Mike Lee led the way in Gameweek 9 as Belfast Giants won both meetings with Guildford, while Cadishead Stormtroopers took the fantasy team honours with 526.4 points. Lee’s 64-point return put him ahead of fellow defenceman Keaton Pehrson, and there was movement near the top of the overall table: Shooting Stars Watch Us Fly reclaimed second place behind Hard to Yandle.
🏒 Belfast doubles up, Cardiff goes to overtime
Belfast beat Guildford 5–3 on Saturday and 4–2 on Sunday. Lee scored twice in the first meeting, while Scott Conway scored once on Saturday and twice on Sunday. The Giants’ nine goals across the weekend made their players prominent in the fantasy rankings for a second successive gameweek.
Cardiff also won twice, but needed overtime on both occasions. Kristoff Kontos struck at 64:20 to settle a 2–1 home win over Dundee, before Josh MacDonald scored at 63:26 in a 4–3 victory at Fife. Dundee’s Vladislav Pestov made 53 saves in the Cardiff game, keeping the margin narrow even though the Stars ultimately lost.
Sheffield and Manchester traded away wins: the Steelers won 3–2 at Storm before Manchester responded with a 3–1 victory in Sheffield. Coventry and Nottingham split their meetings too. Blaze won 4–3 at home on Saturday, then Kai Edmonds stopped all 33 shots he faced as the Panthers won Sunday’s return 1–0.
Glasgow beat Fife 6–3 on Friday, with Pehrson contributing two goals and two assists. The Clan then lost 3–2 in a shootout at Dundee, who recovered from 2–0 down. Gary Haden’s equaliser at 59:25 forced the game beyond regulation before Rasmus Nousiainen supplied the shootout winner.
| Date | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Nov | Cardiff Devils | 2–1 (OT) | Dundee Stars |
| 6 Nov | Glasgow Clan | 6–3 | Fife Flyers |
| 6 Nov | Manchester Storm | 2–3 | Sheffield Steelers |
| 7 Nov | Coventry Blaze | 4–3 | Nottingham Panthers |
| 7 Nov | Sheffield Steelers | 1–3 | Manchester Storm |
| 7 Nov | Belfast Giants | 5–3 | Guildford Flames |
| 8 Nov | Nottingham Panthers | 1–0 | Coventry Blaze |
| 8 Nov | Dundee Stars | 3–2 (SO) | Glasgow Clan |
| 8 Nov | Fife Flyers | 3–4 (OT) | Cardiff Devils |
| 8 Nov | Belfast Giants | 4–2 | Guildford Flames |
⭐ Defencemen deliver
Lee and Pehrson each recorded two goals and two assists, producing four hockey points apiece. Their FHL fantasy returns were 64 and 61 respectively. Conway followed on 55 from three goals and an assist, with Brandon Estes returning 53 from a goal and two assists. Three of the week’s top four fantasy performers were defencemen.
Edmonds led the goaltenders with 48.3 fantasy points from his 33-save shutout. Mathieu Gosselin contributed three goals and an assist for 47 despite Guildford’s two defeats, while Joseph Pierce returned 46. Jake Kupsky added 40.9 from two wins and 34 saves. These are FHL fantasy totals, rather than hockey points counted only from goals and assists.
Last week, JJ Piccinich topped the players on 61 and Hard to Yandle won the fantasy team table with 520.1. This week’s results brought a different winner in each category, although Belfast again supplied the leading player.
🏆 Cadishead Stormtroopers takes the weekly honours
Cadishead Stormtroopers finished 9.7 points clear of Blast Past, who scored 516.7. Team of the 80s completed the podium on 478.9, followed by Huskies on 471.9 and Subbuteo Kings on 453.3. The latter’s strong return helped lift them eight places in the overall standings, from 14th to sixth.
Hard to Yandle remains first overall on 3,680.4, with Shooting Stars Watch Us Fly moving from third to second on 3,525.1. The gap is 155.3 points. Ballycastle Puffins slips to third, while Maple Flames moves up to fourth and Light the Lamppa drops to fifth. Ulett The Dogs Out also enters the top ten, climbing from 11th to seventh.
| Position | Team | FHL points | Previous position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hard to Yandle | 3,680.4 | 1 |
| 2 | Shooting Stars Watch Us Fly | 3,525.1 | 3 |
| 3 | Ballycastle Puffins | 3,464.4 | 2 |
| 4 | Maple Flames | 3,439.2 | 5 |
| 5 | Light the Lamppa | 3,411.9 | 4 |
📈 Five-week form and the season picture
Across Gameweeks 5–9, Kupsky leads players with complete weekly records on 222 fantasy points, averaging 44.4 per gameweek. Estes follows on 195 and 39, with Pierce on 183 and 36.6. Across all nine gameweeks, Kupsky has 338.7, averaging 37.63, ahead of Piccinich’s 334.5 and 37.17. Missing weekly entries are not treated as zero in these comparisons.
The overall leader remains in place, but the chase has changed again. Shooting Stars Watch Us Fly is back in second, while Subbuteo Kings’ eight-place climb shows the value of a strong weekly return. Lee and Pehrson supplied the standout player performances in a week when defensive selections could make a substantial difference.
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