1999–2000 ISL season

The 1999–00 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the fourth season of the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL).

There were no changes in the teams from the 1998–99 season. However the league introduced a wage cap of £500,000 for this season. [citation | last = Woods | first = Mike | newspaper = Sunday Herald | title = Money does the talking, but can we afford another casualty | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_19991114/ai_n13942654 | publisher = findarticles.com | date = 14 November 1999 | accessdate = 2007-12-14 ]

Benson & Hedges Cup

The 1999 Benson & Hedges Cup consisted of the teams from the ISL and the teams from the British National League (BNL). The BNL teams were split into three groups of four teams (groups A, B and C) and the ISL teams were split into two groups of four teams (groups D and E). Each team played the other teams in the group once at home and away.

The group winners from the BNL groups and the best runner-up entered the knock-out stage in a preliminary challenge round qualifier with the winners progressing to the challenge round to meet the fourth placed teams from the ISL group stage. The winners of the challenge rounds entered the quarter finals with the top three teams from each ISL group.

All games after the group stages were home and away aggregate scores except for the challenge round and the final itself which were one-off games. The final was held at Sheffield Arena.

First round

Group C

econd round

Challenge round qualifiers

Peterborough Pirates vs Fife Flyers
*Peterborough Pirates 2–1 Fife Flyers
*Fife Flyers 3–4 Peterborough Pirates (Peterborough win 6–4 on aggregate)

Basingstoke Bison vs Hull Thunder
*Basingstoke Bison 3–2 Hull Thunder
*Hull Thunder 1–3 Basingstoke Bison (Basingstoke win 6–3 on aggregate)

Challenge round

*Peterborough Pirates 3–5 Nottingham Panthers
*Basingstoke Bison 1–4 Sheffield Steelers

Finals

Quarter finals

Nottingham Panthers vs Cardiff Devils
*Nottingham Panthers 1–6 Cardiff Devils
*Cardiff Devils 7–1 Nottingham Panthers (Cardiff win 13–2 on aggregate)

Manchester Storm vs Sheffield Steelers
*Manchester Storm 6–6 Sheffield Steelers
*Sheffield Steelers 2–3 Manchester Storm (Manchester win 9–8 on aggregate)

Newcastle Riverkings vs Bracknell Bees
*Newcastle Riverkings 5–8 Bracknell Bees
*Bracknell Bees 7–4 Newcastle Riverkings (Bracknell win 15–9 on aggregate)

London Knights vs Ayr Scottish Eagles
*London Knights 1–0 Ayr Scottish Eagles
*Ayr Scottish Eagles 7–0 London Knights (Ayr win 7–1 on aggregate)

emi finals

Manchester Storm vs Cardiff Devils
*Manchester Storm 4–0 Cardiff Devils
*Cardiff Devils 0–0 Manchester Storm (Manchester win 4–0 on aggregate)

Bracknell Bees vs London Knights
*Bracknell Bees 3–5 London Knights
*London Knights 5–3 Bracknell Bees (London win 10–6 on aggregate)

Final

The final took place at Sheffield Arena between Manchester Storm and London Knights.
*Manchester Storm 4–3 London Knights (after overtime and penalty shootout)

Challenge Cup

All eight teams in the league competed in the 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.

In a repeat of the previous season's Challenge Cup final, Sheffield Steelers took on the Nottingham Panthers and won the competition.

First round

Group B

emi Finals

Winner B vs Runner-Up A
*Sheffield Steelers 1-3 Newcastle Riverkings

Winner A vs Runner-Up B
*London Knights 2–1 Ayr Scottish Eagles (after overtime)

Final

Winner B vs Winner A
*London Knights 7-3 Newcastle Riverkings

Awards

*Coach of the Year Trophy – Dave Whistle, Bracknell Bees
*Player of the Year Trophy – Ed Courtenay, Sheffield Steelers
*Ice Hockey Annual Trophy – Tony Hand, Ayr Scottish Eagles
*British Netminder of the Year – Stevie Lyle, Cardiff Devils
*Alan Weeks Trophy – Stephen Cooper, Nottingham Panthers

All Star teams

coring leaders

The scoring leaders are taken from all league games.

*Most points: 70 Ed Courtenay (Sheffield Steelers)
*Most goals: 32 Ed Courtenay (Sheffield Steelers)
*Most assists: 39 Mikko Koivunoro (Newcastle Riverkings)
*Most PIMs: 172 Clayton Norris (Newcastle Riverkings)

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