Three teams already through to Premier Sports Playoffs

Photo: James Assinder

Over the past fortnight, three teams have already secured their place in the Premier Sports Playoffs.

Belfast, Sheffield and, most recently on Sunday night, Cardiff, will all be in the Quarter-Finals come April although the order they finish in is still very much to be decided.

Elsewhere, the battle for the remaining five places is tighter than ever before with only eight points separating fourth from eighth, and just six from sixth to ninth. 

Here are a few things to look out for in the next few weeks:

• Manchester have 14 games left to play, meaning their maximum number of points is 57. 58 points is currently the target to secure playoff qualification, although that will change if Storm are beaten.
• Fife can still mathematically finish fourth - though they would have to win all of their remaining 15 games and hope for a very specific combination of results to do it.
• Glasgow Clan, Coventry Blaze and Dundee Stars would all overtake Nottingham if they each won all of their games in hand and matched the Panthers' other results. Some of their games are, however, against each other, which complicates the situation.
• Belfast have 13 games to play, while Sheffield have 14. Five of these teams' remaining fixtures are against each other.
• Although Sheffield have 14 games left, they'll only face six difference teams before the end of the regular season. Every other teams will face at least seven different sides in their remaining games.
• Belfast are the closest team to hitting 200 goals, currently on 167. They need to score an average of a goal per game to get there - currently they average 4.07 per game.