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2014-2015
 

The 2014-2015 season began with significant change.  Milos Melicherik took on the assistant coaching role full time, while Stuart Potts moved to a bench coaching position.  Andrew Sharp, Ricky Skene, Nicky Watt, Mark Lee, Dean Holland, and Martin Opatovsky were not on the roster to start the new campaign.  Great Britain national team defenceman Danny Meyers signed up with the Surrey club as did Braehead Clan forward Matt Towe who was returning to Guildford for a 2nd tour after spending a pair of seasons with the side a few years prior.  Young defenceman Sam Godfrey left his Swindon base to help the Flames blue line crew, and forward Andy McKinney moved south from Manchester Phoenix.  Former NHL and GB national team member Owen Fussey, a native Canadian, represented the only new foreign skater. He joined Curtis Huppe, Branislav Kvetan, Marcus Kristoffersson and Jozef Kohut who all had contracts refreshed for the new term.

A few new players were not the only thing different about the new campaign. A fresh new playing format included North and South conference cup groups and 6 English National League sides participating in the competition.   Across a 14 game group round, the Flames finished with 11 wins and 3 losses for a 3 way joint conference 1st place tie; good enough for the Southern group’s 2nd Cup semi-final slot. 

In league play, the club posted 6 wins from the opening 10 games, but a 7-1 home defeat to Telford Tigers during that stretch indicated the challenge ahead against the Shropshire outfit who eventually hoisted the League championship trophy.  As things turned out, it was also the Tigers who drew in against the Flames in the 2 game aggregate goal Cup semi-final.  An excellent start at home for Spectrum’s men had them in a 3-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old, but a furious Tigers reply the rest of the way put them on their coach home with a 4-3 1st leg win and a 1 goal aggregate lead they eventually turned to a 9-5 combined win that eliminated the Flames from further cup competition. 

In December, Spectrum’s men opted for some roster alterations by saying goodbye to Huppe and Fussey while inviting a pair of Slovakian forwards into the mix.  Former NHL forward Roman Tvrdon added speed to the line-up while 6’4”, 215 Vladimir Kutny joined Tvrdon in finishing the season on about a point a game pace. Around the same time, netminder James Hadfield secured the starting job, going on to start and finish all but 1 of the games from December 7th onwards, eventually completing the season with more than 2000 minutes of action behind him, a save percentage North of 91, and a 2.65 goals against average. 

Though the Flames would not catch the Tigers at the top of the league table, some excellent stretches throughout the season, including a 7 game winning run across the Christmas schedule, and a 9 of 12 success rate at the back end of January and the front end of February, had the side in a solid 2nd place where they remained through schedule completion; a 1 spot improvement on the 3rd place finish from the year prior.

With the league schedule in the rear view mirror, and an eye on a 10th consecutive Playoff final 4 appearance, the Flames faced Milton Keynes Lightning in a 2 game aggregate goal Playoff quarter final event. Despite outshooting the Buckinghamshire side in 5 of 6 periods, and by nearly 30 shots overall, a 3-2 and 4-3 loss tallied a 7-5 aggregate defeat.  The result cemented elimination from the playoffs without advancement to the semi-finals for the first time ever as a member of the English Premier League, and an extra week of off season to contemplate plans for the term ahead. 

League Table

Team

 GP   

 W   

 OL  

 L    

 GF   

 GA   

 PTS

 Telford*  48  39  3  6  226  119  81
 Guildford  48  30  4  14  177  144  64
 Basingstoke  48  28  5  15  170  155  61
 Peterborough  48  27  2  19  167  163  56
 Swindon  48  28  0  20  172  150  56
 Manchester  48  21  7  20  179  165  49
 Milton   Keynes  48  18  6  24  152  186  42
 Sheffield  48  18  2  28  150  203  38
 Bracknell  48  7  5  36  108  216  19
* League Champions
Premier Cup Table

Team (South)

 GP   

 W   

 OL  

 L    

 GF   

 GA   

 PTS

 Swindon*  14  11  0  3  58  29  22
 Guildford*  14  11  0  3  68  28  22
 Milton Keynes  14  10  2  2  69  34  22
 Basingstoke  14  10  1  3  66  33  21
 Bracknell  14  6  0  8  46  47  12
 Chelmsford  14  3  0  11  34  58  6
 Invicta  14  3  0  11  39  98  6
 Wightlink  14  2  0  12  24  77  4

Team (North)

 GP   

 W   

 OL  

 L    

 GF   

 GA   

 PTS

 Telford*  12  11  1  0  84  26  23
 Manchester*  12  9  1  2  79  35  19
 Sheffield  12  8  0  4  64  37  16
 Peterborough  12  6  0  6  47  47  12
 Blackburn  12  4  0  8  47  63  8
 Solway  12  3  0  9  25  81  6
 Billingham  12  1  0  11  23  80  2

*Clinched Semi Final Berth

Semi Final: 

Leg 1:  Flames 3 Telford 4
Leg 2:  Telford 5 Flames 2
(Telford win 9-5 on Aggregate)

Leg 1: Swindon 3 Manchester 3
Leg 2: Manchester 10 Swindon 5
(Manchester win 13-8 on Aggregate)


Final:

Leg 1: Manchester 1 Telford 3
Leg 2: Telford 5 Manchester 2
(Telford win 8-3 on aggregate)

Cup Champions: Telford Tigers
Playoffs

Playoff Quarter Finals:

(League table 1 v 8; 2 v 7; 3 v 6; 4 v 5)
2 Game Aggregate Series

Leg 1:  Milton Keynes 3 Flames 2
Leg 2: Flames 3 Milton Keynes 4
(Milton Keynes win 7-5 on aggregate)

Playoff Semi Finals: 

Telford 2 Peterborough 4
Manchester 7 Milton Keynes 4

Playoff Final:

Peterborough 5 Manchester 2

Playoff Champions: Peterborough Phantoms

Player Stats
Player GP G A PTS PM
 David Longstaff   60  16  64  80  24
 Matt Towe  60  19  60  79  62
 Marcus   Kristoffersson   49  27  30  57  28
 Ben Campbell  57  14  36  50  20
 Tom Duggan  39  15  27  42  26
 Danny Meyers  53  13  26  39  32
 Jozef Kohut  29  17  14  31  38
 Andy McKinney  59  15  18  33  83
 Roman Tvrdon  29  16  14  30  57
 Vladimir Kutny  30  14  13  27  43
 David Savage  54  12  17  29  26
 Branislav Kvetan  53  14  14  28  151
 Jez Lundin  60  10  16  26  56
 Owen Fussey  26  17  8  25  10
 Andrew   Hemmings  53  6  14  20  18
 Paul Dixon  40  1  14  15  28
 Stuart Potts  9  1  6  7  4
 Curtis Huppe  7  4  2  6  6
 Sam Godfrey  60  1  5  6  68
 Neil Liddiard  59  0  4  4  81
 Ollie Bronnimann  14  0  4  4  8
 James Hadfield  39  0  1  1  0
 Sam Calder  1  0  0  0  0
 Milos Melicherik  1  0  0  0  0
 Gregg Rockman  22   0  0  0  12

 
Player MINS GA GAA SHOTS SV % SO
 James   Hadfield   2331  107  2.75  1204  91.1  1
 Gregg   Rockman  1272  63  2.97  696  90.9  1
 Sam   Calder  4  1  15.00   6  83.3  0
Looking Back

GUILDFORD FLAMES ICE HOCKEY CLUB
Guildford Spectrum
Parkway, Guildford
Surrey GU1 1UP

Tel: 01483 452244

Sportfact Ltd t/a Guildford Flames Ice Hockey Club registered in England number 2936656
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