Bracknell Bees

UKIceHockey team
name = Bracknell Bees

league = English Premier Ice Hockey League
founded = 1987
ice = John Nike Leisuresport Complex
capacity = 2400
ice_size = 197ft x 98ft
city = Bracknell, Berkshire, England
colours = Black, Yellow, and White
coach = Adam Bicknell
ownership = Fans Consortium, led by Katie Eleftheriou
website = * [http://www.bracknell-bees.org Official Bees site] |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 1950's.

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

lippery 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 wining 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 25th May, by his assistant, Ryan Aldridge, with Lee Ealey-Newman bench coach.

10 months later, On 11th 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 8th 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

tandout players

Bees have had several stand-out players, for one reason or another. A few of which are listed below...
*Jamie Crapper was the Bees first coach, he was recruited by Mr John Nike OBE. with the task of creating the Bracknell Bees ice hockey team which entered the British Heineken League in 1987. Jamie played for the Bees for five consecutive seasons. During his time with the Bees he scored 744 points in 153 matches (4.86 points per game).
*Darin Fridgen was recruited to the Bracknell Bees as a 23 year old from Ferris state university in 1988. In his first season he won over the fans by scoring 207 points in 21 matches (9.85 points per game). His skating skills included speed and strength and as his scoring record demonstrates was a able to score with great precision.
*Matt Coté was the longest serving member of the Bracknell Bees, serving club for ten years (1990-2000). Cote’s style was a ‘stay at home’ defender which was described as effective and ‘workman like’. He was regarded as a reliable and safe defenceman whose game play involved throwing his body in the way of slap shots; which the fans regarded as his trademark. He is held in high esteem by players and fans alike. On occasions he still plays in charity matches and regularly receives standing ovations. Cote retired in 2005, since then there are regular calls from fans to retire his #8 shirt, which is one of the highest honours an ice hockey player can be bestowed by the club. A decision has yet to be made by the current team owners.
*Chris Brant was recruited to the Bracknell Bees in 1995 from their local rivals, the Basingstoke Beavers (although Chris Brant did play the first part of the 1994 / 1995 season with the Bracknell Bees. In his first full season Chris Brant accumulated 203 points in 51 league games (3.98 points per game). This native North American, nicknamed The Chief, became known at the Hive for his war-dance, performed at centre-ice after every hat-trick that season. Two key attributes that Chris Brant brought to the team were a powerful slap shot and a no nonsense tough ice hockey style. Alongside his scoring record he accumulated 166 penalty minutes (mostly attributed to ice hockey fights). Brant stayed with the Bees for six seasons and was a member of the 1999-2000 Sekonda Superleague championship winning team.
*Dave Whistle was a Canadian that had played in the British Leagues since 1991. He joined the Bracknell Bees in 1995 and although he was a talented forward, Whistle will be remembered at Bracknell for his coaching success. In 1998 Whistle was appointed a Head coach. In only his second season he built a team that became the Sekonda Super league champions 1999-2000.
*Lukas Smital a player from the Czech republic joined the Bees in 2004. He played at Bracknell for three season. In 2006-07 Smital led the team to win the English Premier Ice Hocky League (EPIHL) , becoming the second highest points scorer in the league with 109 points. In the same season the Bracknell Bees went on to win the Playoff finals to win the double.

ee also

*Bracknell
*Bracknell Forest

External links

* [http://www.bracknell-bees.org Official Bees site]
* [http://www.beesforum.co.uk Unofficial Bees forum]