Bracknell Bees The Bracknell Bees are an ice hockey team from Bracknell , Berkshire , UK . History . Early years . The Bracknell Bees were formed in 1987 , under the ownership of John Nike OBE . Bees began life in the Heineken League Division Two , under the leadership of former Durham Wasps and Nottingham Panthers forward , Jamie Crapper , where they finished 6th . The following season , Heineken withdrew their sponsorship of the second division , which was re - named the English League Division 1 . Bees narrowly missed out on the championship to the Humberside Seahawks , but then won the league the following season , gaining promotion to the Heineken League Division 1 . Having finished third , behind Humberside and the Slough Jets , Bees progressed to the top tier of British hockey , the Heineken Premier Division , via the play - offs , alongside the Seahawks . Once at the top , it was a struggle and Bees were regularly mid - table or below , before eventually being relegated in 1995 , under the leadership of Mike Urquhart . New beginning . That sparked a new beginning for the club . Urquhart left and was replaced by Jim Fuyarchuck , who re - installed the feel - good factor at the Hive ( Nick - name of the Bees home , the John Nike Leisuresport Complex ) Bees again finished third in the first division ( No longer sponsored by Heineken ) but this time , they missed out to Milton Keynes Kings in the promotion play - offs . However , this did not matter , as the following season saw the formation of a new league - The Ice Hockey Superleague ( ISL ) which was the country ' s first fully professional league since the 1950s . Bees were expected to be one of the smaller teams in this big league , playing against teams with big arenas . However , a creditable 6th of 8 was followed by a 3rd place finish and then a fourth , before Bees did the unthinkable and took the Superleague title . Coach Dave Whistle , in only his second season as a coach , took the little club to the very top Slippery slope . Unfortunately , things went downhill from there . New club , Belfast Giants tempted Whistle away with a lucrative package and he was closely followed by seven of the championship winning squad . Whistle repeated the feat , winning the ISL in his second season . Meanwhile , Whistle was replaced by Enio Saccillotto , who never managed to recover from only having 3 players return . Bees did finish a creditable 3rd in his first season , but never really looked like one of the better teams in the league . From there , it all went pear shaped ! Bees eventually announced that they were to leave the ISL at the end of the 2002 - 2003 season . With Manchester and Ayr having left the league during the season , Bees announcement finally spelt the end of the ISL . Bees joined the British National League and were instantly tipped as big boys for that league . However , they finished just 3rd in their first season , before winning the league and cup double in the second season . Ironically , as with the ISL winning team , the Bees were coached by an ex Bees player , Mike Ellis , again coaching in his second season . The Taylor Times . After the double winning season , Mr Nike announced that he was no longer going to be funding the Bees . Up stepped local Estate Agent , David Taylor . David was a sponsor of the Bees and along with his wife Sharon and coach Mike Ellis , they set up a new club . Mr Nike granted them a licence to use the name “ Bracknell Bees ” for marketing purposes for a three year period . At the same time , the British National League folded and the Bees were accepted into the English Premier Ice Hockey League ( AKA the EPL ) , along with the Hull Stingrays and the Bees big rivals , the Guildford Flames . Coach Mike Ellis put together a mix of youth and experience and they tasted some success in their first EPL season . As well as finishing a respectable 5th in the league , Bees made it to the play - off final , beating the Sheffield Scimitars in the semi - finals at the SkyDome Arena in Coventry . Bracknell came up short in the final though , against the Milton Keynes Lightning . However , The Bees did go one better a few weeks earlier , in the EPL Cup , winning the two legged final against the Hull Stingrays in March . Mike Ellis departed to become head coach of the Nottingham Panthers in May 2006 and was replaced on 25 May , by his assistant , Ryan Aldridge , with Lee Ealey - Newman bench coach . 10 months later , On 11 March 2007 , the Bracknell Bees were crowned champions of the English Premier Ice Hockey League for the 2006 / 2007 season , following a 3 - 0 shut - out of the Romford Raiders , as the only remaining contenders for the title , the Sheffield Scimitars lost at Milton Keynes . Not content with one trophy though , Bees followed it up with their first ever play - off success at the SkyDome Arena in Coventry , overcoming the Peterborough Phantoms 2 - 1 in a semi - final shoot - out , before defeating arch rivals and the previous season ' s league champions , the Guildford Flames , 3 - 2 , in the final . In April 2007 , David and Sharon Taylor announced that they were to take on the ownership of the Basingstoke Bison as well as the Bees . With this announcement , came the news that head coach , Ryan Aldridge was to move to the Bison as their new head coach and be replaced as Bees player / coach , by defenceman Dwight Parrish . Dwight Parrish re - signed the bulk of the previous season ’ s double - winning team , but lost influential forward , Lukas Smital . Smital was replaced by Michal Kanka and the team continued to enjoy success , before off - ice problems started to set in . David and Sharon Taylor ran into financial difficulties and on 8 December , their contract with Planet Ice , to run the Bison , was terminated . The troubles soon spread to the Bees and following a period of rumours , surrounding unpaid bills and player wages , the Taylors announced on the 11th December 2007 that they were to relinquish the operating licence for the Bees . At this time , Bees were sitting in second place in the English Premier Ice Hockey League , 1 point adrift of leaders , Guildford Flames , were through to the semi - finals of the EPL cup and in a good position in the Knock - out cup . The Bees time under the Taylors was successful , but was now at an end . Fans take control . There was a lot of work done behind the scenes , looking to find new owners , before an announcement was made that a fans consortium , headed by Katie Eleftheriou had come up with a rescue plan , to see the club through to the end of the season , if fans were willing to make donations . This they did and the club finished the season in 3rd place in the league , winning the EPL cup and finishing runner up to Slough Jets in the play - off final For the 2008 - 09 season Dwight Parrish returned to the Manchester Phoenix and was replaced as head coach by the previous season ' s captain , Adam Bicknell