2015–16 Bracknell Bees season

During the 2015-16 season, the Bracknell Bees participated in the semi-professional English Premier Ice Hockey League.

Due to an issue with the ice at the John Nike Leisure Centre the home game against Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday 31 October 2015 was postponed. It was re-scheduled for Thursday 26 November 2015 with a 7:45pm faceoff. The club addressed the issue on the official website stating "While a mid-week game is not an ideal option for either team or the fans, this date is unfortunately the only viable date available for both teams and the rink."

Towards the end of November the club released a statement regarding speculation over the clubs short, medium and long term viability. The club revealed that the season's finances have been severely affected by a number of factors including the fact that season ticket sales were down 20% on the previous season. The club also listed the fact that the first temporary closure of the ice rink due to plant failure at the beginning of the season also had a negative affect, with the pre-season games being played at an alternative venue, the projected loss of expected match night ticket sales and match night fund raising came to around £8,000.

The incorrectly manufactured shirts supplied for the season took a long time to resolve and hampered sales of replica shirts. The second temporary closure of the ice rink also meant a loss of incoming cash. Between 24 October and 15 November, the club received £441 in match night ticket sales and £800 in match night fund raising. During this period the salary and rink rental costs alone amount to over £28,000. The ice contract in place requires an upfront payment at the start of the season equivalent to four weeks with the remaining payments being spread across the remainder of the season with payments ending at the end of February 2016.

In the statement the club also pointed out that the fixture scheduling sees a third of the season's home games being played in the last seven weeks of the season. Due to all the aforementioned issues the club had encountered severe difficulty in meeting its weekly and monthly salary obligation in October and admitted that it was likely they'd struggle to meeting the salary obligations in line with agreed payment dates for November and December. The club finished the press release saying "The challenges we are faced with this season are challenging but not insurmountable. We remain with the objective of taking this club into the Elite League where it rightfully belongs"

The club had further financial problems which led to an away game at the Hull Pirates on Friday 4 March 2016 to be postponed. The club blamed it on "complications with travel arrangements". A fans forum was held on Monday 7 March at 7.30pm in Honies Restaurant at The Hive where chairman Andrew Cross and general manager Ben Beeching who operate under the name of Precision Sports Marketing (PSM), spoke about the short and long-term future of the club. They discussed plans to set the club up as a charity model which would allow the ownership of the club to be expanded. They also revealed the club was £74,000 short of their top-end expectations for the season and confirmed that the club owed at least £9,000 in unpaid wages.

The club appealed to fans for assistance in raising funds to facilitate the team's coach travel for the final game of the season against the Manchester Phoenix. The required total of £1,295 was met by donations and the Bees ended up with a 6-2 road win to end the campaign.

Ticketing[]

Standings[]

English Premier League[]

[**] EPIHL League Champions. [*] Secured play-off berth

Schedule and results[]

Preseason[]

The pre-season schedule would start with a series against the reigning League & Cup champions, the Telford Tigers. The Bees hosted the Tigers at The Hive on Saturday 29 August 2015, before making the trip north for the second game of the series on Sunday 30 August 2015.

The Bracknell Bees pre-season would also see the continuation of the traditional M4 Derby Classic series match-ups against the Swindon Wildcats. The Bees travelled to face the Wildcats at the Link Centre on Saturday 5 September 2015 (face off 5.45pm) before hosting Swindon back at The Hive on Sunday 6 September 2015 (face off 6pm) in the second game of the two match series.

Regular season[]

External links[]

• Official Bracknell Bees website

References[]