The Flames had also aquired one of the top British talents in David Clarke, who proceeded to find the net on 40 occasions during the campaign only to depart for The summer had proven, at least on paper, to be a fruitful one, to say the least, with the signing of an enormous amount of talent including a handful of highly experienced veterans, including 6'5" defenceman Ian Herbers, Offensive star Jason Lafreniere, and Netminder Danny Lorenz, all of whom had significant NHL playing time earlier in their careers. The 2002-2003 season started with much hope for the Flames and their loyal supporters.Nottingham the following season. Additional offensive signings included the Lyons brothers, Cory and Craig, offensive defenceman Jeff White, and of course the return of sniper Derek DeCosty. The top end of the club's British talent also signed on the dotted line with Rick Plant, Nicky Chinn, Tony Redmond, Paul Dixon, and Mark Galazzi all returning to the Spectrum side.
There was further roster disappointment to come as Craig Lyons decided to return to Torchia started in goal for the club in the Cup semi final event, but a 3-3 tie game, saw the Flames lose on penalties as David Longstaff from the Newcastle Vipers, the eventual cup winners, solved Torchia on his attempt while a missed Flames return put them out of contention for the first silverware of the campaign. The Flames did not stop there, signing another ex-NHL'er in defenceman Jason Bowen who transferred from the newly defunct Ayr Eagles. Despite the advancement, however, a roster shake up was on the cards as Lorenz was moved out of the goal in favour of incoming veteran, also with an NHL background, Mike Torchia. Things looked good early on for the Flames with a 6 win and 2 loss record in the Findus Cup competition, good enough for a berth in the finals weekend of the event.North America leaving an offensive hole in the line up that Coach Marple filled shortly after with proven veteran Marc West, who did not disappoint finishing his season with 35 points from just 22 Flames matches.
On the league side of things, as in the previous year, it was the Flames misfortune to have one team appear to run away with the league title, as the Coventry Blaze finally moved out of the bridesmaid category and put the finishing touches on their first league title, dropping just 4 league games while the Flames finished in 3rd spot with 22 wins and 14 losses. The Flames finish was good enough for a playoff qualification, however, and they were pitted in Group B along with the explosive Dundee Stars, the Edinburgh Capitals and Fife Flyers. A solid Flames showing, losing just 2 of 6 playoff contests, launched them into the 2 leg playoff semi finals. Unfortunately, their second place playoff seeding put them up against the league champion Blaze, and 120 minutes of semi final hockey saw the Flames lose a 9-3 aggregate score, having been down a pair of goals after the Saturday match only to return home and suffer a 5-1 defeat, confirming their elimination from further play, while the Blaze moved on to win the double with a 5-3 aggregate win over Cardiff Devils in the playoff final.
