 3 3 18 136 140 42
Sheffield Steelers 42 17 4 2 19 135 141 40
Newcastle Riverkings 42 14 2 2 24 117 150 32
London Knights 42 10 3 4 25 114 183 27

Playoffs

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

Group A

Group A GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
Manchester Storm 6 5 0 0 1 22 9 10
Bracknell Bees 6 5 0 0 1 25 19 10
Sheffield Steelers 6 2 0 0 4 20 23 4
London Knights 6 0 0 1 5 14 30 1

Group B

Group B GP W T OTL L GF GA Pts
Nottingham Panthers 6 5 0 0 1 20 16 10
Cardiff Devils 6 3 1 0 2 20 16 7
Ayr Scottish Eagles 6 2 1 0 3 21 20 5
Newcastle Riverkings 6 1 0 2 3 14 23 4

Semi Finals

Winner A vs Runner-Up B

Winner B vs Runner-Up A

Final

Winner A vs Winner B

Awards

All Star teams

First Team Position Second Team
Frank Pietrangelo, Manchester Storm G Trevor Robins, Nottingham Panthers
Kip Noble, Cardiff Devils D Kris Miller, Manchester Storm
Troy Neumeier, Manchester Storm D Rob Stewart, Bracknell Bees
Greg Hadden, Nottingham Panthers F Ivan Matulik, Cardiff Devils
Ed Courtenay, Sheffield Steelers F Jeff Tomlinson, Manchester Storm
Paul Adey, Nottingham Panthers F Jeff Jablonski, Manchester Storm

Scoring leaders

The scoring leaders are taken from all league games.

References

Preceded by
1997–98 ISL season		 ISL seasons Succeeded by
1999–00 ISL season
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