Latest news with #EIHL
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Finnish Ex-Avalanche Goalie Signs In Scotland
Finnish goaltender Sami Aittokallio, 32, has signed a one-year contract with the Glasgow Clan, the Scottish-based EIHL club announced on Thursday. 'I've heard nothing but great things about the city, the fans, and the organization, so I'm really looking forward to getting over to Glasgow, meeting everyone, and getting started,' said Aittokallio. 'Sami was my primary target at season's end,' said Glasgow coach Corey Neilson. 'He's smooth and calm in his movements, recovers to his feet well, has really good hockey IQ, plays fast and has good hands. He doesn't ever really look flustered in the net. He'll look great in purple.' Born and raised in Tampere, Finland, Aittokallio is a product of the Ilves club. He was chosen in the fourth round, 107th overall, by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Aittokallio played three seasons in North America from 2012 to 2015, all in the Colorado organization. He played two NHL games in that time, posting a goals-against average of 3.39, a save percentage of .884 and was charged with one loss. Since returning to Europe in 2015, Aittokallio has played in Finland with Kärpät Oulu, Vaasan Sport, Ässät Pori and JYP in the Finnish Liiga, Sparta Prague in the Czech Extraliga, the Bietigheim Steelers of the German DEL and HK Nitra of the Slovak Extraliga. Last season, Glasgow finished seventh in the 10-team EIHL. Photo © Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Belfast Giants Win 3rd EIHL Title In 4 Years Great Britain's Elite Ice Hockey League concluded on Sunday with the Belfast Giants finishing in first place in a tight race that went down to the last game. The EIHL's playoffs are still upcoming but, in keeping with the established norm in British sports, the regular-season winner is considered the league champion, which Belfast has now won three of the last four years.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Defenceman Fournier re-signs for Cardiff Devils
Gleason Fournier has signed a new deal with Cardiff Devils. It will be the Canadian defenceman's seventh campaign with Devils having returned to the Welsh capital at the start of the 2024-25 season. Fournier, 33, originally joined midway through the 2015-16 season, moving from the Alaska Aces in North America. He established himself as one of the best defencemen in the history of the team. Fournier's best season came in 2018-19 when he led all EIHL (Elite Ice Hockey League) defencemen in goals, assists and points - putting up 27 goals and 54 assists for 81 points in 72 games. Devils sign American defenceman Estes from Odense Cardiff Devils re-sign forward Olischefski Ex-GB boss Thompson takes over as Cardiff Devils head coach It led to Fournier being voted on to the EIHL's First All-Star Team and named EIHL Defenceman of the Year. He left Devils in 2019-20 when the Covid pandemic cut the season short and spent four years playing across Europe. "Gleason has been an elite player in this league for many years, I'm thrilled to be working with him this upcoming season," said Devils head coach Paul Thompson. "We will be relying on him heavily in all situations. We are lucky to have him in a Devils jersey once again."
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Defenceman Fournier re-signs for Cardiff Devils
Gleason Fournier has signed a new deal with Cardiff will be the Canadian defenceman's seventh campaign with Devils having returned to the Welsh capital at the start of the 2024-25 season. Fournier, 33, originally joined midway through the 2015-16 season, moving from the Alaska Aces in North established himself as one of the best defencemen in the history of the best season came in 2018-19 when he led all EIHL (Elite Ice Hockey League) defencemen in goals, assists and points - putting up 27 goals and 54 assists for 81 points in 72 games. It led to Fournier being voted on to the EIHL's First All-Star Team and named EIHL Defenceman of the Year. He left Devils in 2019-20 when the Covid pandemic cut the season short and spent four years playing across Europe."Gleason has been an elite player in this league for many years, I'm thrilled to be working with him this upcoming season," said Devils head coach Paul Thompson."We will be relying on him heavily in all situations. We are lucky to have him in a Devils jersey once again."
BBC News
24-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Panthers' title-clinching goal 'a blur' for Fossier
Mitch Fossier says the goal he scored to deliver Nottingham Panthers their first piece of silverware for eight years was "a blur".The American winger's 93rd-minute finish at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena sealed a thrilling 4-3 Elite League Ice Hockey (EIHL) Play-Off final victory against the Cardiff Devils in double overtime on had been 3-0 up in the EIHL's showpiece event before the Devils battled back to level in normal time, with more drama following in overtime as both sides had goals ruled out following coach's however, came up with his second goal of the game to spark euphoric celebrations which had the American leaping into the arms of his team-mates in-front of a packed crowd of Panthers supporter who last celebrated a play-off title in 2016."I never really saw the puck go in," Fossier told BBC East Midlands Today."It was all a blur. I just heard the crowd and everyone just started jumping around, so I thought it was a safe bet that I could throw my stuff in the air. It was pure adrenaline." Panthers' play-off title win made for a glorious end to Danny Stewart's first season in charge of the had Nottingham in contention for the league title going into the final weekend of the regular season before finishing third, and had taken the club to the Challenge Cup semi-finals earlier in the was all enough to earn the former Coventry Blaze boss a new contract on the eve of the play-off followed from there was a scintillating 8-6 aggregate victory against Guildford Flames in the quarter-finals - secured with a 6-3 second-leg win at home - before getting past fierce rivals Sheffield Steelers via an overtime semi-final win, sealed with a goal from retiring captain Sam Herr."There were a lot highs and lows like I'd never seen before," said Stewart of the way Panthers went on to clinch the trophy."Before the weekend that is what we talked about, just riding the highs and lows. "It's easier said than done, but credit to the guys for going out there and doing it."
BBC News
11-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Devils seek first domestic trophy in three years
After winning their first ever European trophy in January, Cardiff Devils this week look to take their first domestic title in three Devils have struggled for form in the Elite League (EIHL) since lifting the IIHF Continental Cup but have reached the final of the Challenge travel to league leaders Belfast Giants for Wednesday's showpeice (19:00 GMT) which will decide EIHL's first available title of the season."It's a trophy and it's something you set a goal for at the start of the season, which we did explicitly outline as one for us," said Cardiff defenceman Josh Batch who is now in his 13th season with the club. There was a time when the Devils might have felt that they tended to do quite well in the Challenge these days, not so 2015, when EIHL replaced two-legged finals with a one-off match to decide the tournament for the first time, it all started so well for the Welsh were in the early days of the current ownership group that had saved the club during the previous director Todd Kelman and player-coach Andrew Lord had assembled a squad that was competitive throughout the season and reached the Challenge Cup final to face Sheffield Steelers on their opponent's home Devils' unexpected 2-1 win and memories of the Red Army's mass migration to Sheffield is a day still cherished by the club's players and the next eight Challenge Cup finals, Cardiff played in five - but were victorious in just Challenge Cup has become for the Devils, well, something of a challenge. In 2016 they lost in overtime to Nottingham Panthers and a goal from current Devils player Evan years later Cardiff led Belfast well into the second period but saw the Giants power back to win 6-3 at Ice Arena in 2020, more hosted Sheffield Steelers for a double-header weekend in up was a league game on a Friday night, which the Devils won 7-3 to cement an almost unassailable position at the top of Elite two days later, they lost the Challenge Cup Final 4-3 to the Steelers in south Wales - a match that ended up being the last game of hockey played in the UK that season with the coronavirus pandemic causing the Elite League to be cancelled four days later. Giant rivalry In the first full season after the Covid-19 lockdowns Cardiff managed to reach the Challenge Cup final again in like this year, it was an away trip to Belfast to take on the had been bedevilled with inconsistency and injuries all season and travelled to Northen Ireland without defencemen Brendan Mikkelson and Marc the match no-one gave the Devils a prayer."[Like this season] it was another up and down year and going into it with only four D-men the odds were stacked against us," said 34-year-old Batch."It's always a hard building to go to in Belfast."We were underdogs on the day, sometimes that can be a benefit because you're playing without the pressure of being the favourites."At the end of the second period the Devils led 2-0 through goals from Jake Coughler and Cole in the third period Giants hit back with two goals in three minutes and in the last minute of over-time Ben Lake scored for the Giants to take the trophy."It was unfortunate to be so close and to lose it in overtime," recalls Batch. "It was a big shame."However, the Devils soon had the chance for than a month later coach Jarrod Skalde was replaced and under Brodie Dupont they reached the final of the play-offs to face the newly crowned Elite League champions Belfast. Cardiff triumphed 6-3 to deny the Giants a domestic treble. This team does not go away quietly This year's Challenge Cup showdown has some similarities to the 2022 final - and not just the same teams facing each other in the same season, just like in 2022, the Devils have struggled with injuries and their form has been Cardiff won the Continental Cup in January, they have struggled in the league posting seven wins and eight the same period the Giants have won ten and lost five and just like three years ago are league again, Cardiff go to Belfast very much as Devils squad, now coached by Pete Russell, does seem though to have a knack of being able to pull out a result from the middle of the recent dismal run of results Russell's side overturned a two-goal deficit in the second leg of the Challenge Cup semi-final to beat Sheffield team does not go away quietly."Yeah, definitely and there was the last group game of the Challenge Cup group when we were 4-0 down to Nottingham and we came back to win that," said Batch."When we're on our game, there's a belief amongst us that we can beat anyone on any given day."The struggle for us has been finding that top performance consistently week to week, period to period."The Giants will take confidence from knowing that they have won all five meetings between them and Cardiff this season including two comprehensive wins in losing 4-1 then 6-0 in a Belfast-weekend double-header, Batch is quick to point out that the gap between the two last month was not as big as people might think."The game on the Friday in Belfast was a one-goal game before we pulled the goalie, we hit the crossbar so that could have gone either way really," he said."They got a couple of empty net goals which made it a bit more flattering, but on the Saturday, we got shellacked, there's no arguing that one."Batch, who recently passed the 800-mark for league appearances, is confident of a different outcome on Wednesday."Hopefully we've learnt a few things after our two games there a couple of weeks ago and we're able to make a few adjustments to put us in a better position to win."And we also have a few more bodies back which is going to be useful because those games are very intense, very physical and you need all the energy you can get on the ice.""This game coming up, there's a lot on the line. It's a game everyone's going to be up for on both sides."
