Hull Seahawks, Leeds Knights and Sheffield Steeldogs - key dates for the 2022-23 NIHL National season

The UK’s second tier - boosted to 11 teams with the Spring addition of the Hull Seahawks and Bristol Pitbulls - will see the top eight qualify for the post-season which begins on the weekend of April 8 and 9, the regular season being scheduled to finish a week earlier.

Teams will contest a 56-game regular season. For the most part, they will play every team three times both home and away but, in an attempt to reduce fixture congestion, each team ‘drops’ two home and away games.

In a statement pushed out on Thursday afternoon, the NIHl National Owners Group, said the ‘dropped’ games had been determined on “a semi-random basis, taking account of which would be the longest road trips to make.”

One example of how the unique scheduling will work is that Hull Seahawks will play Bees and Swindon Wildcats at home just twice each and the other eight teams three times. In terms of away trips, Hull fans will only have to venture to Basingstoke and Bristol twice, while visiting the other eight teams three times.

The regular season will start on the weekend of September 17-18, with the traditional season-ending Play-off Final Four Weekend again being held at Coventry’s SkyDome Area on the weekend of April 15-16.

As in previous seasons, results from the first home and away game between every team will ‘double up’ and count towards the separate standings for the NIHL National Cup - won last year by the Steeldogs - with the semi-finals and final being arranged once the initial group format is complete.