Coventry Blaze

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Coventry Blaze

League	Elite Ice Hockey League
Founded	2000
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	Ice Cold Promotions Ltd
Team Captain	Ashley Tait
League Championships	2004-05, 2006-07
Championships	2004-05
Challenge Cups	2004-05, 2006-07

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 second time in three years on March 21, 2007.

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 teams. In 2002-03, they won the league and playoff double, completing the playoffs unbeaten.

1 Elite League History
2 Club Roster 06/07
3 Honours
4 Honoured Players
5 External links

[edit] Elite League History

[edit] 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.

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 27th 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.

[edit] Club Roster 06/07

Goaltenders
Number	Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
35	Trevor Koenig	L	2006	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
31	Stephen Fone	L	2006	Rotherham, England

Defencemen
Number	Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
6	Neal Martin - A	L	2004	Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
8	Reid Simonton	R	2006	Calgary, Canada
10	Samy Nasreddine	L	2006	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
17	Tom Pease	R	2006	Solihull, England
22	James Pease	L	1996	Solihull, England
75	Rumun Ndur	L	2006	Zaria, Nigeria

Forwards
Number	Player	Shoots	Position	Acquired	Place of Birth
7	Joe Henry	R	RW	2005	Solihull, England
18	Barrie Moore	L	LW	2005	London, Ontario, Canada
20	Tom Watkins	R	C	2000	Durham, England
21	Ashley Tait - C	R	RW	2002	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
23	Tom Carlon	R	LW / RW	2005	Telford, England
25	Adam Calder	L	RW	2004	Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, Canada
26	Dan Carlson	L	LW / C	2006	Edina, Minnesota, USA
33	Gareth Owen	R	RW	2006	Cardiff, Wales
39	Danny Stewart	L	LW	2006	Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
81	Michael Tasker	R	C / RW	2006	Sunderland, England
83	Sylvain Cloutier - A	L	C	2006	Mont-Laurier, Quebec, Canada