Elsewhere on this site you can read about places that you can head to in order to get involved with some sort of activity. From a climbing centre to a ski slope via somewhere to play golf or a venue you can take part in some VR gaming, Guildford has a lot to offer. Sometimes, though, it is entirely possible that you might want to do something without having to actually do anything, which is where the Guildford Flames come in. The town’s ice hockey team offers something for everyone to cheer on, with games played at the Olympic size ice rink at the Spectrum in front of a crowd of partisan locals keen to watch their team win.
The History of the Guildford Flames
The Flames began their ice hockey history in the 1992-1993 season, taking up a position in the British National League. Barry Dow was already known to Guildford locals, given the fact that the American already owned and sponsored the Guildford Kings basketball team. He worked with Bill Hurley to establish an ice hockey team in the city, in spite of the fact that neither man had any experience in the sport. As a result, they brought in Mike Urquhart, an experienced Canadian, as the coach, whilst Darrin Zinger was made the captain. They worked quickly, bringing in some key players, training at a facility in Slough as the Spectrum was finished.
In 2004 the Flames moved into the English Premier Ice Hockey League, which is where they remained until 2017 when the confirmation came through that the side would be one of the expansion teams in the Elite Ice Hockey League. It meant that they could play in the United Kingdom’s top division from the start of the 2017-2018 season, finishing sixth at the first time of asking. A year later and they finished fifth, pushing the Belfast Giants all the way in the Challenge Cup before eventually ending up as runners-up in the final. They ended up second in the 2022-2023 campaign, matching that with a semi-final defeat in the Challenge Cup.
Why Attend Guildford Flames Matches
The obvious question that you might find yourself asking is why you would want to use your time attending a Guildford Flames match. After all, many of the other things that we’ve talked about on this site are more interactive in their nature, giving you the opportunity to actually do something. There is no question that heading along to the Spectrum in order to watch a Flames game is a little more massive in nature, but anyone who has ever supported any form of sports team will tell you that that passivity only lasts so long. You will soon be buying club merchandise, cheering every goal and decrying any fouls.
We all know how popular sports like football are in this country, but being able to support a team that really needs you is interesting on another level. If you’ve got children then offering them a chance to be able to attend some live sport when you’re all but guaranteed to be able to get a ticket is much more interesting than failing to get tickets for a Premier League game and having to watch it on the TV. The Flames are playing in the top hockey league in the UK, meaning that you’ll be able to see some of the best players in the sport in this country on a regular basis, so it won’t be long before you’re in love with hockey as a pastime.
A Great Way to Spend Your Time
Chris Turner, Flickr.com – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Most parents know that it is a battle to get their young ones to do anything that doesn’t involve a screen. Whether it be playing on entertainment systems like a Nintendo Switch or a PlayStation 5 or sitting in front of their phone all day, kids struggle to engage a lot of the time. Guildford Flames matches can last up to two and a half hours, with three 20 minute periods of playing being added to with stoppage time and 18-minute intervals. That is a decent chunk of time that your little one will be engaged for, thanks to the fast and furious nature of ice hockey games meaning that you can barely look away from the action.
More importantly, it is very much a family friendly activity, with around a quarter of attendees at the gamers being children. There are places in the Spectrum that you can get a bite to eat, meaning that you can turn it into a fun-filled evening for the whole family. Thanks to the fact that ice hockey seasons tend to run from early September to the middle of April, you can be in the crowd for a Flames match in the winter months when the nights are darker and the weather is closing in. Watching a Flames match is like being part of a community that knows it is having a great time without the expense and frustration of following a football team.