Considering my blog is going to mainly consist of Manchester Phoenix news and games I thought I would let you all know how I came to be a ice hockey fan and a bit of background about ice hockey in Manchester.
Me and my Mum first went to an ice hockey match when a friend of mine had season tickets for Manchester Storm and offered them to us. We totally got the bug and started going to as many games as possible. It was great because my Mum could use her Tesco clubcard points to buy the tickets and I kept telling her to keep going shopping so we could go to watch!
Our first season of ice hockey was the 1998-1999 season and what a great season we picked! It was an fantastic season for Manchester Storm, probably one of the best and one which involved an amazing game against Sheffield Steelers (my hatred for this team still lives on!) to crown us Super League Champions.
The following season wasn't quite so spectacular, but involved possibly one of the most nerve wracking games I have ever been to, which took place against the London Knights at Sheffield Arena. The game ended up going to overtime and then penalties, Frankie Pietrangelo saved the last shot to make us B&H Cup Champions!
Me and my Mum continued to watch Manchester Storm until I got a job working in a hotel which involved working stupid hours and never have anytime off at the weekends. I was therefore unable to watch anymore ice hockey and if I did it was a very rare and special occasion :(
Unfortunately Manchester Storm went bankrupt in 2002 and ice hockey in Manchester was left on a knife edge. As a result of the efforts of the 'Friends of Manchester Ice Hockey' hockey was finally returned to Manchester in the form of a new team, Manchester Phoenix, aptly named due to the Phoenix rising from the ashes of the Storm. Due to the lack of an arena and not enough fans to fill the MEN Arena, Phoenix suspended playing until a temporary rink was built in Altrincham.
At the beginning of the 2006-2007 season, Tony Hand was signed as head coach and Phoenix began to play hockey again, all be it with delays with the construction of the temporary arena and home games having to be played in Wales! At the end of the 2008-2009 season, Phoenix announced that they were suffering from financial difficulties and would be dropping out of the Elite League to move to the English Premier League.
Towards the end of the 2009-2010 season, me and the boy (his choice of phrase, not mine!) decided that it might be a good idea to go and watch hockey again. My mum worked for Unison at the time (one of the team sponsors) and we managed to get some free tickets. I have to admit I was very sceptical at the time, I was a huge Storm fan and wasn't convinced I was ever going to be a Phoenix fan (how wrong was I) anyway, we both got the bug for it again and went to every match until the end of the season.
After we played Peterborough Phantoms at the Ice Dome to make our way to the playoffs in Coventry, we called the Arena to make sure we had tickets and made our way down south, unfortunately we didn't win but it was a great weekend and we started getting to know some of the hardcore fans!
So, after finally getting the bug back for hockey, we got season tickets for the 2010-2011 season and went to every match bar two! We took some friends on my birthday and they got hooked too, they came with us to every match and even to the playoffs. They are all thinking of getting season tickets for the upcoming season.
The 2010-2011 season was probably one of the best seasons of hockey I have ever attended! It had everything, from amazing goals, cracking fights and brilliant players. We didn't make it easy for ourselves needing one point to win the EPL Championship with one game left of the season, but we did it! (There's the easy way or the Phoenix way!) The evening of 27 March 2011 was one of the best evenings ever and one I will never forget, partying with the players in the bar after the game and drinking cider out of the EPL trophy. What other sport can you do that in?! This is when the Storm fan who watched Phoenix turned into a fully fledged Phoenix fan!
I'm very excited for the new season to start (only 4 months to go!) and to see all my new found hockey friends again! Fingers crossed we have a fabulous team to defend the title! :)
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