Flames opt out of Continental Cup place

Photo: John Uwins

Guildford Flames have opted not to enter the 2024 IIHF Continental Cup, a position open to them after finishing second in the Elite League last season.

"We know this is perhaps one of the most difficult news items we have ever had to pass on to our supporters,” admitted Chief Operating Officer Kirk Humphreys. “As a group, we looked at it from every aspect including the honour and prestige that goes with the competition, but there were too many real issues that make this the best decision for this club, at least at this time for where we stand within the Elite League.

"Among several issues, crucially, we are unable to host any portion of the Continental Cup like other Elite teams have done because it would need virtual monopoly of Spectrum for a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday stretch which is not available to us. That means we cannot play any home games and would likely play 6 games over a pair of 3 game in 3 night stretches, all with long distance Euro travel. This is not a competition that starts before the season, but for our anticipated entry time would be in November and January as part of the already congested 70ish game schedule. The competition would also force us to miss a couple of extra weekends of home league action and shift too many games, home and away, to what is already usually a busy mid week obligation.

"This club aspires to winning Elite League, Cup and Playoff titles, none of which we have collected yet. We are hoping we might be in a window now where that might be possible. If we already had a load of silver in bank from previous recent seasons the decision factors are possibly a bit different, but for the moment we have to keep an eye trained on domestic success. Joining a 4th competition on long road trips with no home games and the resulting fixture mash up inevitably impacts the rest of our schedule and makes it harder for us to achieve domestic objectives."

“We are fully aware of how disappointing this is for many of our supporters. It is also disappointing to us as a club, but we believe it is in the best interests of where we want to be in Elite League. There are no guarantees about when we are next challenging for a particular trophy, and this won’t change that reality, but it does allow is to put all our resources where they need to be at this time and hopefully we can put together an exciting new season ahead.”