2018–19 Mercury Elite Hockey League

The 2018–19 Mercury Elite Hockey League is the third season of the Mercury Elite Hockey League, the premier ice hockey league in Mercury. The league will expand from 12 teams to 24, with 6 new Mercurian clubs joining, as well as 6 international clubs.

Qualification

Qualification for the MCHL will be determined according to the following criteria:

• Craitish Cosmos and Dyas Stiks qualify automatically
• Regular season champions
• Play-off champions
• Northern, Central and Southern Conference champions, next two best teams from the International Conference, barring Craitish Cosmos and Dyas Stiks.
• If any team qualifies through more than one of the above criteria, then the remaining berths will be allocated to the highest-placed teams in the overall standings.

Regular season

The league's 24 teams play a 66-game schedule from August 2018 to March 2019. Each team plays every other team in the league twice, and each team in their conference a further four times. At the end of the season, the four conference winners advance to the play-offs in addition to the eight next-highest ranked teams in the overall standings.

Legend
	Qualified to play-offs and MCHL
	Qualified to play-offs

Club	Conf.	GP	RW	OW	OL	RL	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Bisminster Battalion	NOR	66	51	1	3	11	308	181	+127	158
Nafferton Panthers	CEN	66	47	7	2	10	282	164	+118	157
Mercury Hornets	CEN	66	46	2	5	13	265	176	+89	147
Dyas Stiks	INT	66	41	6	5	14	260	174	+86	140
Kuiper Jets	CEN	66	38	6	1	21	242	199	+43	127
Hanseong Stingrays	NOR	66	33	8	6	19	245	199	+46	121
Craitish Cosmos	INT	66	33	4	3	26	224	202	+22	110
Newcastle Leopards	INT	66	31	6	4	25	245	216	+29	109
Tow Law Bears	SOU	66	33	3	4	26	231	194	+37	109
Kincester Kraken	SOU	66	33	3	3	27	203	209	−6	108
Castleton Vikings	CEN	66	30	4	4	28	224	221	+3	102
Savona Sport	INT	66	31	1	4	30	198	208	−10	99
Longstoke Lions	SOU	66	25	9	4	28	203	219	−16	97
PB Polar Bears	NOR	66	27	3	7	29	219	238	−19	94
Whitby Warriors	NOR	66	24	7	6	29	202	201	+1	92
Taylor Torpedoes	CEN	66	27	4	2	33	197	233	−36	91
Clarkson Pirates	NOR	66	26	5	3	32	202	235	−33	91
Pelmanby Penguins	NOR	66	24	3	3	36	223	220	+3	81
Harlby Hawks	SOU	66	22	4	6	34	199	229	−30	80
Deacon Thunder	SOU	66	19	6	5	36	207	228	−21	74
NV Devils	INT	66	15	4	6	41	169	282	−113	59
West Grinstead Wasps	SOU	66	10	7	10	39	187	269	−82	54
Eastmoor Archers	CEN	66	12	0	6	48	164	261	−97	42
Plennomorets Chetgavan	INT	66	10	3	3	50	166	301	−135	39
Tie-breaking criteria: 1) If the tied teams have not played an equal amount of head-to-head matches, position of teams from the same Conference in the Conference standings (eliminating teams from broken ties), 2) Head-to-head points between remaining tied teams, 3) Head-to-head goal difference, 4) Total regulation wins, 5) Total wins, 6) Goal difference, 7) Goals scored.

• After finishing with identical points, Newcastle Leopards and Tow Law Bears faced tie-breaking criteria. They were split by their head to head record, with Newcastle's 6 points from their shared matches beating Tow Law's 0 points.
• After finishing with identical points, Clarkson Pirates and Taylor Torpedoes faced tie-breaking criteria. As both teams gained 3 points each from their shared matches, they were split by the higher number of regulation wins, with Taylor's 27 beating Clarkson's 26.

Conference standings

Northern Conference

Club	GP	RW	OW	OL	RL	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Bisminster Battalion	30	25	1	0	4	144	81	+63	77
Hanseong Stingrays	30	14	3	3	10	106	93	+13	51
Whitby Warriors	30	12	5	3	10	90	98	−8	49
Pelmanby Penguins	30	9	2	4	15	99	110	−11	35
Clarkson Pirates	30	10	1	1	18	87	119	−32	33
PB Polar Bears	30	8	1	2	19	89	112	−23	28
Tie-breaking criteria: 1) Head-to-head points, 2) Head-to-head goal difference, 3) Total regulation wins, 4) Total wins, 5) Goal difference, 6) Goals scored.

Central Conference

Club	GP	RW	OW	OL	RL	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Nafferton Panthers	30	23	4	0	3	122	64	+58	77
Mercury Hornets	30	18	0	5	7	104	81	+23	59
Kuiper Jets	30	13	3	1	13	96	97	−1	46
Castleton Vikings	30	13	0	2	15	87	94	−7	41
Taylor Torpedoes	30	11	1	0	18	81	103	−22	35
Eastmoor Archers	30	4	0	0	26	64	115	−51	12
Tie-breaking criteria: 1) Head-to-head points, 2) Head-to-head goal difference, 3) Total regulation wins, 4) Total wins, 5) Goal difference, 6) Goals scored.

Southern Conference

Club	GP	RW	OW	OL	RL	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Tow Law Bears	30	18	2	3	7	103	75	+28	61
Kincester Kraken	30	19	2	0	9	110	81	+29	61
Longstoke Lions	30	12	8	1	9	102	94	+8	53
Deacon Thunder	30	10	2	3	15	82	89	−7	37
Harlby Hawks	30	9	2	4	15	90	114	−24	35
West Grinstead Wasps	30	3	3	7	16	82	116	−34	23
Tie-breaking criteria: 1) Head-to-head points, 2) Head-to-head goal difference, 3) Total regulation wins, 4) Total wins, 5) Goal difference, 6) Goals scored.

• After finishing with identical points, Kincester Kraken and Tow Law Bears faced tie-breaking criteria. They were split by their head to head record, with Tow Law's 12 points from their shared matches beating Kincester's 6 points.

International Conference

Club	GP	RW	OW	OL	RL	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Dyas Stiks	30	20	2	1	7	115	69	+44	65
Craitish Cosmos	30	19	2	1	8	110	82	+28	62
Savona Sport	30	17	1	2	10	97	85	+12	55
Newcastle Leopards	30	13	3	3	11	117	91	+26	48
NV Devils	30	6	2	2	20	75	125	−50	24
Plennomorets Chetgavan	30	5	0	1	24	65	127	−62	16
Tie-breaking criteria: 1) Head-to-head points, 2) Head-to-head goal difference, 3) Total regulation wins, 4) Total wins, 5) Goal difference, 6) Goals scored.

Play-offs

Qualifying play-offs

The qualifying play-offs were played over two legs in March 2019. The four conference winners advanced directly to the quarter-finals.

	Mercury Hornets	14 – 7	Savona Sport
Savona Sport v Mercury Hornets 19 March 2019 Savona Sport 5 – 6 (0–3, 2–2, 3–1) Mercury Hornets
Mercury Hornets v Savona Sport 21 March 2019 Mercury Hornets 8 – 2 (3–1, 2–1, 3–0) Savona Sport

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	Kuiper Jets	9 – 2	Castleton Vikings
Castleton Vikings v Kuiper Jets 19 March 2019 Castleton Vikings 2 – 4 (0–3, 2–1, 0–0) Kuiper Jets
Kuiper Jets v Castleton Vikings 21 March 2019 Kuiper Jets 5 – 0 (2–0, 3–0, 0–0) Castleton Vikings

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	Hanseong Stingrays	5 – 9	Kincester Kraken
Kincester Kraken v Hanseong Stingrays 19 March 2019 Kincester Kraken 6 – 2 (1–1, 2–1, 3–0) Hanseong Stingrays
Hanseong Stingrays v Kincester Kraken 21 March 2019 Hanseong Stingrays 3 – 3 (1–1, 1–1, 1–1) Kincester Kraken

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	Craitish Cosmos	12 – 8	Newcastle Leopards
Newcastle Leopards v Craitish Cosmos 19 March 2019 Newcastle Leopards 3 – 7 (2–3, 0–1, 1–3) Craitish Cosmos
Craitish Cosmos v Newcastle Leopards 21 March 2019 Craitish Cosmos 5 – 5 (1–1, 2–0, 2–4) Newcastle Leopards

Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals were played over two legs in March 2019.

	Bisminster Battalion	12 – 8	Kincester Kraken
Kincester Kraken v Bisminster Battalion 23 March 2019 Kincester Kraken 3 – 5 (0–1, 3–4, 0–0) Bisminster Battalion
Bisminster Battalion v Kincester Kraken 24 March 2019 Bisminster Battalion 7 – 5 (4–1, 1–2, 2–2) Kincester Kraken

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	Nafferton Panthers	7–4	Craitish Cosmos
Craitish Cosmos v Nafferton Panthers 23 March 2019 Craitish Cosmos 2 – 1 (1–0, 1–0, 0–1) Nafferton Panthers
Nafferton Panthers v Craitish Cosmos 24 March 2019 Nafferton Panthers 6 – 2 (3–0, 3–2, 0–0) Craitish Cosmos

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	Dyas Stiks	6 – 13	Kuiper Jets
Kuiper Jets v Dyas Stiks 23 March 2019 Kuiper Jets 7 – 1 (3–1, 2–0, 2–0) Dyas Stiks
Dyas Stiks v Kuiper Jets 24 March 2019 Dyas Stiks 5 – 6 (1–3, 3–3, 1–0) Kuiper Jets

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	Tow Law Bears	3 – 9	Mercury Hornets
Mercury Hornets v Tow Law Bears 23 March 2019 Mercury Hornets 5 – 1 (3–0, 1–1, 1–0) Tow Law Bears
Tow Law Bears v Mercury Hornets 24 March 2019 Tow Law Bears 2 – 4 (0–4, 2–0, 0–0) Mercury Hornets

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played on 30 March 2019 at the Mercury Ice Arena in Mercury.

30 March 2019	Bisminster Battalion	5 – 4 (2–1, 1–2, 2–1)	Kuiper Jets	Mercury Ice Arena, Mercury
v   Callum Brooks Watts (Shaw) PPG – 05:56 Shaw (Jordan, Booth) – 17:33 Perry (Shaw, Travis) – 21:02 Watts (Sharpe, Richardson) PPG – 54:10 Perry (McCullough) GWG – 56:57 6 min 28 Goalies 1–0 1–1 2–1 3–1 3–2 3–3 3–4 4–4 5–4 Penalties Shots on goal Davis Battle 12:45 – Barnes (Burton, Curry) 24:25 – Wise (King, Lane) 33:01 – Ball 41:12 – PPG Lane (Barnes, King) 21 min 24

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30 March 2019	Nafferton Panthers	6 – 5 OT (3–2, 2–1, 0–2) (OT: 1–0)	Mercury Hornets	Mercury Ice Arena, Mercury
v   Thomas Garnett Davidsen (Chambers, Poole) – 03:21 Vance (Stanley, Dean) PPG – 06:22 Fraser (Compton, Stone) PPG – 10:13 Fraser (Kirkland, Hall) PPG – 27:13 Hall SHG – 38:06 Davidsen (Vance, Kirkland) GWG 23 min 35 Goalies 1–0 2–0 2–1 3–1 3–2 3–3 4–3 5–3 5–4 5–5 6–5 Penalties Shots on goal Zack Cooke 09:17 – Gilbert (Thøgersen) 15:47 – Duncan (Thøgersen, Haagensen) 24:15 – PPG Kennedy (Reynolds) 43:59 – PPG Haagensen (Gardiner) 56:33 – PS Reynolds 17 min 36

Final

The final was played on 31 March 2019 at the Mercury Ice Arena in Mercury.

31 March 2019	Bisminster Battalion	6 – 1 (2–0, 3–1, 1–0)	Nafferton Panthers	Mercury Ice Arena, Mercury
v   Callum Brooks 4 min 38 Goalies 1–0 2–0 3–0 4–0 5–0 5–1 6–1 Penalties Shots on goal Thomas Garnett 40 min 10