Coventry Blaze - Ice Hockey Team
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Norfolk12
N 52° 24.396 W 001° 31.092
30U E 600799 N 5807295
Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey Team playing out of the Skydome Arena.
Waymark Code: WM3K2P
Location: United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/14/2008
Views: 142
League Elite Ice Hockey League
Founded 2000
ENIHL Afilliate Coventry Blaze (ENL)
History Solihull Blaze
1996-2000
Coventry Blaze
2000-Present
Arena SkyDome Arena
Capacity 3,000
City Coventry United Kingdom
Team Colours Blue and White
Head coach Paul Thompson
Owners Coventry Blaze Ltd
Team Captain Sylvain Cloutier
League Championships 2004–05, 2006-07, 2007-08
Championships 2004-05
Challenge Cups 2004–05, 2006-07
Knockout Cups 2007–08
Coventry Blaze are a British ice hockey team based in Coventry, England. They are the current Elite Ice Hockey League Champions, having clinched the title for the third time in four years on March 9, 2008.
Originally from the neighbouring town of Solihull, the Blaze rose quickly through the various leagues of British Ice Hockey. In 2000–01, in order to attract a new and larger fanbase, the Blaze made the decision to move to the 3,000 capacity Coventry Skydome.
They went on to become one of the more successful British National League (BNL) teams. In 2002–03, they won the league and playoff double, completing the playoffs unbeaten.
Contents
Elite League history
2003-2004
In the summer of 2003, Coventry joined with two other BNL sides, three former Superleague sides and two new sides in a brand new Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL).
The core of the triumphant BNL roster was retained, and joined by such notable players as, eventual player of the year, Steve O'Brien, Steve Gallace and Graham Schlender. Blaze enjoyed a terrific debut season in the top flight of British Ice Hockey, eventually finishing third in the League behind heavyweights Sheffield Steelers and Nottingham Panthers. They failed to qualify for the end of season playoffs after a poor run of form but, overall, the season had to be considered a success for a club of such limited experience.
2004–2005
In the summer of 2004, Paul Thompson undertook a massive re-building of the roster in a bid to improve upon the previous season. Out went club legends Steve Carpenter, Michael Tasker, Shaun Johnson, Hilton Ruggles and Mathias Soderstrom. The club's all time greatest player, Steve Chartrand, announced his retirement and Gallace and O' Brien also departed. In came Dan Carlson, Adam Calder, Doug Schueller, Pavol Mihalik, Neal Martin and Andre Payette. They were later joined by Wade Belak of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who became available when the NHL locked out its players whilst negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.
Eric Beaudoin, then of the Florida Panthers, was also slated to join Blaze during the lockout, but was sent down to the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL at the last minute. Instead, Thompson signed big forward Chris McNamara and the club never looked back!
Blaze claimed their first Elite League title on March 5, 2005 following a 5-1 victory over the London Racers. They also won the 2005 Challenge Cup following an 11-5 aggregate victory over Cardiff Devils. On April 10, 2005 the Blaze completed a Grand Slam of all three EIHL trophies with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Nottingham Panthers in the playoff final. Skipper Ashley Tait crowned a memorable season with the winning goal just over three minutes into the extra period.
Netminder Jody Lehman was voted to the EIHL All Star Team at the end of the season along with Dan Carlson, Adam Calder, Wade Belak and the overall League MVP, Neal Martin. In addition, Doug Schueller was voted to the British Ice Hockey Writers Association All Star Team and Tait made the British All Star Team.
2005–2006
2005-06 was always likely to be a season of consolidation for the Blaze. Wade Belak returned to the NHL and Calder and Carlson left for Sweden and Germany respectively. Coupled with the retirement of both Schlender and McNamara, the Blaze embarked upon the defence of their three titles with a radically changed roster.
Evan Cheverie was acquired from Long Beach Ice Dogs of the ECHL and joined by Barrie Moore, formerly of the Buffalo Sabres. Jeff Hutchins joined from Mississippi Sea Wolves and the retention of club heroes Ashley Tait and Joel Poirier kept hopes high that the club could repeat on the success of the previous year.
The high point of the season came in October 2005, when the club competed in the Continental Cup in Grenoble, eventually falling in their final game against the host team. Blaze began by defeating Herning Blue Fox of Denmark in a shootout and followed up with a win over the Amsterdam Tigers. Grenoble proved to be one step too far in the final game, as an energy sapping weekend came to a close.
Upon their return, the club was boosted when Dan Welch was snapped up from the Nottingham Panthers, and Calder returned from Sweden, but the season soon disintegrated as Blaze lost both the Challenge Cup Final, to arch rivals Cardiff Devils, and the final of the British Ice Hockey Cup, to Sheffield Steelers, on penalty shots. The League title also slipped away to the Belfast Giants.
2006–2007
After the trials and tribulations of attempting, and failing, to defend the Grand Slam, another major rebuild awaited the team in the summer of 2006.
Thompson made a positive start to the off season by acquiring hard hitting Canadian defenceman Reid Simonton from Herning Blue Fox, and re-signing Dan Carlson from EHC Munich to re-unite with Adam Calder. Hutchins departed for Belfast Giants and Cheverie and Welch joined Morzine Avoriaz Penguins in France.
Replacements arrived in the form of Danny Stewart from UHL side Danbury Trashers, and battle scarred AHL veteran Sylvain Cloutier. Cloutier had also iced with NHL side Chicago Blackhawks. Another former NHL player, Rumun Ndur joined Samy Nasreddine and the returning James Pease and Neal Martin in rounding out the defence.
Tait and Moore returned to the forward lines to give Blaze the experienced and solid look that they had sadly lacked the previous season.
A key signing was netminder Trevor Koenig, who had previously led Newcastle Vipers to the Playoff Championship. Thompson fended off several big money European offers to land his man and set the scene for an exciting season.
Blaze reeled in and overhauled early pacesetters Belfast Giants by playing with remarkable consistency over the League season, where their rivals faltered. The side qualified for the final of the Challenge Cup for the 3rd successive season and boasted far and away the best defence in the land, conceding far fewer goals than all of their Elite League counterparts.
March 14, 2007 brought a setback, as the side lost in the final of the British Knockout Cup to Cardiff Devils. Blaze had perhaps had one eye on the major prize, which was clinched exactly one week later as Edinburgh Capitals were dismissed 5-1, with Adam Calder scoring the Championship winning goal.
On March 27, 2007, Blaze reclaimed the Challenge Cup, defeating the Sheffield Steelers 9-4 on aggregate over two games.
Leading just 4-3 from their home leg, Blaze turned on the style in the House of Steel, soaking up wave after wave of pressure and hitting Steelers on the break.
Samy Nasreddine steadied the nerves with a first period goal, whilst two powerplay strikes from Barrie Moore and a phenomenal performance in net from Trevor Koenig settled the tie.
Paul Thompson's team then went on to the quarter finals of the Elite League playoffs. They played 8th place Newcastle Vipers and trailed 1-0 after the 1st leg in Newcastle.
In the 2nd Leg, Blaze fell 3-0 down on the night, and 4-0 down on aggregate and this seemed to shatter hopes of reaching the Finals weekend in Nottingham.
Cloutier pulled one back for the blaze at the end of the 1st Period, and the 2nd frame saw two more goals for the Blaze to level the game on the night, but they were still trailing 4-3 on aggregate to the Vipers.
Going into the 3rd period trailing by only one goal, Rumun Ndur had a strike ruled out for a man in the crease, but this didn't stop Danny Stewart from firing in an unstoppable wrist shot to beat Ladislav Kudrna and to send the game into overtime.
It took only 50 seconds of OT for captain Ashley Tait to repeat an overtime goal against Kudrna in the playoffs to secure them the win and a place in the semi-finals. It also concluded one of the best comebacks in Blaze history.
The Coventry Blaze went on to play the Cardiff Devils in the semi finals of the playoffs and were hoping to get revenge for their Knockout Cup Final defeat earlier in the season.
The Blaze conceded 2 early goals which gave the impetus to the Devils. Samy Nasreddine's 2nd period goal was enough to give the Blaze hope, but that didn't stop the Devils striking a third to beat Trevor Koenig between the pipes of the Coventry Blaze net.
With the score 3-1 going into the 3rd period, Rumun Ndur tucked away a goal to give the Blaze more hope, but it wasn't enough and the Cardiff Devils advanced to the finals of the Playoffs, where they were defeated by the Nottingham Panthers.
2007–2008
The off season started brightly for the Blaze with news that Danny Stewart had signed a new 2 year deal to remain at the Skydome. He was joined by the returning contracted players, Dan Carlson, Sylvain Cloutier, James Pease and Tom Watkins.
Ashley Tait, the team's influential captain, left the club to join the Sheffield Steelers, Reid Simonton retired, and Samy Nasreddine moved to Sonderjyske in Denmark.
Many of the previous squad re-signed, including netminder Trevor Koenig, Barrie Moore, Adam Calder, Rumun Ndur, Michael Tasker, Stephen Fone, Tom Pease and James Archer.
In addition to these, GB captain Jonathan Weaver signed from the Newcastle Vipers, Russ Cowley rejoined the club after a year spent with the Cardiff Devils and forward Curtis Huppe was signed, having been released by the Belfast Giants before the end of the 2006-07 season. The final import slot was taken by fan favourite Mathias Söderström, after a three year absence from the side.
In light of Tait's departure, AHL veteran, Sylvain Cloutier was appointed captain of the side.
On March 9, 2008, Blaze clinched their 3rd Elite Ice Hockey League Championship in 4 seasons, after beating Belfast Giants 4-2 at the Skydome. Curtis Huppe scored the Championship winning goal against his former side.
On March 18, 2008, Blaze won the British Knockout Cup, having lost the previous two finals to Sheffield Steelers and Cardiff Devils. Blaze recovered from a two goal deficit against Basingstoke Bison in the final period of the 2nd Leg to clinch the tie 8–6 on aggregate. Dan Carlson led the scoring netting two goals in a five point game.[2]
Club roster 07/08
Goaltenders
Number Player Catches Acquired Place of Birth
31 Stephen Fone L 2006 Rotherham, England
35 Trevor Koenig L 2006 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Defencemen
Number Player Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
6 Neal Martin - A L 2004 Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
14 Jonathan Weaver - A L 2007 Sunderland, England
22 James Pease L 1996 Torquay, England
71 Tom Pease R 2006 Solihull, England
75 Rumun Ndur L 2006 Zaria, Nigeria
77 Mathias Söderström L 2007 Hallstavik, Sweden
Forwards
Number Player Shoots Position Acquired Place of Birth
2 James Archer R RW 2006 Sheffield, England
7 Joe Henry R RW 2005 Solihull, England
9 James Cooke L LW 2007 Leduc, Alberta, Canada
17 Russ Cowley L LW 2007 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
18 Barrie Moore L LW 2005 London, Ontario, Canada
20 Tom Watkins R C 2000 Durham, England
21 Andrew Sharp R RW 2008 Langley, British Columbia, Canada
25 Adam Calder R RW 2005 Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, Canada
26 Dan Carlson L C 2006 Edina, Minnesota, USA
39 Danny Stewart L LW 2006 Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
59 K. C. Timmons L C 2007 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
83 Sylvain Cloutier - C L C 2006 Mont-Laurier, Quebec, Canada
93 Curtis Huppe R RW 2007 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Honours
For more details on this topic, see Coventry Blaze seasons.
English Division One North Champions 1997–98 (as Solihull)
English National League Champions 1997–98 (as Solihull)
English National League Play Off Champions 1997–98 (as Solihull)
English Premier League Champions 1998–99 (as Solihull)
English Premier League Play Off Champions 1998–99 (as Solihull)
British National League Champions 2002-03
British National League Play Off Champions 2002-03
Elite Ice Hockey League Challenge Cup Winners 2004–05, 2006-07
Elite Ice Hockey League Champions 2004–05, 2006-07, 2007-08
Elite Ice Hockey League Play Off Champions 2004-05
Elite Ice Hockey League First Team All-Stars
2004-05 Jody Lehman, Neal Martin, Doug Schueller, Adam Calder
2005-06 Neal Martin, Evan Cheverie
2006-07 Trevor Koenig, Neal Martin, Adam Calder
Elite Ice Hockey League Second Team All-Stars
2003-04 Steve O'Brien, Steve Gallace
2004-05 Wade Belak, Ashley Tait
2006-07 Dan Carlson
Honoured players
#12 Steve Chartrand - Jersey retired for services to the club.
#55 Stephen Cooper - Jersey retired for services to British Ice Hockey.
References
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