After a weekend of shock and awe, four teams remain in the hunt for postseason supremacy in the Elite League. The bracket is set for the 2021-22 Playoff Finals Weekend, with the Belfast Giants, Cardiff Devils, Guildford Flames, and Dundee Stars advancing to the semi-finals.
Conspicuous in their absence, the Sheffield Steelers are out: eliminated by the Stars courtesy of a 5-3 aggregate loss. Down the M1, the Nottingham Panthers were eliminated too â upset by Guildford in a thrilling series. Recriminations will continue long into the summer in both cities.
Elsewhere, the Coventry Blaze and Glasgow Clan also saw their seasons extinguished at the quarter-final stage â though both squads should hold their heads high for being within touching distance of upsets of their own.
For the penultimate time of 2021-22, letâs get into Elite League Takeaways. Thereâs lots to discuss.
Sheffield Steelers Eliminated by Excellent Dundee Stars
It wasnât meant to end this way for the Steelers, but Omar Pachaâs Stars couldnât care less about that.
Dundee performed tremendously throughout the quarter-finals and were deserving winners. They started the weekend brightly, winning 1-0 on home ice to set up a nail-bitter of a second leg in Sheffield.
However, the series unravelled for the Stars on Sunday [24 March]. Less than a minute into the second period, the Steelers led 3-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate. From there, the Stars had a mountain to climb. And they climbed it. Kalvis Ozols made it a one-goal series with 37:51 on the clock, before Sebastian Bengtsson rattled in an eight-minute hattrick in the final period to turn the contest on its head.
This was the goal that put @DundeeStars into #POFW22! | #EIHL pic.twitter.com/hqXxtOrHLT
â Premier Sports Elite League | #EIHL (@officialEIHL) April 24, 2022
Jubilation for Dundee. Abjection for Sheffield.
Omar Pacha: âItâs the best feeling Iâve ever hadâ
âItâs unbelievable, the guysâ effort tonight was second to none,â Pacha said following his teamâs victory on Sunday. âIâm so proud of them. We fought too much this year just to settle [at 3-1 down], thatâs our character: we thrive on adversity. Itâs a great night, Iâm sure the guys will enjoy it.â
After bagging four assists during the quarter-finals, Charlie Combs will certainly savour his teamâs advance to the 2021-22 Playoff Finals Weekend. He was excellent against Sheffield and will be a player to watch in the final four. In the meanwhile, though, the Stars are simply living in the moment.
âThereâs no words,â Pacha explained, âitâs the best feeling Iâve ever had and Iâm sure the players can say the same. The support has been fantastic tonight, theyâre the reason we won [and] I really appreciate it.â
Aaron Fox: âYouâve got to play 60 minutes and tonight we played 52â
Sheffieldâs season is over, they end 2021-22 trophyless, and their head coach isnât happy about it.
âItâs a results-based business and we didnât get the result this weekend,â a downbeat Fox explained on Sunday. Â âWe got off to a good start tonight, went up 3-0, and then a little discipline and details cost us that hockey game late. Youâve got to play 60 minutes [and] tonight we played 52.â
Itâs impossible to skirt around the fact that the Steelers crumbled in the second leg: they blew a 3-1 lead in the final eight minutes of play. Thatâs a disastrous outcome for a team built to contend for silverware.
In Sheffield, thereâs only one question worth mulling over this summer: how will the Steelers bounce back next year?
Cardiff Devils Fight Back Against Glasgow Clan
Unlike the Steelers, Brodie Dupontâs Devils had no trouble winning from behind in the second leg of their quarter-final tie. Cardiff entered Sunday with a 4-3 deficit to overturn â and just about managed it.
Result | #EIHL @ClanIHC 0-2 @cardiffdevils (Agg.: 4-5) pic.twitter.com/u9Ykbd8yw0
â Premier Sports Elite League | #EIHL (@officialEIHL) April 24, 2022
Mac Carruth, as he often has this season, came in clutch for the Devils in leg two, completing a 26-save shutout. Cardiffâs special team units also played a key role: they were perfect on the power play and penalty kill on Sunday.
In the end, it was a pair of third-period goals that sealed the series for Dupontâs side and eliminated Glasgow. Fine margins were the difference.
Brodie Dupont: âWeâre more than happy with the resultâ
Following Sheffieldâs elimination and Cardiffâs advance, the 2021-22 Playoff Finals Weekend bracket is wide open. Although the Giants will travel to Nottingham as favourites, the Devils are also in a strong position.
âWe knew it was going to be hard, Glasgow is a good club, and we knew they were going to come out hard and had skill to put the puck away,â Dupont said on Sunday. âThey came down to Cardiff and gave us a really hard time, every turnover [it] seemed like they could capitalise on it [so] weâre more than happy [with the result].â
After completing a comeback to reach the final four, Cardiff head to the final four with a spring in their step. How far will they go?
Malcolm Cameron: âYou donât always get what you deserveâ
âItâs tough, thereâs not much I can say to make the guys feel better,â Cameron explained following his teamâs elimination. âThey played unbelievably; they gave every ounce of energy.â
Unfortunately for the Clan, they didnât have quite enough left in the tank on Sunday â but it wasnât for the want of trying. Glasgow defended stoutly, limiting Cardiff to just two shots from the high slot, and attacked with their usual zip. It just wasnât quite enough.
âWe had some good scoring chances, we put a lot of pressure on them and created lots of battles in front of their net, but the puck just wouldnât go in. Over the last 48 hours we deserved better, but you donât always get what you deserve.â
Belfast Giants Knockout Coventry Blaze With Shootout Drama
With the Giantsâ season on his stick, J.J. Piccinich didnât flinch. The American raced into the offensive zone, stuttered as he approached C.J. Motteâs crease, and fired the puck into the net to send SSE Arena into raptures and Belfast to the 2021-22 Playoff Finals Weekend.
Result | #EIHL @BelfastGiants 2-1 SO @covblazehockey
â Lake
â Piccinich
â Doggett
â Conway
â Goodwin
â Conway
â Goodwin
â Conway
â Lake
â Piccinichâ Kivilahti
â Ferrara
â Bloodoff
â Venus
â Curran
â Kivilahti
â Ferrara
â Kivilahti
â Curran
â Kivilahti pic.twitter.com/gbjWVdK22eâ Premier Sports Elite League | #EIHL (@officialEIHL) April 24, 2022
In stark contrast to the emotions felt by those clad in teal, despair swept over Coventryâs bench. After hanging with the Elite Leagueâs best team for six periods of regulation and one period of overtime, the Blaze were eliminated from the playoffs by a peculiar evil: the postseason penalty shootout.
Agony for Coventry; relief for Belfast.
Adam Keefe: âWe werenât completely happy with our weekend as a wholeâ
Considering the Giantsâ grand slam aspirations, that was a mightily close call. Hockey is an incredibly random sport, one often decided by rogue bounces and puck luck. Shootouts are even less predictable. Itâs, therefore, no surprise that Belfast head coach Adam Keefe wasnât best pleased on Sunday.
âI felt like I lost a year of my life there tonight,â Keefe said after his sideâs shootout win. âBut, at the end of the day, we werenât completely happy with our weekend as a whole. That being said, we are moving onto Nottingham [and] we do want to learn some lessons from this weekend and look at our preparation.
âI have to take full responsibility for that in terms of the preparation leading up the week: weâre going to have to change some things to make sure we have some more urgency and identity for final four weekend.â
After their quarter-final scare, how will Belfast respond at the 2021-22 Playoff Finals Weekend?
Danny Stewart: âTo lose in a shootout is just shitâ
âIâm very proud of every guy in [the locker room],â Blaze head coach Danny Stewart said on Sunday. âBefore the weekend, we had a really good week of talks: we demanded buy-in and we got that. Coaches can talk structure all they want, but at the end of the day itâs eighteen guys going to war for one another, and I felt like our group did. Iâm gutted for them.â
It was a case of âso close, yet so farâ for Coventry in the quarter-finals. They put up an admirable fight against the league champions but couldnât quite separate themselves from the Giants.
Respect to @covblazehockey on a hard fought battle over the weekend: in six nail-biting periods of hockey, followed by overtime and a shootout @SSEBelfastArena, last night, they left everything on the ice. ??
? @snappercherry pic.twitter.com/nIojWcrKfe
â Belfast Giants (@BelfastGiants) April 25, 2022
Janne Laakkonenâs second leg absence was a blow for the Blaze, albeit one they almost collectively overcame.
Although he wonât admit it, Stewartâs system was key to his sideâs ability to bounce back from a disappointing final month of the season.
âWe all know as a group that we let ourselves down over the last two or three weeks but for those guys to pick themselves up and play six periods plus against the best team in the league is admirable and I couldnât be prouder of the guys,â the Canadian explained.
âTo lose in a shootout is just shit. Thatâs not me being bitter or anything like that, I think the Giants would say the same thing as winners that theyâd like to see an overtime format where the players decide it rather than a shootout format.â
Is it time for the Elite League to uniformly introduce continuous overtime in the playoffs?
Guildford Flames Capitalise on Nottingham Panthersâ Capitulation
Paul Dixonâs Flames punched their ticket to the 2021-22 Playoff Finals Weekend despite only leading their quarter-final series for two minutes and 49 seconds. Such was the impact of Levi Cableâs late winner on Sunday night.
Result | #EIHL @PanthersIHC 2-3 @flamesicehockey (Agg.: 6-7) pic.twitter.com/oXcyCT7prS
â Premier Sports Elite League | #EIHL (@officialEIHL) April 24, 2022
Cableâs strike ended a miserable season for the Panthers, who threw away a 6-5 lead in the final five minutes of the second leg. Is it time for another rebuild in Nottingham?
Paul Dixon: âItâs a great result for our teamâ
âWe just had to keep getting pucks to the net and believing,â Dixon said on Sunday. âI tip my hat to [the players]: we never gave up, we kept on going, and got the two goals.â
Eliminating the Panthers was a significant statement of intent from Guildford because it proved they can compete for silverware. Remember, the Flames started the season excellently and were briefly involved in the title race before their form turned south through December and January. Perhaps theyâre the real deal after all?
âWe knew the momentum was probably back in Nottinghamâs favour before we started tonight and there were times when they had a lot of pressure,â Dixon explained. âWhen we had those back-to-back power plays at the beginning of the third period, I wondered if that was the moment we would look back on and regret but they kept on going right until the end and we know itâs a 60-minute game. Itâs a great result for our team.â
Mark Matheson: âItâs tough to put into words right nowâ
Itâs over for the Panthers: theyâre eliminated from contention and wonât be participating in the 2021-22 Playoff Finals Weekend. Damningly for an organisation that should be competing for silverware, their postseason exit wasnât a shock. It was widely predicted.
âItâs just a tough one when youâre ahead,â interim head coach Mark Matheson explained. âCredit to them: they put the pressure on. Itâs just a matter of weathering the storm and we didnât do a great job of it at times. Itâs just tough to put into words right now.â
Sundayâs loss concludes another wasted season for Nottingham.
2021-22 Playoff Finals Weekend Schedule
Semi-Finals â Saturday, 30 April 2022:
Belfast Giants (1) v (7) Dundee Stars, 15:00
Cardiff Devils (3) v (5) Guildford Flames, 19:00
Finals â Sunday, 1 May 2022:
Third-Place Playoff, 13:00
Playoff Final, 17:00
The 2021-22 Playoff Finals Weekend will be broadcast exclusively on Premier Sports.