The 2007–08 Elite Ice Hockey League season began September 5, 2007 and ran until April 6, 2008. It was the fifth season of Elite League competition.

2007–08 EIHL season
LeagueElite Ice Hockey League
SportIce hockey
DurationSeptember - March
Regular season
ChampionsCoventry Blaze
Playoffs
ChampionsSheffield Steelers
Challenge Cup
ChampionsNottingham Panthers
Charity Shield
EIHL seasons
← 2006-07
2008-09 →

The defending league champions were the Coventry Blaze, who were also the holders of the Challenge Cup. The Nottingham Panthers looked to defend the Play Off Championship they won for the first time in eighteen years in 2007.

Movements between Elite League teams

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Player From To Date
  Pavel Gomenyuk Hull Stingrays Newcastle Vipers April 19
  Sergiy Rublivsky Hull Stingrays Newcastle Vipers April 24
  Mark Richardson Cardiff Devils Nottingham Panthers May 1
  Ashley Tait Coventry Blaze Sheffield Steelers May 9
  Jonathan Weaver Newcastle Vipers Coventry Blaze May 9
  Doug Shepard Basingstoke Bison Sheffield Steelers May 10
  Slava Koulikov Hull Stingrays Basingstoke Bison May 14
  Phil Hill Sheffield Steelers Cardiff Devils May 17
  Russ Cowley Cardiff Devils Coventry Blaze May 29
  Derek Campbell Manchester Phoenix Newcastle Vipers May 31
  Paul Moran Sheffield Steelers Belfast Giants May 31
  Johan Molin Manchester Phoenix Nottingham Panthers June 4
  Marc Levers Belfast Giants Nottingham Panthers June 6
  Matus Petricko Nottingham Panthers Cardiff Devils June 6
  Curtis Huppe Belfast Giants Coventry Blaze June 12
  Jeff Hutchins Belfast Giants Newcastle Vipers July 3
  Jeremy Cornish Newcastle Vipers Sheffield Steelers July 16

Charity Shield

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The season began on September 5, 2007 with a "Charity Shield" style game between the 2006–07 league champions and Challenge Cup winning Coventry Blaze and the playoff champions Nottingham Panthers at the National Ice Centre.[1] The Panthers defeated the Blaze 7-6 to win the inaugural event.

September 5
Nottingham 7 – 6 Coventry National Ice Centre (19.30)
First period Ref: Michael Hicks
0-1 Cloutier (Weaver, Ndur) 00.52 Att: 3,500+
0-2 Huppe (Cloutier, Cowley) 05.44
1-2 McAslan (Pelletier, Drouin) SH 13.19
1-3 Martin (Moore) PP 13.57
2-3 Drouin (McAslan, Neilson) SH 15.42
3-3 Drouin (Meyers, Richardson) 18.45
Second period
4-3 Pelletier (Myers) 25.15
4-4 Stewart (Martin, Moore) 4-on-4 32.12
4-5 Cowley (Stewart, Moore) 35.15
5-5 Stancok (Richardson) PP 36.25
Third period
5-6 Carlson (Weaver) SH 40.38
6-6 Neilson (Drouin) PP 41.18
7-6 Drouin (Neilson, McAslan) PP 48.56

Challenge Cup

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For the preliminary round, teams were divided into two groups of five with teams playing each of their opponents once with two homes games and two away games. The home and away games for each club were determined by a random draw.[2] The top two in each group advanced to the semi-finals of the competition.

Group stage

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Group A

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Team P W L T GF GA Pts
1 Nottingham Panthers 4 3 0 1 12 7 7
2 Cardiff Devils 4 2 1 1 13 9 5
3 Coventry Blaze 4 1 1 2 9 6 4
4 Basingstoke Bison 4 1 2 1 14 18 3
5 Belfast Giants 4 0 3 1 9 17 1

Group B

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Team P W L T GF GA Pts
1 Sheffield Steelers 4 3 1 0 15 9 6
2 Newcastle Vipers 4 3 1 0 12 7 6
3 Manchester Phoenix 4 2 2 0 15 11 4
4 Edinburgh Capitals 4 2 2 0 7 10 4
5 Hull Stingrays 4 0 4 0 6 18 0

Semi-finals

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Winner A (Nottingham) vs Runner-up B (Newcastle)

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Date Home Away Result Venue
1 November 20 Nottingham Panthers 5 Newcastle Vipers 4 Final National Ice Centre
2 November 30 Newcastle Vipers 1 Nottingham Panthers 5 Final Metro Radio Arena
Nottingham won 10–5 on aggregate

Winner B (Sheffield) vs Runner-up A (Cardiff)

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Date Home Away Result Venue
1 November 28 Cardiff Devils 4 Sheffield Steelers 4 Final Cardiff Bay Ice Rink
2 December 5 Sheffield Steelers 2 Cardiff Devils 0 Final IceSheffield
Sheffield won 6–4 on aggregate

Final

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Date Home Away Result Venue
1 January 23 Sheffield Steelers 3 Nottingham Panthers 6 Final Sheffield Arena
2 February 20 Nottingham Panthers 3 Sheffield Steelers 4 Final National Ice Centre
Nottingham won 9–7 on aggregate

League

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Regular season standings GP W L OTL GF GA Pts
Coventry Blaze 54 41 11 2 217 157 85
Sheffield Steelers 54 38 14 2 190 128 78
Nottingham Panthers 54 33 18 3 172 133 69
Belfast Giants 54 33 19 2 184 150 68
Newcastle Vipers 54 28 22 4 159 174 60
Cardiff Devils 54 26 25 3 164 174 55
Manchester Phoenix 54 23 28 3 162 179 49
Edinburgh Capitals 54 19 32 3 155 208 41
Basingstoke Bison 54 16 33 5 172 222 37
Hull Stingrays 54 13 34 7 119 197 33

Playoffs

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Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
         
1 Coventry Blaze 4
8 Edinburgh Capitals 2
1 Coventry Blaze 4
5 Newcastle Vipers 2
4 Belfast Giants 6
5 Newcastle Vipers 7
1 Coventry Blaze 0
2 Sheffield Steelers 2
2 Sheffield Steelers 9
7 Manchester Phoenix 8
2 Sheffield Steelers 2
6 Cardiff Devils 1
3 Nottingham Panthers 6
6 Cardiff Devils 7

Footnotes

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  1. ^ "The Official Site of the GMB Nottingham Panthers Ice Hockey Team". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
  2. ^ "bmibaby Elite Ice Hockey League News - bmibaby Elite League confirm 2007/08 competitions". 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
Preceded by EIHL seasons Succeeded by