The Elite League is ready for its crescendo.
Starting Saturday [17 April], Nottingham will once again provide the backdrop for Playoffs Final Weekend, but with two notable absentees.
The Belfast Giants, crowned regular-season champions with five games to spare, are out.
Danny Stewart’s Challenge Cup-winning Nottingham Panthers fell by the wayside, too.
Instead, the Manchester Storm and Glasgow Clan join the Cardiff Devils and Sheffield Steelers in the final four.
British Ice Hockey analyses the biggest storylines heading into the Elite League’s Playoff Finals Weekend.
With the Belfast Giants eliminated, which team is under the most pressure?
Aaron Fox, Sheffield Steelers (Image: Dean Woolley)
Aaron Fox’s Steelers have the chance to save their season.
Sheffield folded in the Challenge Cup semi-finals, before fading out of the title race with a 3-4-2 record down the stretch.
Since their wonder run in the 2025 Champions Hockey League, the Steelers have often underwhelmed.
But Playoff Finals Weekend offers Fox, and his players, a shot at redemption.
The Steelers enter the weekend with the regular-season’s leading scorer (Mitchell Balmas), deepest crease (with Eamon McAdam backing up Matthew Greenfield), and best penalty kill (86.2 percent).
With that, comes expectation.
Sheffield fans smell blood with Belfast and Nottingham out of the running — and Fox cannot afford to waste this opportunity.
The Devils, as the league’s highest remaining seed, also enter Nottingham weighed down by expectation, albeit with progress to fall back on.
Unlike Sheffield, who finished the regular-season with five points less than the season prior, Cardiff gained seven points over the course of the year.
Paul Thompson will expect his players to get the job done, but it’s the Steelers who have the most on the line.
Will Cardiff Devils forward Kristoff Kontos keep his hot streak alive?
Kristoff Kontos, Cardiff Devils (Image: Scott Wiggins)
Kristoff Kontos is the man to watch at Playoff Finals Weekend.
The Canadian is on a 13-game point streak, closing out the regular-season with 53 points (17 goals, 36 assists) in 52 games.
Averaging 1.8 shots on goal per game, Kontos combines standout playmaking with a potent scoring touch, leading Nolan Yaremko and Cole Sanford through second line minutes with aplomb.
Kontos’ weak spot? Face-offs.
The 32-year-old went 320-330 in the circle this term — not unplayable, but short of the game-breaking ability we see in his other attributes.
Of course, he isn’t the only star centreman to keep an eye on.
Tristin Langan has 72 points (26 goals, 46 assists) in 69 appearances for the Clan this term, with the 27-year-old also above water (+51) in the face-off duels.
Brady Gilmour will also hope to make his mark.
The 26-year-old tallied 60 points (20 goals, 40 assists) in his first 66 appearances for the Manchester Storm, with a big weekend in Nottingham still to come.
Mitchell Heard centres Sheffield’s Balmas-led line, making him the one to watch in orange.
In the battle of the goalies, can Drew DeRidder or Sami Aittokallio spring another upset?
Drew DeRidder, Manchester Storm (Image: Panthers Images)
The Storm and Clan have their netminders to thank for their place at Playoff Finals Weekend.
In Glasgow’s case, Sami Aittokallio was the best player on the ice. The Finn made 66 saves on 67 shots to curtain Belfast’s season at the quarter-final stage.
Drew DeRidder’s quarter-final save percentage doesn’t pop quite like his purple-wearing counterpart, but he was equally integral to his team’s progression.
Nottingham rocked Manchester in the second leg, forcing a shootout at the Motorpoint Arena.
But nobody could beat the American. The Panthers went 0-4 — and the Storm march on to the final four.
Both netminders face an uphill battle in Nottingham, but neither should be taken lightly.
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