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The Manchester Storm were an
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
team from
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, England. The team formed in 1995 by Ogden Entertainment and arena/team Managing Director Lee Esckilsen. The Storm played their home games at the then newly built NYNEX Arena, but they folded during the 2002–03 season.


Early success

Storm won the British Hockey League Division One in their first season, watched by an average crowd of 6,342. Success in the end of season promotion/relegation play-offs followed, resulting in Storm being promoted to the Premier Division of the British Hockey League. However, Britain's league structure was changed in 1996, with the formation of the Ice Hockey Superleague, of which the Manchester team were a founder member. This was alongside Ayr Scottish Eagles,
Basingstoke Bison The Basingstoke Bison are an English Ice Hockey club from Basingstoke. They currently compete in the National Ice Hockey League , NIHL National League and have previously been members of the Ice Hockey Superleague and its successor the Elite I ...
, Bracknell Bees, Cardiff Devils, Newcastle Riverkings, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers. The highs of the inaugural season weren't matched in season 2 though, and Storm finished a disappointing seventh in the league. This led to the sacking of coach John Lawless. American Kurt Kleinendorst was brought in for the 1997–98 season and he completely changed the face of the playing staff. There were 12 new faces on the 19 strong roster when the season started and they went on to make history for a British club in the European Hockey League. As well as holding Dynamo Moscow to a regulation time draw (losing 2–3 in
overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
), they beat
Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...
home and away – winning 7–0 at home and 4–3 in the
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...
capital. Storm hold the record for the largest ice hockey attendance at a UK league game, set on 23 February 1997, when 17,245 people watched a match against Sheffield Steelers. At the time, this was also a European record. The record for the largest attendance at any ice hockey game in the UK is 17,551 at The O2 arena (London) on 30 September 2007 for an
NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
game between the
Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...
and the
Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confere ...
.


The end of an era

Manchester Storm folded in 2002 during the 2002–03 season when the costs of running the team out of the Manchester Arena, and at the top level of British hockey, could not be supported by ticket revenue and sponsorship. The then owners SMG who also ran the arena sold the team to Manchester businessman in full knowledge they did not want ice hockey in the arena then following Sky TVs pulling out of its contract to show live games this meant sponsors pulled out, with no live games and no sponsors and an Arena who didn't want ice hockey in the building owner Gary Cowan had no option other than to put the team into receivership. Later on during the same season Ayr Scottish Eagles also folded. A supporters group was formed following the collapse of Manchester Storm and launched a new team called the
Manchester Phoenix Manchester Phoenix were a semi professional ice hockey team from 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 M ...
the following season.


Return of the Storm

In June 2015, following the departure of the
Manchester Phoenix Manchester Phoenix were a semi professional ice hockey team from 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 M ...
from the Altrincham Ice Dome due to a dispute with the current owners, it was announced a new team would be based at the rink using the Manchester Storm name. The newly formed Storm would replace the folded Hull Stingrays in the EIHL from the start of the 2015–16 season.


Past managers/head coaches

* Lee Esckilsen, Managing Director, 1995 * John Lawless (ice hockey), John Lawless] 1995–97 * Kurt Kleinendorst 1997–2000 * Terry Christensen 2000–01 * Daryl Lipsey 2001–02 * Rob Wilson 2001–02 (assistant)


Honours

* British ice hockey league champions#1996-03: Superleague Champions, Superleague Winners 1998–99 * Benson and Hedges Cup Winners (former Autumn Cup) 1999–2000 * First Team All-Stars ** 1997–98 Kris Miller, Craig Woodcroft ** 1998–99 Frank Pietrangelo, Troy Neumeier * Second Team All-Stars ** 1998–99 Kris Miller, Jeff Tomlinson, Jeff Jablonski ** 2000–01 Greg Bullock


Two Team Players

Players who have featured for both the Manchester Phoenix and the Manchester Storm in league fixtures; * * * * * * * *


Footnotes


External links


Official web history of the teamThe official archive of the Manchester Storm video wall movies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manchester Storm (1995-2002) Defunct ice hockey teams in the United Kingdom Ice hockey teams in England History of sport in Manchester Ice hockey clubs established in 1995 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2002