StormFan Blog

Now this is even before my time, so I had to do a bit of reading and research on this one! Before Manchester Storm, there was a Manchester Ice Palace, where the Manchester Rapids played in the early 1900s. Can't say I was around to see any of those games sadly!

Aside from those early days, along with the original Altrincham Ice Rink there came the Trafford Metros and Altrincham Aces, who played in the original British National League. This was a mostly British affair with very limited imports per team. It had a local following around Altrincham, but nothing like the following Manchester Storm would go on to find. Fun fact: current Storm player Josh Crawley is the son of original Trafford Metros and Altrincham Aces player Nick Crawley!

In the early 1990s, Manchester wanted to host the Olympics. As part of that ambition, they had the Nynex Arena built next to Manchester Victoria station. To give the arena something to host, the arena management created an ice hockey team - the Manchester Storm and a basketball team - the Manchester Giants. 

The Head Coach of this initial team was John Lawless, a Canadian who had previously been a player at Cardiff Devils. He built a team of primarily British players to compete in the BHL, including some of the notable British names of the time such as Alan Hough, Ian Cooper and Stephen Cooper.

I didn’t go along to the first season of Manchester Storm, but from the history books I’m told that they won the BHL, getting promoted to the newly formed Ice Hockey Superleague, a new top tier in Britain, with next to no import limit. This was the formation of the ISL, with clubs from across the country – the original ISL consisting of Ayr Scottish Eagles, Basingstoke Bison, Bracknell Bees, Cardiff Devils, Manchester Storm, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers.

There were two real high points of those early Storm years that most original Storm fans will talk of - first of all, the sell-out: In 1997, Manchester Storm made British and European Ice Hockey history. For a normal league game against Sheffield Steelers, they sold out the Storm shelter, selling over 17,000 tickets for one game. I believe that record still stands to this day. I like to say I was there at that game, but again, I don’t remember it specifically. I can remember being at some Storm games where we sat in the upper tier of the arena, or “in the Gods” as my Dad used to call it. It seems inconceivable now that it was ever a thing, in later seasons they never even opened the upper tier. But during that year, the whole thing was packed out. All for some unknown American sport in one of Europe’s biggest football cities.

It’s perhaps a measure of how popular it was at the time that ordinary high street shops were selling Manchester Storm jerseys. At the time, the Manchester Storm were sponsored by allsports. I can still remember the branch on Market Street in Manchester City centre. At the height of the Storm’s popularity, you could walk into the shop and there would be rails of Manchester Storm jerseys, white for home, black for away, all different sizes. It probably sounds strange that I’m making this out as such a big thing. But nowadays, the only shop selling Manchester Storm merchandise is the shop in the rink where they play. For me, the fact that high street shops were stocking their merchandise just showed how mainstream it had become.

Apart from the sellout, the early years in the ISL weren't kind to Storm. The team didn't do great in the standings, I remember them finishing bottom of the league one year. That was until Kurt Kleinendorst came along, who built a team of NHL, AHL and ECHL superstars, including the likes of Frank Pieterangelo, Brad Rubachuk, Dave Morrison, Jeff Jablonski, Mike Morin and Stefan Ketola. 

With that team, plus some further additions, Storm won the 1998/99 ISL, then the 1999 Benson and Hedges Cup (when tobacco advertising was still a thing!) and even had a stint in Europe. Kurt Kleinendorst left to join the New Jersey Devils after a further season at the Storm, leading to a coach called Terry Christensen. Just the mere name will have old Storm fans shuddering. Under his reign, Storm were terrible, again finishing last in the league.

There was one final season for the original Storm - the fateful 2001/02 season. Attendances were down, but arena costs went up. At some point during that season, it all got too much and the original Storm folded, leaving many hearts broken and the city and arena with no top-tier ice hockey. 

After Storm went bust, a fan group called Friends of Manchester Ice Hockey (FOMIH) was setup to return hockey to the arena. Various options were considered, but eventually a new team called Manchester Phoenix took Storm's ISL entry. Playing out of the arena for the 2002-03 season, Phoenix became the direct descendants of Manchester Storm. Our very own Mike Morin even featured for Phoenix at one point, alongside Rick Brebant from the final Manchester Storm side. Sadly, the same financial issues affected Phoenix. The glory days of filling the arena were long gone, the lower bowl was rarely full. Eventually Phoenix also concluded that playing at the arena wasn't viable. 

To protect the team until a more tenable financial situation could be established, Phoenix mothballed themselves while working on establishing a new rink. In 2007, a "temporary" rink was constructed along with Silver Blades. This rink was supposed to be a short-term stopgap, existing for a lifespan of 10 years. We all know how that went... 

Despite the rink limitations, Phoenix returned in 2007 as promised and played in the EIHL for a couple of seasons. Eventually though, the finances of playing in the EIHL became too much and Phoenix decided to drop a league to the English Premier Ice Hockey League, or EPIHL. This was described as a development league with a lower standard of hockey, having a four import limit mostly from lower tier European leagues. Despite that, hockey is hockey and Phoenix developed a strong and passionate fan base over the years. There was success too, Phoenix won that league twice and the playoffs once. 

There are plenty of current Storm fans who went from Storm - Phoenix - Storm. Sadly, the beginning of the end for Phoenix and return of the Storm coincided around 2015, so there are also some Phoenix fans who blame Storm to this day. 

Part 2 of this blog will discuss the demise of the Phoenix, return of the Storm and return to the arena - stay tuned!