The 2001–02 season, was the Guildford Flames' tenth year of ice hockey. The Guildford Flames competed in the British National League.
Contents
- British National League BNL
- British National League Play Offs
- Findus Challenge Cup
- End Of Season Awards
- References
After arguably their most successful season since their formation in 1992, the Guildford Flames shockingly ended up the season empty-handed.
On paper they should have added yet more silverware to their growing trophy cabinet after securing the triple crown in 2000-01, but head coach, Stan Marple, admitted his BNL side, packed with former Superleague stars, under-achieved.
Marple - back for his fifth season in the coaching hot-seat - was up against it from the word go. The fans had been given a taste of success and were expecting more.
But the Surrey side had strong competition, especially the league's new club, Dundee Stars, whose coach, Tony Hand, had recruited many top ISL players.
Coventry Blaze were always going to be tough, too, so Marple set about signing some big name players himself.
Perhaps his key acquisition was Finnish hotshot, Mikko Koivunoro, as Flames benefited from the demise of the ISL's Newcastle Jesters.
But Guildford had lost two veteran players through retirement at the start of the campaign. First was "Mr Guildford", Ryan Campbell, then Wayne (Reggie) Crawford called it a day at the age of 40.
Marple's new crop of players did not live up to expectations and frustrations began to show. Even returning netminder, Mark McArthur, was having a nightmare season after impressing in his debut year.
There were many inconsistent results, with Flames losing at home 4-3 to a rejuvenated Paisley Pirates, 6-4 to the surprising Edinburgh Capitals, and 3-0 to local rivals, Slough Jets.
Marple's cause was not helped when he lost Jason Jennings to a freak domestic accident - while cutting down a tree in his garden, he almost sliced off a finger.
The club's top scorer in the 2000-01 playoffs refused treatment and flew home to Canada. Though not expected back, he recovered in time to return and help Flames secure their best run of the season, reaching the league playoff semifinals.
There, though, Guildford were paired with Dundee, one of their fiercest rivals, who had won the league title. Flames lost 3-2 at home and 3-0 at Camperdown.
British National League (BNL)
Final Standings
British National League Play-Offs
The top eight BNL teams qualified for the playoffs. In the Quarter-Finals the teams were split into two groups of four with the teams finishing 1st, 4th, 5th and 8th in the league going into Group 1 and the others into Group 2. Teams tied on points in the Quarter-Final group stages were separated first by wins in normal time, then by away wins in normal time. The two top teams in each group qualified for the Semi-Finals with the winner of one group playing a home-and-away, aggregate goals series against the runner-up in the other group. The winning semi-finalists competed for the title using the same playing format.
The semi-final with the Coventry Blaze was overshadowed by controversy over ITV's insistence that the second game, rather than the first should be held in Guildford. The change was agreed by the league headquarters to avoid travelling costs (which would fall on the league) for ITV's southern based camera crew who naturally believed the last leg would be the more important one. The fuss was not of Blaze's making and they rode out the politics to beat the Flames by three goals each time.
Quarter-Final Group 1
Quarter-Final Group 2
Findus Challenge Cup
The new competition, which effectively replaced the Benson and Hedges Plate, involved all the Findus British National League clubs and the English Premier League sides.
The 16 teams in the qualifying round played a round-robin in four regional groupings during September 2001.
The winning team in each group qualified for the final stages at the Nottingham Arena in November 2001.
Guildford suffered their first-ever shutout at the Guildford Spectrum as Coventry won 3-0.
Guildford's game at Milton Keynes on Saturday 29 September 2001 was also played for league points.
Qualifying Round - Group 1
Qualifying Round - Group 2
Qualifying Round - Group 3
Qualifying Round - Group 4