Hull Stingrays were a British ice hockey club from Kingston upon Hull who was a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League from 2003 until 2015. They played their home games at Hull Arena.
The Stingrays replaced previous clubs Humberside Seahawks (1988–1999) and Hull Thunder (1999–2003). On 10 August 2010, owners Mike & Sue Pack announced that the club was ceasing operations due to a lack of funds to complete the 2010–11 season, but a takeover by Elite League rivals Coventry Blaze was confirmed on 17 August 2010, enabling the team to take its place in the Elite League for the 2010–11 season. At the end of the 2011–12 season Coventry Blaze announced their intention to sell the Stingrays. The Coventry-based ownership accepted an offer from Stingrays' bench coach Bobby McEwan in May 2012. On 24 June 2015, the club announced on its official website that it has been placed into liquidation.
History
Predecessors
The city has a long history of ice hockey, with the Seahawks, later named Hawks operating between 1988 and 1999, and were succeeded by the Thunder until 2003.
Rebirth
The Stingrays were formed in 2003 replacing the Hull Thunder as members of the British National League. The new owners, Mike and Sue Pack along with Rick Strachan, who served as head coach through the end of the 2008–09 season, came with a promise of financial stability.
The initial challenge for the club was to re-establish the belief that the Hull Arena could host a team playing professional hockey at all, following a previous history of failed attempts, some valiant and some best forgotten.
Unfortunately the damage to the sport's credibility in the city was a burden that was not easily shaken off and some of the fans stayed away waiting for what they thought was the inevitable to happen. But the ownership were true to their word and a season was completed without any of the previous crises that had become common place. Stability was established and although success on the ice proved more elusive, as Rick Strachan said at the time "The bus is moving in the right direction."
The team had very much an Eastern European feel to it and was captained by local idol, Stephen Johnson, tempted back from a threatened retirement for one last season. Alongside him the Ukrainian contingent included a guy who made a huge impact for his never say die attitude and innovative use of the six words of English that he had mastered, fans favourite Evgeny Alipov – 'Big Al'.
So the foundation was in place and with the first objective of stability secured and confidence building, the club entered the next season in the BNL keen to apply the lessons learnt and to start to climb the ratings.
2004/2005
Although still very much having to keep a close eye on the purse strings, the squad had a much stronger feel to it when the first puck dropped on the 2004–05 campaign.
Coach Strachan brought in Scott Wray, Jeff Glowa, Craig Minard and Ladislav Kudrna in nets to join Alipov, Nikolaev, Burgess, Gomenyuk as his eight import contingent and with a strong British content including Slava Koulikov, and the Phillips brothers, hopes were high.
A 'top four finish' was predicted by the coach but this turned out not to be ambitious enough. Stingrays were overtaken for second place in the last fortnight by Guildford and Newcastle, the team made the Winter Cup semi-finals and gained a play-off place.
Amazingly it could have been even better had star defenceman Minard decided not to quit the club in November leaving a young British defence to be marshalled by Gomenyuk. Another blow followed when free-scoring Scott Wray had to return home for personal reasons. Not surprisingly the replacements proved not to be as effective and the team's form suffered.
That season was memorable for the 'crossover' competition that pitched the British National League teams against their bigger spending, import heavy neighbours in the Elite League. Widely expected to provide one sided games, the reality was a little different and most of the games provided sporting contests worthy of the name.
Although the Stingrays had to endure a couple of bad losses during this competition they also achieved memorable victories over Coventry, London and Sheffield at home, and also took the points off Cardiff on the road. Goalie Kudrna was often the hero and his performances gained him a place, with Gomenyuk on the BNL All-star team.
The crossover competition was planned to be a potential precursor to a closer relationship between the two leagues but, in fact, the reality was far from that – 2004–05 season proved to be the last for the British National League.