Oxford City Stars
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| Oxford City Stars | ||
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| League: | English National Hockey League | |
| Founded: | 1984 | |
| Home Ice: | Oxpens Road | |
| Capacity: | 1,025 | |
| Ice Size: | 184 x 85 feet | |
| City: | ||
| Colours: |
White, Red and Blue |
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| Head Coach: |
Darryl Morvan |
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| Ownership: |
Private Company |
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The Oxford City Stars are an ice hockey team based in Oxford, England. They currently play in the English National League, South.
Formed in 1984 with the opening of the Oxford Ice Rink, they are the first team playing at senior level in the city. Oxford University had previously formed a team that had folded.
The Stars were entered into British League Division 2 and won the league championship in their inaugural season. In following season, the Stars progressed to Division 1 but were relegated back to Division 2 at the end of the 1986-87 season. Division 2 was renamed English Division 1 the following year.
The 1990-91 season saw the Stars win the English League Division 1 Title. This was one of Oxford's greatest moments with the team winning 23 of a possible 28 games.
The British Hockey League was replaced by the English National Hockey League in 1996 and Oxford Stars changed their name to the Oxford Chill.
During the 1997-98 season a failure at the rink saw the team playing their home games in Swindon during which the team advanced to the English Premier Ice Hockey League. For the following season the team was once again renamed as the Oxford Blades and lost every single game, 32 in total. These results led to the team collapsing in 1999 due to high running costs and poor attendance.
Oxford Stars returned for the 2000-01 season and finished third in the league. However they found themselves unable to sign enough players for the 2002-03 season and once again folded.
Since then the Stars have reformed once again and are still playing on the ice rink on Oxpens Road. The 2005-06 Season saw the Stars in transition unable to move out of the middle of the league and suffering from commitment issues from the players and changes at coaching level.
The off-season saw a number of Oxford players sign for the newly formed Swindon Wildcats Development Team. This has left the management with work to do finding replacements before the beginning of the 2006-07 season.
