The 1996–97 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the inaugural season of the

Ice Hockey Superleague The British Ice Hockey Superleague (BISL, also known as the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague from 1998 to 1999 for sponsorship reasons) was a professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2003. Devised in 1995, it replaced ...

(ISL). The league was formed by the owners of the

Ayr Scottish Eagles The Ayr Scottish Eagles were a professional Scottish ice hockey club, from Ayr, Scotland. They were formed in 1996 and played their home games at the Centrum Arena. The team competed in the Ice Hockey Superleague and the club's main (title) s ...

Basingstoke Bison The Basingstoke Bison are an English Ice Hockey club from Basingstoke. They currently compete in the National Ice Hockey League , NIHL National League and have previously been members of the Ice Hockey Superleague and its successor the Elite I ...

Bracknell Bees The Berkshire Bees are an ice hockey team from Slough, Berkshire, UK. They compete in the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) National League, the second tier of English Ice Hockey. History Early years The Bracknell Bees were formed in 1987, un ...

Cardiff Devils The Cardiff Devils () are a Welsh professional ice hockey team who play in the UK-based Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). The team plays at Ice Arena Wales in Cardiff Bay, currently known as ''Vindico Arena'' for sponsorship reasons. Cardiff' ...

, Manchester Storm, Newcastle Cobras,

Nottingham Panthers The Nottingham Panthers are a British professional ice hockey club based in Nottingham, England. They are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. RHPS are the Panthers' major sponsor for 2024–25. The Nottingham Panthers have won four league ...

and

Sheffield Steelers The Sheffield Steelers are a professional ice hockey team located in Sheffield, England. They were formed in 1991 and play their home games at the Utilita Arena. They are currently a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The club's main (tit ...

. Ayr was the only new team with the rest of the teams having left the

British Hockey League The British League was the top-flight ice hockey league in the United Kingdom from 1982 until 1996, when it was replaced by the Ice Hockey Superleague and the British National League. Note that the league never had 'hockey' in its title. The le ...

Benson & Hedges Cup

The

Benson & Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Engla ...

consists of the teams from the ISL and the top teams from the

. Sixteen teams in total were split into four regional groups playing each team in their group at home and away. The top two teams of each group then progressed to the quarter finals where the teams were paired off and the winning team on aggregate (after playing home and away) progressed to the

semi final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

s. Again the winning team on aggregate progressed to the one-off final game held at

Sheffield Arena Sheffield Arena, known for sponsorship purposes as Utilita Arena Sheffield, is a multi-purpose arena located in Sheffield, England. It is situated near Meadowhall Centre, Meadowhall and lies between Sheffield city centre and Rotherham town centr ...

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Quarter-finals

Ayr Scottish Eagles vs Manchester Storm *Manchester Storm 2-4 Ayr Scottish Eagles *Ayr Scottish Eagles 3-2 Manchester Storm (Ayr win 7-4 on aggregate) Basingstoke Bison vs Bracknell Bees *Basingstoke Bison 5-3 Bracknell Bees *Bracknell Bees 5-6 Basingstoke Bison (Basingstoke win 11-8 on aggregate) Cardiff Devils vs Nottingham Panthers *Nottingham Panthers 0-1 Cardiff Devils *Cardiff Devils 3-4 Nottingham Panthers (after penalty shots, Nottingham win 5-4 on aggregate) Sheffield Steelers vs Newcastle Cobras *Newcastle Cobras 0-2 Sheffield Steelers *Sheffield Steelers 6-3 Newcastle Cobras (Sheffield win 8-3 on aggregate)

Semi-finals

Nottingham Panthers vs Sheffield Steelers *Sheffield Steelers 2-3 Nottingham Panthers *Nottingham Panthers 3-1 Sheffield Steelers (Nottingham win 6-3 on aggregate) Basingstoke Bison vs Ayr Scottish Eagles *Ayr Scottish Eagles 0-2 Basingstoke Bison *Basingstoke Bison 4-9 Ayr Scottish Eagles (Ayr win 9-6 on aggregate)

Final

The final took place at

between

and

. *Ayr Scottish Eagles 3–5 Nottingham Panthers

League

Each team played three home games and three away games against each of their opponents. All eight teams were entered into the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

Playoffs

All eight teams in the league took part in the

. Group A consisted of Ayr, Cardiff, Manchester and Newcastle while Group B consisted of Basingstoke, Bracknell, Nottingham and Sheffield. The top two teams from each playoff group qualified for the playoff weekend at

NYNEX Arena Manchester Arena (currently known as AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. Prior to the opening of Co ...

Group A

Group B

Semi-finals

The finals weekend took place at

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. Winner A vs Runner-Up B *Cardiff Devils 2-5 Sheffield Steelers Winner B vs Runner-Up A *Nottingham Panthers 6-5 Ayr Scottish Eagles (after overtime)

Final

Winner A vs Winner B *Sheffield Steelers 3-1 Nottingham Panthers

Awards

* Coach of the Year Trophy – Jim Lynch,

* Player of the Year Trophy – Stevie Lyle,

* Alan Weeks Trophy – Jason Stone, Cardiff Devils

All Star team

Scoring leaders

*Most

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

: 60 Dale Junkin (

) *Most goals: 28 Paul Adey (

) *Most assists: 37 Vezio Sacratini (

) *Most PIMs: 149 Frank Kovacs (

)

References

Ice Hockey Journalists UK
{{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 ISL season Ice Hockey Superleague seasons 1 United