Playoff finals details and where to watch

INTEREST in Dundee Stars has reached fever pitch as the club aim to win the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

The finals weekend regularly takes place at the Motorpoint Arena, home of the Nottingham Panthers.

Dundee Stars face the Belfast Giants at 3pm today, with Cardiff Devils playing Guildford Flames at 7pm.

Tomorrow at 1pm the two semi-final losers compete in the thirdfourth place playoff, with the final taking place at 5pm.

Having the semi-finals and final settled by a single match makes the EIHL an outlier compared to much of Europe, where the playoffs format is usually a best-of series.

Ice hockey games are five-on-five contests divided into three periods of 20 minutes each with two 15-minute intermissions between the periods.

If the game is tied at the end of the 60 minutes there will be five minutes overtime between three players on each side.

If the teams are still level it goes to penalty shots, where individual players try to score against the goaltender.

If Dundee overcome Belfast they will feel they have every opportunity to win the playoffs – but this is easier said than done.

The Giants will be favourites having already won the Championship and Challenge Cup this season.

But Dundee can point to the fact that they have won three of their 10 matches against Belfast this season.

Coach Omar Pacha said: “We are underdogs but it would be a great story if we won. It may be different at a neutral venue and we have to make sure we use that to our advantage.

“In one game you just don’t know.”

All four games over the weekend are being screened live on subscription service Premier Sports.

Today’s game is being shown on a big screen at the Market bar in Dundee’s Seagate. Commentary will be turned on.