Guildford Flames The Guildford Flames are an ice hockey team based in Guildford . They play at the Guildford Spectrum . Founded in October 1992 , the team played for many years in the British National League . Following its dissolution at the end of the 2004 / 5 season , they have transferred to the English Premier Ice Hockey League for the 2005 / 2006 season and clinched the league title in February 2006 after defeating reigning champions Milton Keynes Lightning on their own ice . The team ' s Head Coach is Paul Dixon who took over as the teams Head Coach after Stan Marple retired at end of the 06 / 07 Season . Paul Dixon played hockey at the now defunct Durham Wasps and Newcastle , before moving south to Guildford in 1999 . Notable current Guildford players include Lukas Smital , a World Junior Championship player with Team Czech Republic in 1994 . Canadian stars David Oliver and Jamie Mclennan were both signed to Guildford during the 04 / 05 NHL lockout . Formation . The team was initially owned by Barry Dow , an American who already owned the Basketball team Guildford Kings , he owned the team along with Bill Hurley and the two were both new to the sport of ice hockey . The owners 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 who had been transferred 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 . When the 23rd of January 1993 finally arrived and the Guildford Spectrum opened , the event was a big one . Local newspaper the Surrey Advertiser described the local council ' s £28million arena as " Awesome " . Guildford ' s first game at their new home showing 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 were in for the whole season . Unfortunately in their first season many of the defence men and Goaltender Kellond ran into injury problems , these were poorly timed occurring just before the start of the play - offs ; however despite this Guildford still managed to gain a promotion for the following season . The team was very popular in their first season , with the average attendance being over 2000 ( capacity was 2200 ) ; and because of this positive reaction the team attracted local insurance company Cornhill Insurance 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 . Season by season review . 1993 / 94 Season In their second season in the higher league was a lot tougher for the team . By march of the 1993 / 94 season the true impact of the club ' s financial problems was revealed , with players threatening to strike over unpaid wages ; eventually a deal was completed allowing the club to complete its season fixtures . The team finished mid table , missing out on both promotion and relegation . 1994 / 95 Season The 1994 / 95 season saw the club being taken over by new owners SportFact Ltd . led by banker John Hepburn Hepburn ' s sons were all in the Flames junior set - up and he befriended Flames stars Paul Thompson and Ryan Campbell ; they installed Ron Charbonneau as general manager and assigned him the task of taking the club to the Premier within three seasons . The club ' s roster was changed radically leaving only five players from the previous season . Among highpoints of the third season was a draw with the Cardiff Devils at the time the most successful club in British Ice Hockey ; however the club was alleged to have broken wage - capping rules , Flames subsequently won their case against this but the negative reputation of being a " Rich Club " has never been shifted . 1995 / 96 Season The fourth season saw the team go from strength to strength , Guildford appointed Ivan Brown ( former Winnipeg Jets coach ) as a new non - player coach . Flames ' finished one place higher than in the previous season and made their first appearance in the Promotion playoffs . Finishing third in a playoff group so close that three more goals would have put them in first place . 1996 / 97 Season The 1996 / 97 season was a major change in British Ice Hockey with the launch of the ISL . The Flames had advised setting up the new top league and then controversially at the time , didn ' t play in it ; instead they played in the second tier British National League . Unfortunately the season that began with optimism turned out not to be as successful with the Flames securing only third place after the play - offs . 1997 / 98 Season The 1997 / 98 season after three seasons of failing to live up to their potential Flames ’ were half way through their 5 - year plan and crunch time was approaching . For the second season in a row the management trekked up the M4 in search of a coach , this time welcoming Stan Marple , fresh from his all conquering season with the Swindon IceLords . With major changes in the team winning became common place for the team , not only successful in the national league , they also showed the ISL - BNL gap was one that could be bridged with Challenge game wins over Basingstoke Bison and Nottingham Panthers ; being the first ever defeats of Superleague teams from a British team not in the league . The season also represented the Flames firsttestimonial match with Darrin Zinger retiring from the club in a full time role . 1998 / 99 Season The 1998 / 99 season was rocked by injury and various players leaving the club . The teams grip on the British National League slipped every game with more and more points being dropped . One of the reasons that the team was suffering so badly was the injury of Goaltender Jamey Organ which occurred during a Christmas Cup clash with Peterborough Pirates . 1999 / 00 Season The 1999 / 00 season represented high spending for the club , but not much in the way of results ; the team signed Team GB captain Ian Cooper from ISL side London Knights . This season had a number of milestones Pete Kasowski and Derek DeCosty scored their 100th goals ; Stan Marple coached his 100th game . 2000 / 01 Season The 2000 / 01 season had a change of uniform and colours for the team . The team claimed the Baker Tilly Shield beating the superleague ' s Bracknell Bees ; and the team went on to compete in the last ever Benson & Hedges Plate final where they lost out to the Basingstoke Bison . The team went on the win the beating Fife Flyers in the two leg final . The Flames were victorious in their home arena in front of a capacity crowd of screaming Bison and Flames fans in this finale to the British National League , which could not have been better scripted ; Guildford won the game and the league . At the end of this season ( Mr Guildford ) Ryan Campbell retired from the game and his # 10 shirt was retired and hoisted to the rafters . During this season , former player and Junior coach Fred Perlini had his number 11 shirt retired . 2001 / 02 Season The Flames began the 2001 / 2002 season like the previous season , with back - to - back games against the Bracknell Bees ; unfortunately it was the Berkshire side that won the two - leg series 8 - 3 on aggregate to take the Baker Tilly Shield back to Amen ' s Corner . 2002 / 03 Season The 2002 - 2003 season saw the Flames finish 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 Coventry Blaze , and 120 minutes of semi final hockey saw the Flames lose a 9 - 3 aggregate score 2003 / 04 Season The 2003 / 04 season represented a change in the recruiting process ; rather than a club with lots of North America n players , Stan Marple brought in more British and Slovakia n players . The team won the British National League play - offs . 2004 / 05 Season Flames competed in the BNL . They lost to Dundee Stars in the play - off final . During this season , Flames made 2 big signings while the NHL was locked out . David Oliver the Dallas Stars forward signed and then Florida Panthers goalie Jamie McLennan also signed up . 2005 / 06 Season The 2005 / 06 season saw the Surrey based side win most of their games , with a twenty game winning streak in the first two months of the season , before finally being defeated by Swindon Wildcats away from home in their first meeting of the year . They went on to clinch the EPL Championship when they defeated the Milton Keynes Lightning on Saturday 11 February 2006 at the Planet Ice Arena . 2006 / 07 Season The 2006 / 07 season saw the Surrey based club crowned EPL Cup winners after they defeated the Milton Keynes Lightning 7 - 5 on aggregate . The first leg was held at the Guildford Spectrum on Wednesday 28 February 2007 in front of 1 , 232 spectators and the Flames won the game 3 - 2 . The second leg was played on Thursday 8 March 2007 and the Flames won another close encounter 3 - 4 in front of 1 , 026 spectators at the Planet Ice Arena to secure the win and Premier Cup bragging rights for 2006 - 2007 . The Play - offs in Coventry brought no riches , after their Preimer Cup Succees . After Rick Plant ' s Overtime winner against Sheffield sealed a place in the final , against local rivals Bracknell Bees , the Flames could not clinch the play - off title crashing out 3 - 2 on melting ice . This also marks the year of retirement of long time Flames coach Stanislaus ( Stan ) Marple in 10 years , he played 194 Games , scoring 15 Goals , assisting on 32 , gaining 638 Pim ' s , coaching 614 games for Guildford and winning 396 of them , the Flames won ten Titles under his reign . On 4 March 2007 his number 3 was hoised into the rafters never to be worn again . 2007 / 08 Season Paul Dixon opened his coaching account with a win as the Guildford Flames handed the visiting Romford Raiders a 9 - 2 defeat in the opening game of the English Premier League . After that things started to nose dive as the flames failed to qualify for the knockout stage of the English Premier Cup . Often up until late October with half the squad out due to injury the flames struggled , and by mid - November had a 6 - 2 - 4 record . But with the signing of a fifth import , Canadian Taras Foremsky , from the Peterborough Phantoms , the Flames rallied going unbeaten for over a month , winning 11 games , placing them top of the English Premier League . Over the New Year period , Guildford won a thrilling 4 - 3 home tie against Slough in front of 1921 fans at the Spectrum ; and then delivered an impressive 4 - 0 win over visiting Bracknell , just their 3rd shutout of the season . The Flames continued this good run of form , with the exception of a patch in mid January , leaving them top of the table , in a pivotal weekend ( 16 / 17th of Feb . ) the Flames beat 3rd placed Milton Keynes 5 - 1 and 2nd placed Slough Jets 6 - 2 leaving them top of the table by 4 points with 6 games remaining . The Flames reached the Knockout cup semi - final , but gave a poor display , losing 11 - 6 on aggregate to Milton Keynes . Heading into the second to last weekend , they knew that 2 wins from 4 remaining games would hand them the title . 1769 fans weren ' t disappointed as they enjoyed a 7 - 3 win in a very ill - tempered game with Romford . Josef Kohut had a hat - trick of goals and an assist earning him Man of the Match . On Sunday the Flames travelled to Telford and came away with a 6 - 1 win , crowning them EPL League Champions with one weekend to spare . The last weekend of the regular season saw the Flames thrash Swindon 7 - 2 and beat MK Lightning 5 - 3 . It was their 11th consecutive league game win . The Flames opened the playoffs with a convincing 8 - 3 win at the Spectrum but then lost the following day 5 - 3 in Sheffield . The following weekend , the Flames got their 4th shutout of the season , winning 3 - 0 against Romford . The second of the 2 back - to - back games in Romford was postponed until Thursday 3 April , however , this didn ' t affect the players as they won 8 - 3 in a match with 181 penalty minutes . The Flames needed just 1 point to clinch a place in the finals . A perfect final weekend consisting of a 6 - 4 away win at Peterborough followed by a match which attracted the largest crowd of the season for the Flames ( and therefore the league ) with 2 , 022 witnessing the 4 - 3 win over visiting Sheffield . Despite these wins , Guildford finished 2nd in group A , behind Sheffield on the tie - break rule . The Flames lost to Slough 4 - 3 in the playoff finals . 2008 / 09 Season After an indifferent start to the season with 3 wins and 3 losses , it was announced on the 9th October that the Flames would travel to Slovakia and take part in an exhibition against Extraliga side Poprad in a game opened by the Queen during her state visit to the country . Guildford struggled to find form up to the Christmas period where they remained top of the league , 2 points ahead of Peterborough . However , every other team in the league was playing catch - up ( Peterborough with 4 games in hand ) . By late January the inevitable had taken place with too many dropped points resulting in Peterborough moving up to lead the table , and still with 4 games in hand . A mixed January included the loss of veteran defenseman Mark Williams , who returned to Romford , but culminated in a convincing 8 - 2 win in front of 2 , 124 fans was a fitting result to end a game in which Jozef Kohut returned with the Swindon Wildcats . Poor results in February saw Guildford lose too much ground on Peterborough and Milton Keynes . It was obvious that back - to - back titles would not be enjoyed . 2009 / 10 Season It was all change during the off - season with many players moving on . Many high - profile replacements were announced , including Gary Clarke and Nathan Rempel , and culminated in the signing of Martin Masa from Grenoble . Masa and Smital had been team - mates in 3 previous teams . Team Logo and Jersey . The team logo is very similar to that of the Calgary Flames of the NHL . The team jersey ' s are also basically the those used by the NHL Atlanta Thrashers from 1999 to 2006 . This is an ironic pairing since the Calgary Flames were originally the Atlanta Flames . The Flames ' inaugural season began in October 1992 ; they began in the English League Division One , which at the time was the starting place for all new names . 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 23rd of January 1993 . All - Time Scorers List . Correct up to End of 2008 / 09 Season . This is the All - time top 20 Point scorers list for the Guildford Flames : " Note : GP = Games played ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; Pts = Points ; PIM = Penalty Minutes ; # = Active Flames Player " All - Time Goalies . Top 7 Flames Goalies with 10 or more Starts ( based on Save % ) . As of the end of the 2008 / 09 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 " Retired Numbers . The retired numbers at the Guildford Flames are :