The Kitmart Dundee Stars are preparing to head into their 20th season and to celebrate this landmark campaign, we will be posting some articles each week that look back at every past season and catch up with some former players and coaches.

By Kris Smith

To start off week four of our ‘Look Back’ series, we will be taking you back to the 2004-2005 campaign, which was the club’s fourth and final year in the British Ice Hockey.

It would be the final year of the BNL because the league collapsed after that season but the Stars rounded off their time in the league with a flourishing finish, as they would claim the playoff championship once more.

In the regular season, Dundee finished fifth in the seven-team league and were the highest placed Scottish team, as they topped rivals, Fife Flyers and Edinburgh Capitals.

Also, for the first time since the Tayside team joined the BNL, there were no changes to the teams competing in the league and after 38 games, the Stars had 28 points but finished 24 points behind league winners, Bracknell Bees.

Dundee finished the season with a 14-0-24 (wins-ties-losses) record and scored 117 goals but conceded 155.

The team also made their first entry into two cup competitions called the Winter Cup and the Crossover Cup.

The Winter Cup was contested by; Dundee, Bracknell, Newcastle Vipers, Fife, Hull Stingrays, Edinburgh, Guildford Flames, Milton Keynes Lightning and Peterborough Phantoms.

The Stars finished fifth in the table and did not make it to the final four knockout stage but after 16 matches, the Stars had 17 points after claiming 8 wins and one point from an overtime loss.

 

 

However, the Crossover Cup mixed the BNL teams in with the Elite League clubs, as the top two British tiers tested each other.

There were 14 teams in the competition and representing the EIHL were; Belfast Giants, Cardiff Devils, Nottingham Panthers, Coventry Blaze, London Racers, Basingstoke Bison and Sheffield Steelers.

The EIHL sides all finished above the BNL teams in the group stage and the Stars came 10th and again finished above Fife and Edinburgh after winning eight points from 14 fixtures with a 4-0-10 record.

Over the course of the season, forward Cory Morgan stood out as one of the top players in the team and he provided the most points and goals in 56 games for the club.

The Canadian had 65 points in the 2004-2005 season and contributed 34 goals and 31 assists but it was the captain who provided the most assists that year, as Jason Shmyr created 43 goals in his 63 appearances.

After taking the helm in the previous year, Roger Hunt continued to lead the team and again he had a star-studded line-up at his disposal.

In between the pipes there was plenty of quality to backstop the team, as Canadian’s Evan Lindsay and Glen Riddler defended the crease and Scottish shot-stoppers Colin Downie and Charlie Ward provided the back-up.

Once again, there were many big presences on the Stars blueline and they came in the form of Jeff Marshall, Patrick Ward and Italian icon, Christian Borgatello.

Also, the team still had plenty of dangerous attackers to carry them forward and names like; Scott Barnes, Scott Corbett, John Dolan, Morgan, Shmyr and Gary Wishart were all high up the point scoring charts.

 

 

There was also a top quality player in the line-up for a brief time as Derek Bekar joined the club due to the National Hockey League having a lockout.

The lockout meant that the NHL season was postponed and players had to find another clubs for that year and that brought Derek to Dundee.

The former St Louis Blue, Los Angeles King and New York Islander played in just three games but scored twice and assisted once in his short stop in Scotland.

Here you can watch the celebrations on the DIA ice after the playoff trophy returned to Dundee.

 

 

Next we will be bringing you an exclusive ‘Where Are They Now’ interview with a former Stars player from the 2004-2005 Championship winning team and it will be available on the Dundee Stars website from 12pm tomorrow.

If you want to be a part of the historic 20th Dundee Stars season then you can buy your season tickets by contacting [email protected]

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