Telford Tigers
Encyclopedia
The Telford Tigers are an English Premier League
English Premier Ice Hockey League
The English Premier Ice Hockey League commonly abbreviated to EPIHL, or simply EPL, is a senior ice hockey league in England, and is run and administered by the English Ice Hockey Association...

 (EPL or EPIHL) ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 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
Altrincham Aces
The Altrincham Aces were a semi-professional and amateur ice hockey team based out of the old Altrincham Ice Rink, situated on Devonshire Road in Altrincham, a large town located just south of Manchester and Salford...

, Blackpool Seagulls
Blackpool Seagulls
Blackpool Seagulls were an English ice hockey team, founded in 1951, who played at the Pleasure Beach Ice Rink, Blackpool.-Early years:The Seagulls were formed in 1951 and played in the Midland Intermediate League from 1951 to 1955. In the 1955-56 season they lost just one match all year...

, Nottingham Panthers
Nottingham Panthers
The Nottingham Panthers are a British professional ice hockey club based in Nottingham, England. They are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League...

 and Solihull Barons
Solihull Barons
Solihull Barons are an English ice hockey team from the town of Solihull who play at Solihull Ice Rink on Hobbs Moat Road. They were formed in 2005, although they are named after the team of the same name who played at the same ice rink between 1972 and 1996...

 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
Gary Newbon
Gary Newbon is a television sports presenter and executive.He attended Culford School near Bury St Edmunds and upon leaving school he became a junior reporter in Cambridge and then a freelance Fleet Street journalist reporting on tennis and rugby...

 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 did not 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
Peterborough Pirates
Peterborough Pirates was an English ice hockey team. It was established in 1982, as the senior adult semi-professional team of the newly formed Peterborough Ice Hockey Club....

, 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 New Team

A new company, Telford Tigers Ice Hockey Club (1990) reformed the team for next season. A year later, former NHLer Jere Gillis
Jere Gillis
Jere Alan Gillis is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player, actor and stuntman....

 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
Blackburn Hawks
The Blackburn Hawks , are a British ice hockey team based in Blackburn, Lancashire. They are currently members of the ENIHL, and have previously played in the British National League and the English League Premier Division...

 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
Guildford Flames
The Guildford Flames are an ice hockey team based in Guildford, Surrey and their home ice is the Guildford Spectrum.Founded in October 1992, the team played for many years in the British National League...

. 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.

The 'Non Tigers' Years

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.

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
Karol Jets
Karol Jets is a professional ice hockey player currently living and playing in the United Kingdom....

 seventh. Netminder Barry Hollyhead and British forwards Tom Carlon
Tom Carlon
Tom Carlon is an retired English professional ice hockey player, who last played for the Bracknell Bees. He is 6 ft 4 and shoots right-handed. Carlon began his career playing for his local team, the Telford Wild Foxes of the EngL...

, 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
Milton Keynes Lightning
The Milton Keynes Lightning is an ice hockey team from Milton Keynes, England, currently playing in the semi-professional English Premier Ice Hockey League...

, Jets and his fellow Slovakian Tomas Janak moved to Solihull Barons, Miller joined Elite League team Manchester Phoenix
Manchester Phoenix
Manchester Phoenix are a professional ice hockey team from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. The club was formed in 2003 as a result of the efforts of supporters group Friends of Manchester Ice Hockey to bring top-level ice hockey back to Manchester after Manchester Storm folded in...

 and Carlon and Owen moved to Coventry Blaze
Coventry Blaze
Coventry Blaze are an ice hockey team based in Coventry, England. They currently compete in the British Elite Ice Hockey League .-Club history:...

. Marc Lovell
Marc Lovell
Marc Lovell is an English professional ice hockey player, currently playing for the Flintshire Freeze in the English National Ice Hockey League....

 joined from the Edinburgh Capitals
Edinburgh Capitals
The Edinburgh Capitals are a Scottish ice hockey club, playing in the UK-wide Elite Ice Hockey League.They are based in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh...

, 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
Slough Jets
Slough Jets are an ice hockey team from Slough, Berkshire, England. They are the current English Premier Ice Hockey League Cup champions for the 2010–11 season. The team was founded in 1986 after the construction of the Slough Ice Arena in Montem Lane in Slough. With the help of Gary Stefan who...

 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
Peterborough Phantoms
The Peterborough Phantoms are a British ice hockey team.The Peterborough Phantoms ice hockey club was founded in 2002. It replaced the former city based team, the Peterborough Pirates, and plays in the same Ice Arena...

. However, Miller was unsettled and joined Peterborough in December. After a 9-6 loss away at Swindon Wildcats
Swindon Wildcats
The Swindon Wildcats are a professional ice hockey team based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. They are member of the English Premier Ice Hockey League . Since their inception, the Wildcats have played their home games at the 2800 capacity Link Centre. The club was founded in 1986, as the Swindon...

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.

During the pre season it had been announced that the Telford Tigers had secured a new title sponsor, in the shape of Cannock based company Eurologix. However, just a few weeks later, it was announced that Eurologix had pulled out of the deal, leaving the Tigers with a large hole in its finances. This was made all the more difficult as the club has begun to recruit players, and negotiate contracts based on the Eurologix money being part of the cash flow.

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.

2009-2010

Telford Tigers did not ice during this season, mainly due to financial difficulties and missing a deadline for registration into the English Premier Ice Hockey League. However, Telford are currently in the process of planning a return to the EPIHL for next season under new management and control of a Supporters Club called Tiger Tracks. The current plans do, however, all depend on the league and EIHA accepting them back into the league. Despite this, early signs currently indicate this will be the case and Ice hockey will return to Telford in Autumn 2010.

The Fans Trust

In February 2010, it was announced that a 'Fans Trust' had been formed, and that it was intending to ice a Telford Tigers team in the EPL once more. In April 2010, it was confirmed that the teams application to the EPL had been accepted. This team will ice as of the start of the 2010-11 season.

2010-11 Season
Newly appointed Head coach Tom Watkins with his new team in telford. The team did not start well not lifting of the bottom place, in recent weeks the team has won serveral games including against table toppers Guildford Flames.

Team
Forwards
Jack Watkins
Josh Bruce
Andy Mckinney
Ashley Calvert
Joe Henry
Marek Hornak
Scott Mckenzie
Daniel Mackriel
Luke Brittle
Andre Masloviskis

Defence
Tom Watkins (player coach)
Mike Jones
Ashley Stanton
Tomas Janak
Daniel Scott
Daniel Croft
Ross Hanlon (two-way contract with Northern Stars)

Goalies
Martin Clarkson
Declan Ryan

In December and January the club announced the release of 2 import players Andre Masloviskis from Latvia and Marek Hornak from Solvakia. The club will compete with only 1 import while replacements are chosen.

2011-2012

Tigers went into their second season under the fans trust. Returning to the squad were star players Scott Mckenzie, Declan Ryan, Josh Bruce and Andy Mckinney.

Forwards Joe Henry, Callum Bowley, Andy Mckinney, Tom Soar, Josh Bruce, Scott Mckenzie, Marek Hornak, Jiri Hanzal, Luke Brittle, Dean Holland and Adam Taylor.

Defencemen - Tom Watkins (player/coach), Thomas Janak (captain), Daniel Croft, Juraj Senko, Ryan Sellwood and Adam Radmall.

Goalies - Declan Ryan, Greg Blaiz (assistant coach) and Josh Nicholls

In late October the team announced changes to the squad. Tigers released import forward Jiri Hanzal and also released British forward Dean Holland. On the back of this Tigers went on to win a stunning road game against Sheffield Steeldogs in a shootout.

The tigers have pulled off some big wins at the start of this campaign with wins over Guildford Flames and Manchester Phoenix. However they have struggled against other teams.

External links

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