Week 3: Enter the defending champions

Photo: Dean Woolley

Week 3 in the 2024/25 Elite Ice Hockey League season will see the defending champions entering domestic action.

Sheffield Steelers not only come into the new season defending all three trophies from last season, but also after a more than impressive Champions Hockey League campaign so far. The Steelers have wins over Växjö Lakers, Sparta Prague and Skellefteå AIK under their belts after four matches - their only defeat coming narrowly in Fribourg.

The Steelers will open on home ice against Guildford Flames on Saturday. In a quirk of fate, against the team they defeated in the Challenge Cup Final, beat to secure the points needed for the League title, and eliminated in the Semi-Finals en route to the Playoff Championship.

Week 3 will open on Friday night with Manchester Storm playing hosts to Cardiff Devils in the cup. On Saturday, Storm head into Dundee while the Devils return to home ice to take on Fife. Danny Stewart will have his first experience of coaching against Coventry for the first time in some nine seasons when the Blaze visit Nottingham to take on the Panthers.

Sunday is headlined by Fife Flyers facing Glasgow Clan again in cup action as Corey Neilson's team look for their first points of the season. Also in Scotland, Belfast Giants are back in Dundee. Further south, Coventry Blaze play their second home game of the season with the visit of the defending champion Steelers, while Nottingham head into Guildford.