Telford Tigers The Telford Tigers are an English Premier League ( EPL or EPIHL ) ice hockey team that formed in 2001 under the name Telford Wild Foxes . A previous Telford Tigers team had existed between 1985 and 1999 . Early history . After the Telford Ice Rink opened in October 1984 , several challenge games involving Altrincham Aces , Blackpool Seagulls , Nottingham Panthers and Solihull Barons were staged to see if a Telford team would be sustainable . Telford Tigers IH Club Ltd . was formed for season 1985 - 86 by Central TV commentator Gary Newbon with entertainer David Ismay as chairman and Canadian defenceman Chuck Taylor as player coach . Newbon and Taylor had previously been involved with the Barons , as had squad members Mark Budz , Gordie Patterson , Alan Gould , Paul O ' Higgin and Dave Welch . Goalie John Wolfe and Andy Steel signed for the new club from Grimsby . The club had been granted permission by the BIHA to join the First Division of the British Hockey League , and finished third in their inaugural season , with near sell out crowds seeing Budz score 134 points and Taylor make the All Star Team . In 1986 - 87 , Tigers new import Dean Vogelgesang scored 196 points , and Budz made the All Star team with 200 points . Tigers didn ' t lose a single home game , but finished fourth in the league due to a nine point penalty inflicted on them for icing an ineligible player . 1987 - 88 : The title season . For 87 - 88 , the First Division was split into North - South conferences . Tigers won the Southern conference by two points , and beat Northern Conference champions Cleveland Bombers 21 - 14 on aggregate to take the title . They played Peterborough Pirates , who had finished bottom of the Premier Division , in a Promotion Playoff . After winning the first leg 14 - 12 , they crumbled in the second . They led 6 - 1 after two periods but Pirates managed to score eight unanswered goals in the third to stay up by a single goal aggregate scoreline . Imports Kevin Conway and Tim Salmon were voted onto the All Star Team , and Chuck Taylor was named Coach of the Year . 1989 - 90 : Disaster . The next season was not so good for Telford . Gerald Waslen made the All Star Team , but the team struggled both on and off the ice . The team was put into liquidation in the summer . The next installment . A new company , Telford Tigers Ice Hockey Club ( 1990 ) reformed the team for next season . A year later , former NHLer Jere Gillis took over the coaching role from Taylor ( who carried on as a managing director ) . By now , the junior programme was starting to pay dividents , with local youngsters Geoff Lane , Norman Pinnington and Mark Hazlehurst all pulling on Tigers jerseys in the mid 1980 ' s and early 1990s . 1994 : Autumn Trophy and more financial problems . For the 1993 - 94 season Kevin Murphy was appointed head coach and introduced a three line system of forwards . It proved successful as Tigers beat Blackburn Hawks in a bad tempered semi - final and Medway Bears 11 - 7 on aggregate in the final of the Autumn Trophy and finished runners up in the league . However , later that month the club was issued with an order to fold owing £30 , 000 in unpaid VAT . A new club was formed , Taylor moved to Nottingham and the team again finished second in the league in 1994 - 95 . John Wolfe was given All Star honours and the Telford - born Plant brothers , Russ and Ricky , were featuring on a regular basis . 1995 - 99 . Claude Dumas , from Quebec , was signed from Cardiff in 1995 , and was a catalyst for the Tigers in the late 90 ' s . He was an all star in 1996 , 1997 , 1998 and 1999 and was named player of the year in 1997 - 98 . During this period he scored 443 goals and notched up 316 assists . In December 1996 , Tigers again ran into money troubles , but were saved by Ken Crickmore , who listed them on the OFEX stock market . In 1997 John Lawless , who had achieved fame with Cardiff Devils and Manchester Storm , was announced as head coach . Under " JL " , Telford finished as runners up in the British National League and lifted the " Upper Deck " Christmas Cup in 1997 with a 10 - 7 aggregate victory over Guildford Flames . They reached the Benson and Hedges Plate Final in 1998 , but were beaten by Guildford 4 - 3 at Sheffield . It wasn ' t to last , as Director Roy Williams resigned before Telford Tigers Ice Hockey plc went bankrupt , eventually being wound up in the High Court in Spring 1999 owing money to both Lawless and his players . Between the Tigers . In Summer 1999 , Telford Timberwolves were launched , but folded after losing 6 B & H Cup games , and playing in front of gates of only 500 , half the size of Tigers ' in their heyday . In 2001 , the Wildfoxes competed in the amateur English National League . In 2003 they joined the EPL , and changed their name to Telford Tigers for the 2005 - 06 season . Foxes nurtured several promising youngsters including Jared Owen , Daniel Mackriel , Adam Brittle and Tom Carlon . Dumas returned as player coach in 2003 . The New Tigers . 2005 - 2006 . In 2005 - 06 , Tigers finished tenth out of thirteen teams in the EPL and had a good cup run , missing out on the Semi Finals by 2 points in the preliminary group . Dumas was third in league scoring , and Slovakian Karol Jets seventh . Netminder Barry Hollyhead and British forwards Tom Carlon , Gareth Owen and Joe Miller all stood out . 2006 - 2007 . 2006 - 07 was a disappointment compared to the previous season . Hollyhead joined playoff champions Milton Keynes Lightning , Jets and his fellow Slovakian Tomas Janak moved to Solihull Barons , Miller joined Elite League team Manchester Phoenix and Carlon and Owen moved to Coventry Blaze . Marc Lovell joined from the Edinburgh Capitals , Juraj Huska and goalie Peter Betinec moved from Slovakian teams ( although the latter was released midway through the season to be replaced by Milan Kostolny ) , and Dumas ' former Coventry team mate Matthias Soderstrom ( Swedish ) joined from the Italian Serie B . Daniel Mackriel moved to Slough Jets midway through the season . Telford finished second bottom in the league , behind local rivals Solihull . To make matters worse , Solihull dropped down to the ENL at the end of the season , thus eliminating the West Midlands Derby from the fixture list . 2007 - 2008 . For 2007 - 08 Miller , Owen , Mackriel , and Jets returned ; D - men Tom Parker and Jake Armstrong joined from Solihull , and Dean Tonks signed from Peterborough Phantoms . However , Miller was unsettled and joined Peterborough in December . After a 9 - 6 loss away at Swindon Wildcats in January it now looks unlikely that Tigers will qualify for the end of season playoffs . 2008 - 2009 . Gain and loss of Eurologix sponsorship deal . Pre season 2008 - 09 sees Tigers gain and lose sponsorship from Eurologix of Cannock for unspecified reasons . Eurologix insist it is trying to help Tigers management , whilst no information or help has been received . The sponsorship deal was pulled just 2 weeks short of the new season following the assembly of a strong squad , and Tigers Fans , hockey fans , and Telford citizens and businesses rallied round , and managed to raise £20 , 000 for the team to keep its place in the league within FOUR days . Following the loss of Eurologix , local company GM Plumbing and Heating are now the teams lead sponsor , and the team are now called the GM Telford Tigers . GM Plumbing and Heating is owned by former player Grant Mitchell . With the help of GM and many other local businesses ( see Tigers website ) the Tigers have retained virtually all signed players , yet were unable to fill the final import slot for the start of the season . 2008 / 09 GM Telford Tigers squad . GM Telford Tigers coach Claude Dumas has strengthened his squad with the signings of Tom Carlon ( former Tiger ) , Dave Lawrence , James Knight , and Canadian Jason Cassells along with returning squad members such as Marek Hornak , Daniel Mackriel , Daniel Heslop , Scott Williams and Stuart Bates . Forward Daniel Mackriel captains the team , supported by Gareth Owen and Jake Armstrong as assistant captains . Current GM Telford Tigers squad . Netminders Davey Lawrence ( previous Sheffield Steelers ) Daniel Heslop ( re - sign ) Defenders Alex Symonds ( previous Cardiff Devils ) Ashley Stanton ( re - sign ) Stuart Bates ( re - sign ) Daniel Croft ( previous MK Lightning ) Jake Armstrong , assistant captain ( re - sign ) Forwards Gareth Owen , assistant captain ( re - sign ) James Knight ( previous Hull Stingrays ) Ashley calvert ( previous Nottingham Lions ) Claude Dumas , head coach ( re - sign ) Marek Hornak ( re - sign ) Daniel Mackriel , captain ( re - sign ) Scott Williams ( re - sign ) Tom Carlon ( previous Bracknell Bees ) Jason Cassells ( Twin City Cyclones ) 2008 / 09 pre season challenge matches The GM Telford Tigers faced the MK Lightning for a back to back challenge before a trip to Coventry to face Elite champions Coventry Blaze in a fund raising game arranged following the sponsorship troubles . The first game with MK was away , and resulted in an 8 - 2 defeat . The return game the following night saw marked improvements from the Tigers as the new team started to gel . MK won the game by 2 goals to 0 . The fund raiser at Coventry again saw the Tigers improve , and eventually lost 3 - 2 . ENL Team . Due to rule changes made by the EIHA regarding the age catergories for youth teams , Telford Tigers entered a team comprising of experienced players and young talent into the English National League in 2007 season named Telford Tigers ENL . It is hoped that this initiative will help produce quality home - grown talent for many years to come and feed into the senior squad . 2008 saw the team rename to Telford Titans .