The netminding position was hit hardest with Joe Watkins departing   The disappointment of 2008-2009 elicited significant change for the new term.  The Flames entered 2009-2010 with much hope after a ‘close but not quite’ season the year prior in which the club was shutout of the trophy haul entirely for the first time since the 2004-2005 campaign.Guildford after 4 years at Spectrum, and Alex Mettam finding alternative employ by signing on with the Milton Keynes Lightning.  The netminding tandem of Dean Skinns, who helped backstop the Slough Jets to a playoff title a couple of years prior, and young talent Mark Lee were handed the responsibility of the game’s most important position on what was planned on a job share basis.  The net was not the only place where changes occurred, however.  British defenceman Stephan Lee accepted an offer to join the Nottingham Panthers.  Failing to receive a new contract offer from Surrey’s side, Canadian forward Taras Foremsky opted for retirement while Ollie Bronnimann and Terry Miles found alternate clubs in the Basingstoke Bison and Bracknell Bees, respectively.   As part of the new guard that would work towards a title, the Flames recruited British defenceman Jez Lundin from the Newcastle Vipers while the foreign contingent witnessed the introduction of Canadian forward Nathan Rempel from Peterborough Phantoms and Czech born sniper Martin Masa from Grenoble of the French league.  Former jr member Tom Duggan made a homecoming of sorts when he signed on back at the Spectrum base joining prolific British born goal scorer Gary Clarke who made his way into a Flames uniform after an extended stint with the Milton Keynes Lightning. 

With high hopes for a trophy, perhaps even a league winning run, a Flames 0 and 2 opening weekend was an ominous start and forced ‘catch up’ hockey straight out of the blocks.  Spectrum’s tenants managed to claw their way up to the top half of the table despite a double digit deficit in early December; indeed, a fight back all the way from 7^th place in the season’s early going.   A season ending injury to Vinny Zavoral who iced in just 6 games during his 5^th contract with the club saw an addition to the roster of former Slovakian national team member, and World Championship Silver medallist, Lubomir Hurtaj just before the holiday stretch.  His arrival helped spark a 10 game winning run, despite the worst injury crisis in team history, which brought the Flames to 2^nd, just 3 points behind the Milton Keynes Lightning who took over the league lead just after Christmas.  A loss on home ice to the league leaders on January 24^th, however, all but ensured the league title would remain outside a Guildford trophy cabinet come season’s end.  Ultimately, a 4^th place finish would be reflected in the historical record when the curtain closed on the league schedule.  During this time, the injuries continued to mount as Hurtaj played just 7 games before a fractured facial bone required yet more roster adjustments; this time with the arrival of Canadian forward Adrian Saul who had prior UK experience, but joined the club after a stint in France. 

With expanded team membership, and game night roster alterations a regular occurrence, the Flames managed a trip to the Cup semi finals.  A 4-2 home win in leg 1 over the Slough Jets set up a nail-biting overtime and penalty shootout in Slough after the Jets replied in the 2^nd leg with a 5-3 win to tie the aggregate score.  The Flames managed to edge it with the tiebreaking procedure and found themselves in the Cup Final against the newly crowned league champions from Milton Keynes.  A 5 goal explosion during an 8 minute span in the 2^nd period of leg 1 accounted for the bulk of the Flames offence during a 6-1 win.  The success put Surrey’s team into leg 2, which they won by a 4-3 count, with a lead that would not be undone; a result that ultimately brought the Cup trophy back to Guildford for the first time since the spring of 2007, leaving only a playoff championship ahead. 

The 4^th place league finish set up a local derby playoff quarter final with Basingstoke Bison.  In an eerily similar event to the cup final opener, 4 2^nd period goals in a short frame of time put the Flames out to a 6-0 lead ahead of leg 2 at home the next night where a 2-2 draw sent the Flames to the Coventry final 4 with an 8-2 aggregate win.  A 5-2 win over Swindon Wildcats in the Saturday semi final set up a championship match between Guildford and Slough Jets.  An early 3^rd period Milos Melicherik powerplay strike pulled his side to an even 1-1 draw to force overtime.  During the extra session, a rare penalty shot call just under 2 minutes in opened a golden opportunity for the Jets to pick up their 2^nd playoff title in 3 campaigns.  They left the puck on the stick of Slovenian forward Blaz Emersic who made no mistake in tucking a high shot over the shoulder of Mark Lee to secure a Jets win and prevent the first Flames multiple trophy season since 2000-2001. 

 

*Clinched Semi Final Berth

Playoff Quarter Finals:

(League table 1 v 8; 2 v 7; 3 v 6; 4 v 5)
2 Game Aggregate Series

Leg 1:  Basingstoke 0 Flames 6
Leg 2: Flames 2 Basingstoke 2 
(Flames win 8-2)

Playoff Semi Finals: 

Swindon Wildcats 2 Flames 5 
Slough Jets 2 Manchester Phoenix 1

Playoff Final:

Slough Jets 2 Flames 1 (OT)

Playoff Champions: Slough Jets