The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Phantoms start with a trip to Sheffield
Ice hockey
Peterborough Phantoms will launch their English Premier League challenge on the road.
The city team travel to Sheffield Steeldogs for their opening fixture of the 2016/17 season on Saturday, September 10.
Slava Koulikov’s men have their first league outing on home ice the following night when welcoming Swindon Wildcats to Planet Ice.
A tough start to the campaign also features home and away clashes against reigning champions Basingstoke and arch rivals Milton Keynes during September.
Phantoms will face their nine EPL rivals six times in all – three at home and three on the road.
The first home and away clashes against each opponent again count towards the EPL Cup standings with the top four teams progressing to the latter stages. Phantoms were runners-up in that competition last season.
The end-of-season playoffs have been revamped with the opening round now featuring two four-team groups rather than two-legged quarter-finals.
The teams finishing first, fourth, fifth and eighth in the standings will form one group with the second, third, sixth and seventh-placed sides making up the other.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the finals weekend on April 8-9.
Phantoms warm up for the new campaign with four pre-season challenge clashes.
They face Sheffield on August 27 (home) and August 28 (away) before taking on Milton Keynes in the traditional ‘Ashes’ clashes on September 3 (away) and September 4 (home).