Skysports.com's Ice Hockey guru Neil Chiplen looks ahead to what the final two months of the season may have in-store for the Elite League clubs.

Before we get started with our look at the hopes and dreams of the eight Elite League clubs for the rest of the year, here's a reminder of where else you can hear from me, literally, this season.

Last month I talked to Hockey Broadcaster Denis Puska to discuss the state of the Elite League, the different teams and players and the media coverage it receives in the UK. The interview is now online in two separate parts at Puska on Pucks, which can be found at www.puskaonpucks.com or at www.oursportscentral.com under the OSC Radio link section. Puska on Pucks also contains a wealth of information on the state of the leagues in North America where future EIHL talents are playing today.

Christiansen: Top four chance?

Across the pond the big guns in the NHL are preparing for the Winter Olympics, but back here in the Elite League it's all about the stretch run towards the climax of the season.

By now we know who's who, and we know what's what. We know that there are only three teams in with a shout of winning the league. Or two if you don't think a British goalie can do it.

At the start of the season every team in the Elite League had a goal. After five months many of those goals have changed. Every team has reached a point where they can look in the mirror and be realistic about what they are capable of achieving in the final two months of the hockey season. For some, these goals are the same as they were back in September, for others they've changed - and generally for the worse.

Here is a look at what every Elite League team can realistically aim for until somebody pops the champagne in Nottingham, starting at the bottom.

Hull Stingrays: The start of next season

Finally, the Stingrays are starting to show some signs of life. Ok, so it's too late, way too late. But that doesn't mean that they can't use it as a platform. The Rays are pretty much assured of the wooden spoon and a first round match-up against the league winners, which if not Coventry will be a team on one hell of a roll - so they can forget the play-offs anyway.

They're not going to admit that, but let's be realistic. Hull management and Sylvain Cloutier, if indeed he returns, need to start thinking about next season. The major problem for underdogs like the Caps and Rays is that by the time they eventually get going year after year, it's all over. Hull need to be ready to hit the ground running as of September 1st 2010. They need to organise training camp, incoming flights and the shape of the roster already. Of course, it's not quite that simple, but can they really afford to go down this road again?

Hull have been struck by another year filled with injuries, Cloutier has ironed out some personnel issues, but at least they've got the nucleus of a competitive team. Now's the time to start building.

Sheffield Steelers: Win a Trophy

The worst attempt at defending a league title in the Elite League era, but the Steelers still have plenty of time to wash away the stench of this season.

They've got the Challenge Cup semi coming up against Nottingham (Feb 3rd and 10th) and would meet the Devils in the final if they were to progress. Winning the cup via that route would soften the disappointment of being mired in the bottom half.

Despite its glaring problems, this team still has some big game players with the experience of knowing how to get the job done and what it takes to do so. Looking ahead to the play-offs, there's a potential first round match-up against the G-men or Panthers. Maybe they can channel the Continental Cup and pretend they are playing Bolzano. Still, it's funny how a team can be ranked seventh in the league and you still wouldn't bet against them winning something.

More than making them tougher, the signing of Mike Sgroi keeps them relevant for the remainder of the regular season. With attendances dropping in Sheffield, Steelers management knew that they had to sell some tickets and the promise of "Come and watch the Steelers in their quest to finish fifth" wasn't going to get the job done. I'm not quite buying the reasoning that the Steelers signed him because they were getting pushed around. Remember, this is the same team that once axed Brett Clouthier.

Newcastle Vipers: Survival

You can tell how difficult things are for a hockey club by how much you hear from the General Manager. And this season it's Jamie Longmuir, closely followed by Sheffield's Mike O'Connor, who is doing all the talking. Whether the topic is the "devastating" loss of Matus Petricko, the relocation to Whitley Bay or next season's prospects, Longmuir has been heard from probably more than Vipers fans would like.

The arrival of Brent Hughes and Ryan Jorde will stop them falling over the cliff and into the North Sea for now, but the Vipers have had to re-evaluate their goals for this season. A great start to the campaign quickly evaporated and now they're in survival mode. The positive spin on this is that they've got the "Us against the World" approach, perennially shared by Edinburgh and Hull, and go into every game hoping to cause an upset, which they did spectacularly against the Giants in mid-January. Longmuir can talk about games like that all week long!

The Caps and Steelers are likely to push them into seventh though and Hull might have a case too, were it not for their awful first half. The "6 team league, you're having a laugh" chants from the playoffs last year can be heard now, only this time they're echoing around Whitley Bay and, still, nobody's laughing.

Edinburgh Capitals: Final Four

Doug Christiansen said earlier this season that he was losing sleep thinking about how much damage the Capitals could do if they ever had a full roster. Having overcome arguably the toughest January schedule in the league by rising to fifth place, Christiansen must still be up all night.

Edinburgh's problem is that they're playing on adrenaline, which is great while you can feel it surging through your veins, but not so great when you're coming down on the other side. For a short-benched team they can be plucky overachievers one night and knackered whipping boys the next. This was never better illustrated than in January when they took the Panthers to OT on the road, before getting tanked 8-0 in Sheffield.

They've also dealt the Blaze a couple of losses, which Belfast would love to be able to do. It's probably too much to ask for fourth place, but holding down fifth is definitely on the table. What the Caps really need to aim for is to be in Nottingham on the 3rd of April. They're going to have to upset somebody to do that, but by then - who knows - they might have a full roster, and it won't be Doug Christiansen who is losing sleep.

Cardiff Devils: Win the Challenge Cup... and get to the Play-off final

The league's gone. It went a long while ago, but let's just be clear about it Devils fans, just in case any of you are still clutching at straws: The league's gone. If one of the top three endures a late-season swoon, the Devils could sneak onto the podium, but from here on in, it doesn't really matter.

Mark Smith, Max Birbraer, Ryan Finnerty, Brad Voth and Jay Latulippe - and nothing to show for it? Not good. Even if they win the Challenge Cup, beating the Steelers or the Panthers to do so, would it be enough? The Devils had a window this season to make a solid run at the title. But they forgot the importance of defence and failed to learn last year's lesson about playing on the road.

They have already proved that their strength at home is good enough to carry them through a two-legged cup tie as they turned it on in the Bay and limited the damage in the Odyssey to beat the Giants in the Challenge Cup semi final. The one thing the Devils have mastered in recent years is being able to reach the final four, but then they've usually come unstuck on playoff Saturday. Cardiff will probably go on a 10-game hot streak sometime soon, as they often do at this time of year, but they need to come out of this season with at least one trophy and a good performance in the other to salvage something.

Nottingham Panthers: League Title or bust... and beat Sheffield

This is it. The Blaze are there for the taking. They have been all season.

If they played Coventry 56 times they'd probably win the majority, but the Panthers always seem to find a way of losing their momentum. You get the feeling that Nottingham often seem to take two steps forward and one step back. They can't afford to do that from here on in. This is the best shot they've had in years. The Steelers are stranded, the Devils are a puzzle, the Giants keep shooting themselves in the foot and the Blaze just quietly keep ticking over.

The Panthers have had the budget to make changes, they've been able to roll an import heavy, they've got NHL-level talent in Cameron Mann and now Jay Henderson, they've got a solid goalie in Kevin St Pierre, who is still standing in February, and they're right on Coventry's heels. No excuses.

Nottingham's other goal: Beating the Steelers to reach the Challenge Cup final. But you already knew that.

Belfast Giants: Beat the Blaze

The Giants, like the Panthers, still have a shot at the league title, especially after beating Nottingham twice towards the end of January.

Jeff Szwez and Pierre-Luc Faubert are back on the score-sheet after returning from injuries and the club's offensive depth and use of the 10-man on-ice import rule means that the loss of Brandon Benedict with a broken jaw won't be as tough to deal with as it could have been. Although it's probably pretty tough for Benedict.

The glaring problem with the G-men is that they can't beat the Blaze. Coventry have owned them this season. Sean McMorrow should worry less about Brad Voth and more about Greg Chambers. Five games and five losses. That's the difference in the league standings right there.

They've still got three games against Coventry. Must-win games that is. Must. Win. Must-win.

They can worry about the play-offs after. If they go 0-8 against Coventry, they might as well not turn up.

Coventry Blaze: Double

The Blaze haven't coughed up the lead in the final two months of the season before so why start now? They've all been there before. They know what it takes. Although you can't write off Belfast and Nottingham just yet, Coventry seem to be cruising towards the league title with an almost dull inevitability.

Luke Fulghum is proving that David Beauregard's goal spree in Manchester was as much his doing as it was Tony Hand's and has fit into place amongst Coventry's forward pack like the last piece in a jigsaw puzzle, while Jonathan Weaver looks like he could be the MVP.

When the Blaze have been hit by injuries, other Elite League players have fallen right into Paul Thompson's lap. Former Edinburgh Capital Chris Allen was living in, of all places, Solihull before he chipped in with a few games when Matt Soderstrom was hurt. And Sheffield axed Brad Cruikshank at almost the exact same time that Adam Calder went down with a knee injury.

Thompson could have kept Allen on when Soderstrom returned, as Allen is arguably a better player, but the Team GB coach showed why he's been so successful by making the loyal choice to keep the Swede and letting Allen go. Would every other coach in the league have made that decision? Probably not.

Still, the Blaze can aim for more than the league title. They've only reached the play-off final twice in six attempts and haven't won it since 2005.

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