The Gardiner Conference is one of two conferences in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) and comprises five teams. Its counterpart is the Erhardt Conference. It is named after former Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Charlie Gardiner and was introduced for the 2012–13 EIHL season. The Gardiner Conference Championship is played for over 32 regular season games, each team playing the other four teams eight times (four home and four away). The winner receives the Gardiner Trophy and is seeded in the top three (the exact seed dependent on the overall League Championship final standings) for the end-of-season Elite League Play-Offs. These 32 games also make up the total of 52 regular season games which decide the overall League Champions of the Elite Ice Hockey League.