Oxford City Stars

The Oxford City Stars are an ice hockey team based in Oxford, England. They currently play in the [|National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) Division 1] ==History== ===1984-1999=== Formed in 1984 with the opening of the Oxford Ice Rink, they are the first team playing at senior level in the city. The Stars were entered into British League Division 2 and won the league championship in their inaugural season. In following season, the Stars progressed to Division 1 but were relegated back to Division 2 at the end of the 1986–87 season. Division 2 was renamed English Division 1 the following year. The 1990–91 season saw the Stars win the English League Division 1 Title. This was one of Oxford's greatest moments with the team winning 23 of a possible 28 games. The British Hockey League was replaced by the English National Hockey League in 1996. During the 1997–98 season, a plant failure at the rink saw the team playing their home games at Swindon and they changed their name to the Oxford Chill during which the team advanced to the English Premier Ice Hockey League. For the following season the team returned to Oxford was renamed as the Oxford Blades and lost every single game, 32 in total. These results led to the team collapsing in 1999 due to high running costs and poor attendance. ===2001-2003=== Oxford City Stars returned for the 2000–01 season and finished third in the league. However they found themselves unable to sign enough players for the 2002–03 season and once again folded. ===2003-2004=== The Stars returned and shone once again under the stewardship of club legend Dan Prachar who assembled an exciting team mixing players from Swindon and Oxford. With crowds improving and the team winning consistently the team finished second only to the all conquering Invicta Dynamos. They also smashed Oxford University in the annual Town v Gown and reached the national cup final only to lose out to Sheffield. ===2004-2005=== Despite retaining most of their squad the Stars could not improve on the previous years success however they did sign a sponsorship deal with national restaurant chain Smollenskys.On a sad note high scoring import and team talisman Derek Flint left to go home to Vancouver. ===2005-2006=== The Stars entered the Premier league cup as well as the English National league and this stretched the squad too far with the fixtures building up and morale fading.Along with the loss of Derek Flint the team struggled in the lower half of the team despite being able to beat any team on their day. Towards the end of the season coach Dan Prachar was replaced by veteran defenceman Paul Donohoe who steadied the ship till the end of the season. ===2006-2007=== The off-season saw a number of Oxford players sign for the newly formed Swindon Wildcats Development Team. This left the management with work to do finding replacements before the beginning of the 2006–07 season. The 2006/07 season saw the Stars use more local players than in previous seasons with a number of younger players getting a chance in the team. Under the guidance of coach Darryl Morvan and his assistant Paul Foster the Stars started the season inconsistently but hit form at the right time and shocked everyone by sneaking in to the final play off spot with a last gasp win over local rivals Swindon in front of a partisan crowd in Oxford. The play offs were a step too far for the young City Stars squad however they still had one last surprise up their sleeve when they beat league champions Invicta Dynamos 4-1 to ruin the Kent clubs play off hopes. Despite fears over the future of Oxford ice rink the Stars entered the 2007/08 season with virtually the same squad as the previous season. ==Roster 2009/10== ===Netminders=== * James Skaiffe  #37 * Ryan Bainborough #40 * Kevin McGurk #31 ===Defence=== * James Clarke #15  (C) * Zsolt Mastaleriu  #75 (I) * Joe Oliver #21 * Jake Florey #13 * Sam Arnold #33 * Jonathan Bayliss #63 ===Forwards=== * Darren Elliott #77arren Elliott #77 * Josh Oliver #7 * James Pentecost #89 (A) * Joe Edwards  #66 * Nick Oliver #61 (A) * Dax Hedges #71 * Josh Florey  #3 * Mike Whillock #10 * Jamie Newton #2 * Mason Wild #8 * Jacob Smith  #67 * Adam Harris #20 == External links == *Oxford City Stars Official website * Oxford Junior Stars Ice Hockey *[|National Ice Hockey League] * Oxford Ice Rink webpages == Other associated teams == The Oxford City ice hockey club also has junior and women's teams as follows:- *Under 10s (playing challenge matches only) *Under 12s (English League South Division 2) *Under 14s (English League South Division 2) *Under 16s (English League South Division 2) *Under 18s (English League South Division 2) *Oxford Midnight Stars (Women's League Division 1 Midlands)