2017–18 EHL season
| 2017–18 EHL season | |
|---|---|
| League | Eastern Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | Regular season September 2017 – March 2018 Post-season March 2018 |
| Number of games | 50 |
| Number of teams | 16 |
| Regular season | |
| Season champions | Philadelphia Revolution |
| EHL Playoffs | |
| Finals champions | New Hampshire Avalanche |
| Runners-up | Philadelphia Revolution |
The 2017–18 EHL season was the 5th season of the Eastern Hockey League. The regular season ran from September 2017 to March 2018 with a 50-game schedule for each team. The Philadelphia Revolution won the regular season championship and went on to be defeated by the New Hampshire Avalanche 3 to 2 for the league championship.
League Rebrand
- For this season, the EHL rebranded its different tiers. The primary league would drop the "Premier" moniker and simply be called the "Eastern Hockey League" or EHL. The Elite Division would then become the new Premier Division. While the name changes could lead to some confusion, the league stuck with this new arrangement for many years afterwards.
Member changes
- In October of 2016, the United States Premier Hockey League announced the formation of a new Tier II league starting the following fall.[1] By December, six EHL members (the Boston Bandits, Connecticut Nighthawks, Hartford Jr. Wolfpack, New Hampshire Junior Monarchs, New Jersey Rockets, and Northern Cyclones) announced that they would be joining the USPHL for the upcoming season.[2] After losing more than a third of the league in one fell swoop, the EHL responded by bringing in several new teams.
- During their year-long hiatus, the New York Bobcats had merged with the Long Island Royals organization. The Bobcats, now referred to as the "Bobcats Royals", rejoined the EHL while the Royals joined the Premier Division.
- Shortly afterwards, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights, who had restarted their Tier III club in 2016, agreed to transferred the outfit back into the EHL.
- After recouping two former members, the league then added expansion teams in the form of the New Hampshire Avalanche and Total Athletics Seahawks.[3][4]
- Finally, the Superior Roughriders of the Western States Hockey League announced plans to partner with a new eastern affiliate. The Roughriders would eventually reach an agreement with the EHL whereby the Connecticut Oilers would relocate to Hamden, Connecticut. This allowed a new club, the Connecticut RoughRiders to use the SoNo Ice House, the Oilers former arena, as their home venue.
Regular season
The standings at the end of the regular season were as follows:[5]
Note: x = clinched playoff berth; y = clinched division title; z = clinched conference title; r = clinched regular season title
Standings
Northern Conference
- New England Division -
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Pts | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| xyz – New Hampshire Avalanche | 50 | 39 | 7 | 4 | 82 | 204 | 99 |
| x – Vermont Lumberjacks | 50 | 24 | 24 | 2 | 50 | 163 | 162 |
| x – New England Wolves | 50 | 17 | 31 | 2 | 36 | 146 | 234 |
| Valley Jr. Warriors | 50 | 15 | 31 | 4 | 34 | 131 | 191 |
- Boston Division -
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Pts | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| xy – Boston Junior Rangers | 50 | 38 | 11 | 1 | 77 | 197 | 114 |
| x – Walpole Express | 50 | 36 | 11 | 3 | 75 | 207 | 123 |
| x – East Coast Wizards | 50 | 29 | 18 | 3 | 61 | 170 | 147 |
| Total Athletics Seahawks | 50 | 14 | 30 | 6 | 34 | 107 | 177 |
Southern Conference
- Central Division -
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Pts | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| xy – Connecticut RoughRiders | 50 | 31 | 18 | 1 | 63 | 206 | 139 |
| x – New York Apple Core | 50 | 23 | 18 | 9 | 55 | 160 | 157 |
| x – Connecticut Oilers | 50 | 14 | 33 | 3 | 31 | 118 | 205 |
| New York Bobcats Royals | 50 | 4 | 42 | 4 | 12 | 92 | 298 |
- Mid-Atlantic Division -
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Pts | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| xyzr – Philadelphia Revolution | 50 | 41 | 8 | 1 | 83 | 234 | 99 |
| x – Philadelphia Little Flyers | 50 | 39 | 9 | 2 | 80 | 213 | 104 |
| x – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights | 50 | 24 | 25 | 1 | 49 | 170 | 180 |
| Philadelphia Jr. Flyers | 50 | 12 | 32 | 6 | 30 | 98 | 187 |
EHL playoffs
Note: All four division winners received byes to the conference semifinals and were seeded 1 and 2 in their respective brackets. The next four teams in each conference were seeded in the conference quarterfinals regardless of their division.
| Conference Quarterfinals (Best-of-3) | Conference Semifinals (Best-of-3) | Semifinals (Round Robin) | Championship (Best-of-1) | ||||||||||||||||||
| N1 | New Hampshire Avalanche | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
| N3 | Walpole Express | 2 | N4 | East Coast Wizards | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| N6 | New England Wolves | 0 | Northern | ||||||||||||||||||
| N2 | Boston Junior Rangers | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
| N1 | New Hampshire Avalanche | - | 7 | 3 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| N4 | East Coast Wizards | 2 | N3 | Walpole Express | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| N2 | Boston Junior Rangers | 4 | - | 0 | 3 | N1 | New Hampshire Avalanche | 3 | |||||||||||||
| N5 | Vermont Lumberjacks | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||
| S1 | Philadelphia Revolution | 1 | 4 | - | 3 | S1 | Philadelphia Revolution | 2 | |||||||||||||
| S1 | Philadelphia Revolution | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
| S3 | Philadelphia Little Flyers | 2 | 4* | 0 | - | ||||||||||||||||
| S3 | Philadelphia Little Flyers | 2 | S4 | New York Apple Core | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| S6 | Connecticut Oilers | 1 | Southern | ||||||||||||||||||
| S2 | Connecticut RoughRiders | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||
| S4 | New York Apple Core | 2 | S3 | Philadelphia Little Flyers | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| S5 | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
References
- ^ "USPHL Announces New Tuition Free Hockey Division for 2017-18 Season". Junior Hockey News. October 6, 2016.
- ^ "USPHL Announces New Tuition Free Hockey Division for 2017-18 Season". Junior Hockey News. October 6, 2016. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
- ^ "Junior hockey expanding on Cape Cod". Cape Cod Times. September 19, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2025.
- ^ "2017-18 League Expansion". Eastern hockey League. February 18, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- ^ "2017-18 Eastern Hockey League Standings". Hockey DB. Retrieved July 30, 2025.