Guildford Flames League Season Starts

Published on: 19 Sep, 2026
Updated on: 19 Sep, 2026

By Don Starr

The Guildford Flames’ Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) campaign starts next Wednesday, (September 23), with a game at the Spectrum against Sheffield Steelers (FO 7.30pm), three days after the league programme commences in Scotland (Glasgow Clan v Sheffield Steelers and Dundee Stars v Coventry Blaze) tomorrow.

The League Teams

Over the years there have been various leagues. Now, however, the EIHL, formed in 2003, is the highest level of ice hockey competition in the United Kingdom. A professional league, it is made up of the 10 teams shown below with their arena capacity:

Manchester Storm will play at the AO Arena, after playing at Planet Ice Altrincham in 2025/26. The OVO Hydro Arena will host three games this season (two Glasgow home games and one Dundee home game). The game on Thursday, December 31 between Glasgow and Dundee will be for the new Scotia Quaich Trophy.

The number of constituent teams have varied slightly over the lifetime of the League. For example, Guildford Flames joined the League in 2017/18 when it was a 12-club league.

Teams are usually referred to by the second part of their name. Accordingly Belfast Giants are known as the Giants, Guildford Flames as the Flames, and so on.

Competitions

The 2026/27 season is the 23rd season of the EIHL which from the forthcoming season is sponsored by Motorpoint. Three separate competitions will be played between September 12 and April 18 – The League, Play-offs and Challenge Cup. We will deal only with The League and Play-offs here (see also Flames Season Starts with the Challenge Cup).

Motorpoint Elite League

Each team plays each other six times, three at home and three away making a total of 54 games. The League Champion is the team with the highest number of points.

Playoffs – Knockout Stages (April 2027)

The teams placed 1-8 in the final Championship table will take part in the quarter-finals of the playoffs. These games will be played over two legs with the winners on aggregate moving to the semi-final. Overtime (OT) and shoot-outs will not be played in the 1st leg if the match is tied after 60 minutes. OT and shoot-outs will be played if the aggregate score is tied at the end of normal time in the second leg.

Seedings for the playoffs will be based on the final league 2026/27 table. The Elite League winners will be seeded #1 for the playoffs, the league runners-up #2 and so on down to #8. The 1st seed will play the 8th seed, 2nd vs 7th, 3rd vs 6th and 4th vs 5th. The higher seed in each quarter-final will get the choice of when they play their home leg.

Playoff Finals Weekend – POFW

1. Playoff Finals Weekend will takes place on April 17 and 18 2027. The Semi-Finals will take place on Saturday April 17 while the third v fourth-placed match and the Final will take place on Sunday April 18. All matches will take place at the Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.

2. All games played at POFW are one-off games with the two winning teams progressing to the final on Sunday and the two losing teams contesting the third v fourth-placed match.

3. Seedings for the semi-final and final will be determined by the original quarter-final ranking, so the highest-placed team left in the playoffs will be ranked as the highest seed. The highest seed will play the lowest seed in the first semi-final, with the remaining seeds playing in the second semi-final.

Attendances

Many may well be surprised by how well the game of ice hockey is supported in this country. Last season 1,321,128 fans attended EIHL games with an average across the league of 3,863. The aggregate number of fans attending increased for the fourth consecutive season and the average is a new record. This coming season, 2026/27, will surely see both records broken again as Manchester Storm play in a 21,000-seater arena.

This table shows the six-year record of average attendance by team for regular season games only (ie playoffs are not included).

While these figures stand very good comparison with many lower league football teams they also demonstrate that the game is very much at a crossroad. Playing strength and success is very much linked to arena size and quite a few teams are constrained by their arena capacity.

Cardiff Devils play to capacity crowds as do the Guildford Flames and all but three sides play to above 85 per cent arena capacity. All eyes will be on Manchester Storm but, despite some early fan criticism of ticket pricing, early indications appear to suggest new league attendance records will be set.

Flames in recent Challenge Cup Action against Sheffield Steelers

Their first home pre-season game versus Sheffield Steelers on Sunday 6 September was played in front of 11,062 fans. This was a record attendance for a game between two EIHL sides.

It has been announced that plans are afoot to build two Olympic size ice rinks in Dublin with a capacity of about 10,000 at a total cost of €250 million (petty cash when Calgary Flames new arena is costing $1.22 billion (Canadian)). Undoubtably, a senior ice hockey team will emerge in this situation in Dublin putting further pressure on teams with smaller capacity arenas.

These figures do illustrate the problem. Building new arenas probably cost at least £150 million (and probably more depending on the infrastructure required) always assuming that a spare 16 acres can be found. Deep pockets are required.

Nevertheless an exciting season of competitive Elite Ice Hockey awaits. Let battle commence and let’s enjoy it!