Coventry Blaze
The Coventry Blaze are a British professional ice hockey team based in Coventry, England. They currently compete in the Elite Ice Hockey League and play their home games at Planet Ice Coventry. The club was founded in 1965 as the original Solihull Barons and renamed the Solihull Blaze in 1996, before relocating to Coventry at the turn of the millennium. The Blaze have won four Elite Ice Hockey League Championships since the formation of the league in 2003.
Club history
Seasons
1965–1996: Early history
1996–2000: Solihull Blaze
The Solihull Barons evolved into Solihull Blaze before the start of the 1996–97 season, finishing second in the southern division of the British National League during the league's inaugural season. For the following season the team joined the newly formed "national division" of the English National Ice Hockey League for its inaugural season; during which members of the higher division played a dual set of fixtures; one set amongst themselves and another amongst all of the teams within the ENIHL. This season was one of the most successful on record as Blaze were victorious in both competitions and their respective play-offs. Nine goals in each leg of the play off final against Chelmsford Chieftains gave Blaze their third trophy of the season.The Blaze left the ENIHL along with the rest of the national division during the course of the 1998–99 season, with the division becoming the English Premier League. In November 1998, they were losing finalists in the English Cup, but the side were once again crowned league champions in March with a victory in Chelmsford on 20 March. Play-off success followed in April with a 5–3 two-legged victory over season-long rivals, Milton Keynes Kings.
For the following season Blaze returned to the BNL; and made a semi-final appearance in the 1999–2000 BNL play-offs, losing to eventual winners Fife Flyers, having finished in seventh position in their first year back at British National League level. In May 2000, the club announced that they would be heading to a new 3,600-seater stadium, the Coventry Skydome, for the 2000–01 BNL campaign; renaming themselves "Coventry Blaze" in the process. This was done for the purpose of attracting a larger fan base to the team.
2000–2003: Coventry Blaze
With eight new players on board the Blaze started their inaugural season at the Skydome with a decent run in the Benson & Hedges Cup and, after losing in their opening BNL game, proceeded to set an impressive pace in the league competition throughout October and November. The loss of key players, Craig Chapman and Steve Chartrand at the turn of the year were possible contributions to a dip in form which resulted in an eventual fourth-place finish. In the playoffs Blaze were unable to repeat the previous years semi-final appearance. However, the most important factor of the year was the growth in fan base from a few hundred at the start of the year to over 2000 by the end of the play-offs.Season 2001–02 saw few changes in the line up The Season started with a run of good results in the Findus Challenge Cup which saw Blaze qualify for the Semi-Finals. This run included the first return visit to Hobs Moat Road in Solihull to take on the reformed Barons. An injury to Andrew McNiven saw ex-Steeler/Panther/Giant Steve Roberts join up with the Blaze. An impressive October/November saw the Blaze matching new-boys Dundee Stars all the way. The Finals weekend of the Challenge Cup saw Blaze comeback from 3–0 down in the semi-final to beat Basingstoke Bison and go on to meet Fife in the final, which the Flyers went on to win. Returning to the league, and the Blaze continued in fine form throughout splitting results with the Stars. Stars greater consistency, and their ability not to drop points against mid-table teams left them top of the league with the Blaze runners-up again. The play-offs saw the Blaze top their qualification group and then beat Guildford Flames over the two legged semi-final. The Final saw them take on the Stars and lose out by the narrowest of margins, 8–7, over the two legs, and for the third time in the season Blaze were runners-up.
Season 2002–03 saw another evolution not revolution in the playing staff with Jody Lehman replacing Burt in goal, Joel Poirier replacing the departed Roberts, and GB forward Ashley Tait joining the team. Blaze entered the Ice Hockey Superleague Challenge Cup at the start of the season, and ran a couple of ISL teams close. The Findus Challenge Cup saw Blaze into the Finals where they met the Newcastle Vipers, but the result was a 0–3 loss. A run of form following the defeat saw the Blaze wrap up the league title with a victory in Dundee. This was followed up with an unbeaten play-offs run, the Final being contested against Cardiff Devils, and a narrow victory in Cardiff was followed by a first ever capacity crowd at the Skydome for a triumphant night that saw Blaze lift their second trophy of the year. Shortly after the final, Blaze announced their move into the newly formed Elite Ice Hockey League, and commenced preparations for their first ever season in the top flight of British ice hockey.
2003–04 season
Season 2003–04 saw another major change in the club's progress as they took part in their first season as a top-flight club in the newly formed Elite League. Coach Paul Thompson stayed true to the team which had won the double in the BNL the year before, replacing only three players; defencemen Steve O'Brien and Steve Gallace coming from the ECHL to replace Andreas Moborg and Ron Shudra and college-graduate Graham Schlender replacing folk-hero Kurt Irvine. The first game of the league saw another first for the club as they flew to their game in Belfast and beat the previous year's Superleague playoff champions. A 6–1 win over Sheffield in October and an 11–0 victory over Manchester Phoenix in December were highlights as the team stayed close the leaders at the top of the table up until Christmas.In the New Year, Blaze fell back and wins were hard to come by, but they still finished third in their first year in the top flight. The playoffs however, got off to an awful start as they lost in Cardiff minus coach Thompson, serving a one match ban following a bench clearance against the Devils the weekend before. With only four games in the group stage, Blaze were unable to get going after that loss and ended the season by finishing winless in the post-season.
2004–05 season
If the previous season had finished disappointingly, season 2004–05 ended in the best possible way after the greatest seven months in the club's history. Although stalwarts such as netminder Jody Lehman and new captain Ashley Tait returned, coach Thompson changed many, bringing in more size, more speed and more quality. His greatest coup was signing former-Superleague defenceman Neal Martin, who went on to become the league's Player of the Year and selected to the EIHL All-Star Team. The brand-new first line of Dan Carlson, Adam Calder and Andre Payette proved potent all through the season, as Carlson's speed and vision proved the perfect set-up for Calder's finishing and play around the net, while Payette angered many by clocking up almost 500 penalty minutes. The season started well as they qualified from their group for the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup, kept with the early pace-setters at the top of the league and even got over the disappointment of losing out on NHL forward Eric Beaudoin on a lock-out deal by bringing in high-scoring centreman Chris McNamara.The turning point in Blaze's season came in November, as Thompson cut Slovak Michal Vrabel and brought in Toronto Maple Leafs' NHL defenceman Wade Belak, sparking a run to the end of the regular season where they only lost once in regulation time. A Doug Schueller goal against Nottingham Panthers sent Coventry to their first Challenge Cup final with a 5–4 aggregate victory, before they beat Cardiff 6–1 in the first leg of the final. A fight-strewn second-leg a week later saw Coventry battle under pressure to win the game 5–4; securing their first trophy of the season, 11–5 on aggregate. As Cardiff faltered, the league eventually became a two-horse race between Coventry and Belfast. Blaze eventually they had the chance to wrap up the title with three games to go in front of a new record crowd at the Skydome, Coventry dispatched of London Knights 5–1 and secured their place as the number one team in Britain.
Now the bid was on to add the Playoff crown to their trophy cabinet. After qualifying from their playoff group for their first finals weekend, a Jody Lehman shutout helped Blaze beat Sheffield Steelers 3–0 in their semi-final. The Playoff Final against the home-town Nottingham Panthers was tight and eventually went into sudden-death overtime tied at 1–1. But just over three minutes into the extra session, captain Ashley Tait scored the game-winner, securing Coventry Blaze's place in British Ice Hockey history as winners of the elusive Grand-Slam.
2005–06 season
In the 2005–06 season, Coventry Blaze faced the enormity of trying to emulate their grand slam success, but before it had even begun they had suffered losses, with their entire first line and netminder moving on, as well as three key players retiring. With replacements acquired, the team began slowly, edging into the Challenge Cup semis whilst trying to keep with the early pace-setters in the league. The season high came when Blaze were British representatives in the Continental Cup group stages, winning and drawing their opening two games before falling to French hosts Grenoble in the final, deciding game. Blaze took a three-goal lead in a repeat of the previous year's Challenge Cup final against Cardiff, but could not defend this in the second leg. The Devils wiped out the advantage, with the final goal 20 seconds from time, and were the only team to score in the deciding penalty shootout to win the competition.The remaining months offered little success as the team finished fourth and then failed to make the playoff semis. Their last chance at success came in the final of the newly created British Knockout Cup in front of a new record Skydome crowd, but resulted in another shootout loss.