Steelkings Take on Europe in 2026 NEPIHL

Saturday saw all teams take part in a group stage round robin, to determine who would make it through to the semi-finals.

The Steelkings' opening game was against the Amsterdam Tigers. Four goals for the Steelkings saw them emerge the victors, but the Tigers couldn't be contained completely as they managed to put one goal onto the scoresheet themselves.

The second and final group stage game for the Steelkings saw them faceoff against NEPIHL newcomers TPS. The Steelkings didn't know what to expect from TPS, having never played against the Finnish team before. In the end the game was a draw, with neither team being able to break the one goal deadlock.

This put the Steelkings in a precarious position, as their final position in the group stage would be determined by the game between TPS and the Tigers. TPS got a decisive 7-1 victory in that game, meaning the Steelkings would finish second in their group and face two time NEPIHL champions SISU in the semi-finals.

Full Group Stage Results

Group A:

• SISU 5-0 Phantoms

• SISU 8-1 Les Bisons

• Les Bisons 3-3 Phantoms

Group B:

• Steelkings 4-1 Tigers

• TPS 1-1 Steelkings

• Tigers 1-7 TPS
  

The Steelkings faced possibly their toughest challenge of the tournament in the semi-final, with SISU having never lost a game in the NEPIHL. Despite giving it their all, the tired Steelkings team wouldn't make it to the final this year, conceding 8 unanswered goals. Their performance wasn't without merit though, nearly scoring on several occasions and killing a 5-on-3 powerplay to stop the scoreline getting worse than it was.

The other semi-final saw TPS beat the Phantoms 7-1, which meant there would be an all Finnish final while the Steelkings competed for bronze against the Belgian side.

Sunday saw the Steelkings rested and ready to claim the bronze medal. They knew the Phantoms were a good team, and they would need to give the game everything they had to secure the victory. In the end they did just that, beating the Phantoms 3-0 to claim 3rd place.

In the final TPS suffered the same fate as the Steelkings, conceding 8 unanswered goals to see SISU claim gold once again.