2001–02 ISL season

2001–02 ISL season
2001–02 ISL season
League	Ice Hockey Superleague
Sport	Ice hockey
League
Champions	Belfast Giants
Challenge Cup
Champions	Ayr Scottish Eagles
Playoffs
Champions	Sheffield Steelers
Seasons
	← 2000–01 2002–03 →

The 2001–02 Ice Hockey Superleague season was the sixth season of the Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL).

Although the league started the season as the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague, Sekonda withdrew their sponsorship of the league in December 2001 and the league reverted to being known simply as the Ice Hockey Superleague. Benson & Hedges also withdrew their sponsorship of the Autumn Cup^[1] and the competition ceased to take place.

Cardiff Devils were stripped of their franchise after the club went into voluntary liquidation.^[2] Following the Newcastle franchise being taken over by the Eye Group, the Newcastle Jesters players were not paid and the club was eventually stripped of their franchise in October 2001 without having played a game.^[3]

There was trouble in Sheffield when the Cooke, Jenkinson and Smith consortium who bailed out the Steelers at the end of the previous season were denied the franchise in favour of the league's preferred bidder, Norton Lea.^[4] After the Sheffield Arena refused to award ice time to Norton Lea, preferring to deal with the Cooke, Jenkinson and Smith consortium, the Cooke, Jenkinson and Smith consortium applied for the Sheffield Steelers to play in the second tier British National League. However, this application was refused^[5] and the club eventually continued in the ISL under the ownership of Norton Lea.^[6]

As a replacement for the fixtures lost from the Newcastle Jesters games, the ISL arranged a new Ryder Cup style tournament between the ISL teams and teams from the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) to be called the Ahearne Trophy to be played in February 2002.^[7]

The Belfast Giants claimed the league championship in only their second season of operations. The playoffs championship was won by the Sheffield Steelers while the Challenge Cup was won by the Ayr Scottish Eagles.

After awarding three points for a win, two points for an overtime win and one point for an overtime loss the previous season, the league discontinued overtime and reverted to awarding two points for a win and one point for a draw.

Challenge Cup

All seven 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.

First round

Challenge Cup	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	Pts
Belfast Giants	12	10	0	2	49	29	20
Nottingham Panthers	12	6	4	2	44	35	16
Ayr Scottish Eagles	12	5	3	4	34	33	13
Bracknell Bees	12	5	2	5	40	41	12
Manchester Storm	12	3	2	7	24	37	8
London Knights	12	2	4	6	29	34	8
Sheffield Steelers	12	3	1	8	35	46	7

Semi-finals

1st place (Belfast) vs 4th place (Bracknell)

Belfast Giants 5–1 Bracknell Bees
Bracknell Bees 5–4 Belfast Giants (Belfast win 9–6 on aggregate)

3rd place (Ayr) vs 2nd place (Nottingham)

Ayr Scottish Eagles 3–0 Nottingham Panthers
Nottingham Panthers 4–4 Ayr Scottish Eagles (Ayr win 7–4 on aggregate)

Final

Winner semi final 1 vs Winner semi final 2

Belfast Giants 0–5 Ayr Scottish Eagles

Ahearne Trophy

Ahearne Trophy	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	Pts
DEL	14	6	4	4	44	42	16
ISL	14	4	4	6	42	44	12

League

Each team played four home games and four away games against each of their opponents. All seven teams in the league were entered into the playoffs.

Superleague	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	Pts
Belfast Giants	48	31	8	9	177	119	70
Ayr Scottish Eagles	48	20	9	19	136	130	49
Sheffield Steelers	48	18	12	18	138	144	48
Nottingham Panthers	48	19	9	20	140	141	47
Bracknell Bees	48	15	13	20	140	158	43
London Knights	48	14	13	21	130	145	41
Manchester Storm	48	13	12	23	117	141	38

Playoffs

All seven teams in the league took part in the playoffs. After an initial round where each team played all the other teams once the top four teams qualified for the finals weekend.

Round one

Playoffs	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	Pts
Ayr Scottish Eagles	6	5	1	0	22	13	11
Sheffield Steelers	6	4	1	1	15	8	9
London Knights	6	4	0	2	17	15	8
Manchester Storm	6	2	1	3	24	21	5
Belfast Giants	6	2	1	3	21	19	5
Nottingham Panthers	6	1	2	3	13	20	4
Bracknell Bees	6	0	0	6	10	26	0

Semi-finals

1st place vs 4th place

Ayr Scottish Eagles 1-2 Manchester Storm

2nd place vs 3rd place

Sheffield Steelers 3–2 London Knights

Final

Winner semi final 1 vs Winner semi final 2

Manchester Storm 3–4 Sheffield Steelers (after overtime and penalty shootout)

Scoring leaders

The scoring leaders are taken from all league games.

Most points: 59 Kevin Riehl (Belfast Giants)
Most goals: 24 Chris Lipsett (Sheffield Steelers)
Most assists: 37 Kevin Riehl (Belfast Giants)
Most PIMs: 222 Barry Nieckar (Nottingham Panthers)

Awards

Coach of the Year Trophy – Dave Whistle, Belfast Giants
Player of the Year Trophy – Kevin Riehl, Belfast Giants
Ice Hockey Annual Trophy – Jonathan Weaver, Ayr Scottish Eagles

All Star teams

First team	Position	Second Team
Mike Bales, Belfast Giants	G	Joaquin Gage, Ayr Scottish Eagles
Johan Silfwerplatz, Ayr Scottish Eagles	D	Alan Schuler, Ayr Scottish Eagles
Rob Stewart, Belfast Giants	D	Maurizio Mansi, London Knights
Kevin Riehl, Belfast Giants	F	P. C. Drouin, Nottingham Panthers
Sean Berens, Belfast Giants	F	Ed Courtenay, Ayr Scottish Eagles
Jason Ruff, Belfast Giants	F	Scott Allison, Sheffield Steelers

References

Footnotes

^ Hughes, Stuart (2001-04-02). "Superleague needs a higher profile". BBC Sport Online. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
^ "Cardiff loses Superleague status". BBC Sport Online. 2001-05-09. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
^ Hughes, Stuart (2001-10-24). "Jesters thrown out of Superleague". BBC Sport Online. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
^ Hughes, Stuart (2001-07-03). "Sheffield steels itself for worst". BBC Sport Online. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
^ Hughes, Stuart (2001-08-10). "Steelers denied BNL entry". BBC Sport Online. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
^ Hughes, Stuart (2001-08-30). "Steelers boss calls for fresh start". BBC Sport Online. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
^ Crosse, Simon (29 November 2001). "Top clubs challenge Germany". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-12-14.^{[dead link]}

[1] Hughes, Stuart (2001-04-02). "Superleague needs a higher profile". BBC Sport Online. Retrieved 2007-12-14.

[2] "Cardiff loses Superleague status". BBC Sport Online. 2001-05-09. Retrieved 2007-12-14.

[3] Hughes, Stuart (2001-10-24). "Jesters thrown out of Superleague". BBC Sport Online. Retrieved 2007-12-14.

[4] Hughes, Stuart (2001-07-03). "Sheffield steels itself for worst". BBC Sport Online. Retrieved 2007-12-14.

[5] Hughes, Stuart (2001-08-10). "Steelers denied BNL entry". BBC Sport Online. Retrieved 2007-12-14.

[6] Hughes, Stuart (2001-08-30). "Steelers boss calls for fresh start". BBC Sport Online. Retrieved 2007-12-14.

[7] Crosse, Simon (29 November 2001). "Top clubs challenge Germany". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-12-14.^{[dead link]}

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