The countdown is on to the start of the Elite Ice Hockey League season after the fixture schedule was released this week.
The season starts on Saturday 7 September with the final regular season games taking place on Sunday 6 April.
The play-off finals weekend will take place in Nottingham on April 19/20 after the roulette wheel, like those found at betpanda casino io uk, of the play-offs is determined.
A total of 324 games make up the schedule, made up of 270 regular season league fixtures and 54 Challenge Cup group stage fixtures. The knockout stages of the Challenge Cup follow in early 2025.
There will be festive double headers, taking place on Boxing Day and Saturday 28 December, which sees teams play home and away against the same teams.
That includes the usual mouth-watering meetings between Nottingham Panthers an Sheffield Steelers, while Glasgow Clan will go head-to-head with Belfast Giants.
Coventry Blaze are paired with Cardiff Devils, and there’s an all-Scottish battle between Fife Flyers and Dundee Stars. The final pairing sees Manchester Storm take on Guildford Flames.
Guildford coach Paul Dixon said: “We had a lot of positive stuff from last season including getting to the Cup Final and the playoff final 4 weekend but we also had some things we really needed to improve upon.
“Our recruiting has been heavily focused on finding more scoring for a lineup last year that always worked hard but often couldn’t put up any numbers even in games where we felt we were the better team on the night.
“We have made a lot of changes with more than 10 players who were not here last season. We are excited about the roster we have built, and we believe we have a team that can compete with anyone.
“Having said that, all the theory in the world is just theory. We can’t just talk about it, we have to show it on the ice every night and that is what we will try to do starting at the end of August.”
Sheffield Steelers have revealed an extra game for season ticket holders, as they are now guaranteed 32 home games – an increase from the previous season where there were 27 league games and four cup.
Steelers will also be in action in the Champions Hockey League this season.
Operations Director Shaun Smith said “We promised our season ticket would include all league and cup round robin games before the changes, we looked at various options but the right and proper thing to do was to include the 32nd game in the season ticket.
“We trust that this will meet with all season ticket holders approval, I guess it’s another thank you from the club to the season ticket holders for their support.”
Glasgow Clan have brought back their traditional Hogmanay home game, taking on Fife Flyers at Braehead Arena on New Year’s Ever.
Clan have also arranged eight road double headers, staggered throughout the season.
You can view all the fixtures on the Elite League website here.
