Guildford Flames

Guildford Flames
2015–16 Guildford Flames season
City Guildford, Surrey
League English Premier Ice Hockey League
Founded 1992
Home arena Guildford Spectrum
Colors      Maroon      Blue
Owner(s) United Kingdom Sportfact Ltd.
Head coach United Kingdom Paul Dixon
Captain United Kingdom David Longstaff
Championships
Regular season titles 6 (97/98, 00/01, 05/06, 07/08, 11/12 & 12/13)
Challenge Cups 4 (06/07, 09/10, 11/12 & 12/13)
Playoff championships 4 (97/98, 00/01, 03/04 & 10/11)

The Guildford Flames are an ice hockey team based in Guildford, Surrey and their home ice is the Guildford Spectrum.

Founded in October 1992, from the following season, the Flames have been in the British National League or its former rival league (and main successor since 2004/5 season), the English Premier Ice Hockey League clinching their first season there by defeating reigning champions Milton Keynes Lightning away. The team's Head Coach is Paul Dixon who took over after Stan Marple retired at end of the 06/07 Season. Canadian stars David Oliver and Jamie McLennan transferred to Guildford during the 04/05 Canadian NHL lockout.

Formation

Barry Dow, an American who sponsored and owned the basketball team Guildford Kings and Bill Hurley established and owned the team as management – the two were new to the sport of ice hockey, and brought in Mike Urquhart as coach and Darrin Zinger as captain.

Key players signed for the first season included Canadians Sean Murphy and Dave McGahan due to their high scoring at Solent Vikings. In addition a number of British players including goaltender, Mike Kellond; forward, Danny O'Hanlon and defender, Gary Shearer.

The Flames' inaugural season began in October 1992; they began, unseeded, in the English League Division One. With the Guildford Spectrum not yet completed, the team had to train at Slough with kind permission of Gary Stefan. The Flames played their "home" games at Alexandra Palace until their new home ice was ready and played their for the first time on 23 January 1993.

When 23 January 1993 finally arrived and the Guildford Spectrum opened, the event was a big one. The area's paid-for newspaper The Surrey Advertiser described the local council's £28 million arena as "awesome". Guildford's first game at their new home showed a convincing win with Andy Sparks scoring the first goal at the Spectrum. The team went to the top of the Conference due to that game, a position they held onto for the whole season.

Many of the defence men and Kellond suffered injury problems, just before the start of the play-offs; however, despite this, Guildford managed to gain a promotion for their second season.

The team was very popular with crowds, with the average attendance being over 2000 (capacity was 2200) so attracted local insurance company Cornhill as a sponsor along with Pepsi Cola as the shirt sponsor; the latter prompting a temporary name change to the Pepsi Guildford Flames between February and November 1993.

Club honours

Head-to-Head Results

Seasons: 23 (1992-93 to 2014-15) Record (W-L-T-OL): N/A-N/A-N/A-N/A

R GP W L T GF GA
1Basingstoke Bison------
2Basingstoke Bulldogs44005515
3Belfast Giants------
4Billingham Bombers (Teesside Bombers)------
5Blackburn Hawks (Lancashire Hawks)------
6Bracknell Bees------
7Bristol Bulldogs43103126
8Cardiff Devils------
9Cardiff Rage6600857
10Chelmsford Chieftains------
11Coventry Blaze (Solihull Barons, Solihull Blaze)------
12Dumfries Border Vikings (Dumfries Vikings)------
13Dundee Stars------
14Edinburgh Capitals------
15Fife Flyers------
16Hull Stingrays------
17Hull Thunder (Kingston Hawks)------
18Invicta Dynamos------
19Lee Valley Lions------
20London Knights------
21London Racers------
22Manchester Phoenix------
23Manchester Storm------
24Medway Bears------
25Milton Keynes Kings------
26Milton Keynes Lightning------
27Murrayfield Royals------
28Newcastle Vipers------
29Nottingham Panthers------
30Oxford City Stars------
31Paisley Pirates------
32Peterborough Phantoms------
33Peterborough Pirates------
34Romford Raiders------
35Sheffield Scimitars------
36Sheffield Steeldogs------
37Sheffield Steelers------
38Slough Jets------
39Solihull Barons (2000-2002)------
40Solihull Barons (2005-)------
41Stevenage Sharks------
42Streatham Redskins107308871
43Sunderland Chiefs2200367
44Swindon Wildcats (Swindon Ice Lords, Swindon Chill)------
45Telford Tigers------
46Trafford Metros------
47Wightlink Raiders------

Team Logo and Jersey

The team logo is very similar to that of the Calgary Flames of the NHL. The team jerseys mirror those used by a former NHL team, Atlanta Thrashers from 1999 to 2006 (with logos replaced and advertisements added).

Team Roster 2013/14[1]

As of 26/08/1

Management

Coaching staff

Players

Goaltenders

Defencemen

Forwards

All-Time Scorers List

Top 20 players by score: from inception to end of 2013/14 Season from Guildford Flames.com:

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty Minutes; # =Active Flames Player

Player Seasons GP G A Pts PIM
Ryan Campbell Canada 1993–2001 474 373 543 916 397
Ricky Plant United Kingdom 1997–1998, 1999–2004, 2005–2014 849 310 476 786 663
Milos Melicherik Slovakia # 2003-2014 (In the 2014 season, Melicherik became a bench coach) 545 240 537 777 717
Paul Dixon United Kingdom # 1999- 858 112 475 587 506
Jozef Kohut Slovakia # 2003–2008 & 2011-2015 359 264 237 501 980
Derek DeCosty United States 1996-1997 & 1998-2003 338 262 209 471 255
Fred Perlini Canada 1994–1997 167 256 182 438 164
Paul Thompson Canada 1993–1999 356 163 247 410 851
Terry Kurtenbach Canada 1994–1999 307 128 253 381 272
Stuart Potts United Kingdom # 2004-2015 572 115 260 375 231
Rob Lamey United Kingdom 1996-2002 & 2006-2010 516 150 221 371 287
David Longstaff United Kingdom # 2010-2015 242 108 245 353 94
Rob Friesen Canada 1993–1995 108 162 185 347 66
Barcley Pearce Canada 1997–2001 180 148 184 332 200
Lukas Smital Czech Republic 2007-2011 209 133 193 326 196
Nathan Rempel Canada 2009-2013 223 176 124 300 198
Sean Murphy Canada 1992–1993 40 117 163 280 46
Peter Kasowski Canada 1997–2000 177 124 154 278 120
David Savage United Kingdom # 2004-2015 416 106 172 278 406
Dave McGahan Canada 1992–1993 40 138 124 262 86

All-Time Goalies

Top 10 Flames Goalies with 500 or more minutes(based on Save %). As of the end of the 2013/14 Season.

Note: GS = Games started; M = Minutes Played; SOG = Shots Faced; GA = Goals Against; SV% = % of shots saved; SO = Shut Outs; GAA = Average Goals Against per game; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime Loss; # =Active Flames Player

Player Seasons M SOG GA SV% SO GAA
Jamie McLennan Canada 04-05 570 288 21 92.71 0 2.21
Mark McArthur Canada 00-02 7249 3861 311 91.95 8 2.57
Joe Watkins United Kingdom 05-09 11723:19 6385 527 91.75 12 2.56
Miroslav Hala Slovakia 10-11 2179:52 1319 113 91.40 0 3.66
Gregg Rockman United Kingdom 14- 789 405 35 91.35 0 2.66
Miroslav Bielik Slovakia 04-05 3469 1900 165 91.32 6 2.85
Stevie Lyle United Kingdom 03-04 4033 1832 161 91.21 5 2.40
Mark Lee United Kingdom 09-14 11473:32 5860 551 90.59 12 2.88
Tom Annetts United Kingdom 04-07 1958 943 89 90.56 3 2.73
James Hadfield United Kingdom # 11-15 2245.23 1244 123 90.11 2 3.29

Retired numbers

The retired numbers at the Guildford Flames are:

Team Captains

References

External links

Preceded by
Bracknell Bees		 EPIHL Champions
2007-08 		Succeeded by
Peterborough Phantoms
Preceded by
Peterborough Phantoms		 EPIHL Premier Cup Champions
2009-10 		Succeeded by
Incumbent