The seasons' new tournament was the Challenge Cup. The early stages were to be in the form of a league table, with points gained from designated ISL games counting towards the table. At the end of the competition the top four sides would advance to a knock-out, semi-final then final.
On the 10th Oct Panthers hosted the revamped Bees, having opened their league campaign with a narrow 3-2 victory the over Champions Ayr Eagles. The Bees game was a real thriller, Panthers winning 6-5 in overtime. Mike Zanier had a moderate evening. Of Bees 5 goals, one he should have stopped, one he could have stopped and one he might have stopped. Robins came on at the start of the 3rd period with Panthers trailing 5-3. The Bees were restricted to just 7 SOG during the 3rd period and OT, Robins stopped them all and Panthers posted a memorable OT fight-back when Greg Hadden notched the winner 30 seconds from the end. The game was a personal triumph for Hadden as he scored 5+1. 
On October 17th in the 3-6 home loss to the Devils, Panthers suffered a further injury blow losing Jeff DaCosta to a broken ankle. He joined injury victims Steve Roberts, who had suffered a chest muscle injury in the Bees game on the 10th and Corey Beaulieu, who was still recovering from his dislocated shoulder sustained on September.
On October 29th Steve Roberts returned to action, after a five game absence, and scored 2 goals in a 4-3 away win over the much improved Knights. Unfortunately 44 seconds into his second game he left the action with a dislocated shoulder. 
More injury followed when Randall was injured in a similar fashion over the weekend of the 31st October. 
Corey Beaulieu returned after a 12 game absence on the 8th November, in the disappointing 3-2 away loss the struggling Steelers. Unfortunately Steve Carpenter picked up a groin strain in the same game and looked set to miss both B&H semi-finals against the Storm. 
Panthers still had only four fit "D" men, with DaCosta & Carpenter sidelined, and Weber and Roberts missing from the forwards. Roberts was missed badly & Panthers suffered a severe shortage of firepower. 
The loss of Beaulieu to a one game ban, following the B&H SF1, left Panthers on the verge of being fined for icing an under strength squad. Blaiser was "forced" out of retirement after a two year absence. The thirteen fit skaters still managed a 4-2 home over the Riverkings and 4-3 away over the Bees, the weekend following their B&H heroics. Blaiser was reported to be enjoying himself after being checked through the Zamboni doors at Bracknell, by giant forward Paxton Schulte. 
On November 27^th news broke that a new forward had been signed, Darcy Loewen. On the statistical evidence he wasn't much of a point scorer and would be sorely put to replace the injured Roberts from that aspect. 
No sooner had the dust settled than Jason Weaver, a big left winger, was signed to take the roster to 20.
After a fairly successful start to December, Panthers suffered a huge blow to any hopes they may of had of lifting the League crown when on the 17th when they suffered a dispiriting 7-4 away loss to the Steelers, who were reportedly in severe financial difficulty. A lacklustre 1st period saw Panthers 4-0 down at the break. Hadden and Adey continued to shine with 2+2 & 1+2 respectively, but Panthers had given the Steelers an early Christmas present with some assistance from ref Andy Carson. Of more concern was the fact that the first line of Kolesar, Leach & Weaver while looking good on paper, still weren't racking up the points to be expected of such an impressive unit.
On Boxing Day, any hopes Panthers had of lifting the League title looked to have finally ended when Cardiff came to town and went away with a 4-1 victory. Panthers without the injured Weaver, Bobyck and the suspended Carpenter, lost Hadden after 5 minutes with what looked to be a bad leg injury. The game itself was a disgrace, straight out of "Slapshot". 
The following night's game in Ayr saw Panthers without Weaver, Bobyck, Hadden, Carpenter and Zukiwsky as the tiring side, 4-2 up with less than 5 minutes to play, lost 5-4 in OT, Darcy Loewen sitting a minor, incurred 3 seconds from the end of regulation time. Of Eagles 5 goals, 3 had been scored on the PP. Since the injury to Bobyck Panthers PK had looked decidedly dodgy.
Early in January it was reported that Pekka Virta required an operation and would probably miss the remainder of the season. To add to this woe, current league top scorer, Greg Haddens' injury wasn't responding to treatment and he looked set to miss a minimum of 6 further weeks. 
With 13 skaters once again Panthers entertained London Knights. The game was a triumph, with Paul Adey registering 3+2, Jason Weaver 3+0, Mark Kolesar 0+4 & Jarrett Zukiwsky 0+3, as Panthers ran out 8-3 winners. 
On January 14^th, Panthers went to Cardiff with an injury ravaged squad once again. Five missing players reduced the squad once again to 13 skaters as Brent Bobyck played his first game since the Autumn Cup final. In a "back's to the wall game", Trevor Robins was outstanding as Panthers came away with a 3-1 win on 2 goals from Mark Kolesar and 1 from Steve Carpenter. 
A week later the Devils returned to Nottingham and displayed a classic road game plan, registering a 7-3 win, scoring 3 power play goals (one 5 on 3) and an empty netter. Panthers, were still without Hadden, Virta & Zukiwsky. Leach lasted only until the end of the first period in his return game and Robins had one of "those" nights, as the 6 that went past him came from only 30 shots. 
The following night the Panthers succumbed 4-0 at the Sheffield Arena. A pretty black week-end all around & Panthers League challenge was well and truly done & dusted for another season!
On Sunday Feb 21st Panthers visited Cardiff for the 1st leg of the Challenge Cup semi-final and came away with a great 3-2 victory. Bearing in mind the results that the Devils had obtained at the Ice Stadium this season though, the tie was far from over. In the return the Devils overturned the previous result but Greg Hadden struck, on a backhand pass from behind the net from Steve Carpenter, 15 seconds from the end of OT to secure a final spot against the Steelers on their home ice. The Steelers had taken a shock 5-0 lead to Manchester, where they again overcame the newly crowned League Champions with a 3-1 win.
In the final Panthers season long inability to show their home form away from the Ice Stadium came back to haunt them. Although marginally outshooting their hosts the Panthers went down 4-0, with Ken Priestlay netting an empty netter near the end to seal the game for the Steelers.

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