It has been a very long month, with travel to Scotland and the year-end rush in the way, but most of all, a massive amount of fixtures throughout the November slate for the EIHL calendar.
There were 47 games played throughout the month, with 5 of those to wrap up the Challenge Cup group stages, which saw Devils eliminated, despite their strong start at the beginning of the season and an exciting flourish to finish the Northern, but smaller group, despite a 10 team league that could be split evenly.
Of those 5 CC games, 25 goals were scored, so it isn’t difficult to determine an average for that competition.
In the league however, there were 272 goals scored, just 3 shy from an overall of 300, with a game average of 6.5 goals scored (mark that down for overs/unders on the sports books).
We saw Fife claim their first wins, back to back, albeit after regulation, following a record no one would ever want to set, an 18 game losing streak across all EIHL competitions.
This saw them briefly rise to mid table in the rankings, after holding down the last spot with pride.
Glasgow Clan have found themselves in a hot and cold scenario as the Flames battled to earn points, eventually turning their early season form around.
Blaze have been finding their losses were heavier than expected following off season movements, suffering in form and production.
Meanwhile, Storm are toe to toe with the reigning but heavily disputed champions, Giants, with both teams including Stars having ample ground to make up as the festive season draws on.
November Rankings
There is a 3 team battle with the current rankings up to game week 12, reflecting the overall league table and the eventual form rankings overall to that week.
Devils, Panthers and Steelers occupy the top 3 places across all three, despite Devils claiming top rank 4 times in the last 12.
The group are split by a single point overall. Which goes to show how close they are in terms of quality and would likely be the teams vying to strip Giants of their crown.
What was evident from the form in November, was a clear split in outcome values to create a two tiered table. There are the top 5, all with strong outcomes, with a good week between them in terms of points (12) then there’s the bottom 5.
Ranging from basement dwellers Fife (-19) to Flames (14), it doesn’t provide a true, forensic insight into what goes into the points share for some of those teams.
We have had weeks where one team played once, win or lose, then a week where one team didn’t play at all, so scored 0, due to a postponement. The score carried for their opponent, which was fortunate for them, but had they won, big difference to the top 3 potentially.
Flames’ results had kept them close to 0 overall most of the month, which ended up being the case. It might look bad, as it didn’t translate to the overall to GW12, however, that is because of their results containing a lot of extras past regulation, meaning they couldn’t cut clear from the pack, especially in larger win margins.
All they need is a run of good regulation wins, build the +/- in those results and they will be mixing it up with the top 5.
For the first time, the month of November resembles almost identically to the overall table after 12 weeks of EIHL action, strengthening the use of the power rankings system as an indicator for the end of season table.
What is evident is how sharp the chasing pack drops off after the top 3 places, then the following two, then toward the other end of the table.
It is indisputable to how far off Fife Flyers truly are in comparison with the rest of the league, hindsight would show that a season away from the EIHL would have been far more beneficial, rather than allowing pride to rule over conscience.
To make up ground, the average top ranked team per week after 12 rounds scores 16.4 points overall. Apply that to a few of the chasing teams, it would really change the landscape of how the projections would look.
So, despite that form and the league table overall are showing very similar trends, all it takes is a bad week or two or vice versa and the apple cart would be tipped over.
Devils were the first team to reach 100 points in the overall rankings, achieved in GW11 – yet Panthers and Steelers have just crept above them. Far too close to call who would be the winner yet.
Current Form up to 30.11.25
This time there was more data to draw from, including a key variable for the top 5 teams. The W/L are the win-loss results (inc. OT/SO) of games played against each other for those 5 teams. Devils so far have the best share of results but are by no means ahead in realistic terms, their losses largely came from Clan.
Clan have also been a thorn in Steelers’ side, who have struggled against stronger opposition. Same goes for the Panthers, with both losing to Devils and having mixed fortunes vs Giants.
Again, it seems Flames are on the cusp of breaking out at some stage in the near future, however, if that fails to materialise, they along with Blaze might find themselves in a 3 team battle to avoid the drop put of playoffs (9th place).
1. Sheffield Steelers
League Record; 13 – 3 – 2, 28pts
L5GP; 4 – 1 – 0
W/L vs Other Top 5 Ranked; 2/6
Current Pos; 2nd
2. Nottingham Panthers
League Record; 13 – 1 – 4, 30pts
L5GP; 3 – 0 – 2
W/L vs Other Top 5 Ranked; 3/7
Current Pos; 1st
3. Cardiff Devils
League Record; 12 – 3 – 3, 27pts
L5GP; 4 – 0 – 1
W/L vs Other Top 5 Ranked; 6/9
Current Pos; 3rd
4. Belfast Giants
League Record; 9 – 4 – 1, 19pts
L5GP; 4 – 0 – 1
W/L vs Other Top 5 Ranked; 3/6
Current Pos; 4th
5. Glasgow Clan
League Record; 7 – 6 – 3, 17pts
L5GP; 1 – 3 – 1
W/L vs Other Top 5 Ranked; 4/8
Current Pos; 7th
6. Manchester Storm
League Record; 9 – 5 – 1, 19pts
L5GP; 3 – 1 – 1
Current Pos; 5th
7. Dundee Stars
League Record; 4 – 8 – 1, 9pts
L5GP; 1 – 4 – 0
Current Pos; 9th
8. Coventry Blaze
League Record; 5 – 10 – 2, 12pts
L5GP; 1 – 3 – 1
Rank Last Week; 8th
9. Guildford Flames
League Record; 8 – 7 – 2, 18pts
L5GP; 3 – 2 – 0
Current Pos; 6th
10. Fife Flyers
League Record; 2 – 15 – 1, 5pts
L5GP; 2 – 3 – 0
Rank Last Week; 10th
Projected End of Season Points Table
HockeySteve Stats & Insights 