The Elite Ice Hockey League and Premier Sports are excited to announce a new television deal for the upcoming season.
Premier Sports will once again be your home for EIHL hockey for the 2015-16 campaign.
Some great regular-season games, plus the whole of the playoff finals weekend held at the National Ice Centre on 2nd and 3rd April 2016, will be shown live on Premier Sports.
Elite League chairman, Tony Smith, said: “It is brilliant news that we will be showcased on Premier Sports again.
“They have been a great media partner for us and we are excited to be working with them again in 2015-16.
“It’s excellent to get our sport out there and for people to get a taste of live Elite League ice hockey.
“The scheduled live fixtures will showcase some of our sport’s greatest rivalries and the league’s newcomers Manchester Storm will be shown live in the first game of the season.
“All 10 teams will be shown live across the season, so there is something for everyone.”
Premier Sports is now available in HD for Sky and Premier Player customers – and the EIHL games will look magnificent on the new HD platform.
Premier are also pleased to announce 20 Champions Hockey League fixtures will be available on the network, including all Braehead Clan and Sheffield Steelers contests.
For the hockey fans in the UK and Ireland it doesn’t end there though. Premier will also showcase 40 Swedish Hockey League games, over 550 top-flight NHL games – with 15 a week once the season gets underway – including the Outdoor Classic and Stanley Cup Playoffs.
There’s also Great Britain’s games from the Division 1B of the World Championship and 15 matches from the top pool IIHF World Championship.
That’s over 600 hockey games from some of the best leagues in the world and the Elite Ice Hockey League will be front and centre for a third season with on-site coverage from Aaron Murphy and the Premier Sports team, with all the intermission analysis, and special guests that have made coverage a success the first two seasons.
Richard Webb, operations manager at Premier Sports, said: “We take a lot of pride in providing plenty of hockey for our loyal viewers.
“Hockey is better in HD and this season we’ll have almost 600 games for viewers to enjoy in this new viewing experience.
“The EIHL has been a great partner for the past two seasons and we really wanted to show the league in HD.
“With our coverage of the EIHL and the guaranteed eight CHL games featuring the Clan and Steelers, customers will have 20 games featuring their favourite EIHL teams.
“The playoff finals weekend will once again be live entirely, with over 12 hours of coverage from the NIC – and that was a highlight last year having the semi-finals on TV for the first time in history.
“We can’t wait to get the season going September 13th, with the new Manchester Storm club being showcased for the first time too. There’s an exciting season ahead on Premier Sports.”
Premier Sports Elite League 2015-16 schedule
Sunday 13th September 2015 – Manchester Storm v Dundee Stars
Friday 16th October 2015 – Belfast Giants v Cardiff Devils
Saturday 7th November 2015 – Fife Flyers v Edinburgh Capitals
Saturday 12th December 2015 – Coventry Blaze v Cardiff Devils
Sunday 27th December 2015 – Nottingham Panthers v Sheffield Steelers
Friday 15th January 2016 – Braehead Clan v Manchester Storm
Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd April 2016 – Playoff finals weekend
TBC: A regular-season fixture in March 2016, a playoff quarter-final fixture and a fixture at Cardiff’s new arena. (Please note fixtures are subject to change).
Premier Sports is available on Sky/Virgin/TalkTalk and via the Premier Player. Visit www.premiersports.tv for info.