The Ayr Scottish Eagles were a professional Scottish ice hockey club, from Ayr, Scotland. They were formed in 1996 and played their home games at the Centrum Arena. The team competed in the Ice Hockey Superleague and the club's main (title) sponsor was Barr Construction. The club folded during the 2002–03 season after a move to Braehead Arena.
History
The Ayr Scottish Eagles were founded in 1996 and played in the Ice Hockey Superleague. The team quickly rose to become one of the top teams in the United Kingdom, due in part to achieving the grand slam in their second season (1997–98) winning all four major UK ice hockey trophies, these were the British Championship, Superleague, the Autumn Cup and Express Cup, the first team ever to do so during the existence of the Ice Hockey Superleague. Also in 1998 they achieved great success (for a British team), when they twice defeated Ak Bars Kazan in the European Hockey League.[1]
2002–03
In August 2002, it was announced by owner Bill Barr that the team were to permanently relocate to the Braehead Arena in Renfrewshire, outside Glasgow.[2]
Bob Zeller, Belfast Giants' founder was announced as managing director and the team changed their name to Scottish Eagles, dropping Ayr from their name.[3] Bob Zeller remained a shareholder in the Belfast Giants.[2] The reason given for the relocation was due to the Braehead Arena having a larger seating capacity and a larger catchment area, expected to increase the fanbase of the club.[2]
The club (with the new name) folded on 14 November 2002, after just six home games, in what was to become the final season of the Ice Hockey Superleague.[4][5] They were the second team in the league to fold that season; the first being Manchester Storm.[6]
Post demise
Friends of Eagles Hockey, organised an exhibition match at the Centrum Arena on 4 February 2003 as a fund raising event to raise funds for players and officials who had been left in financial difficulty due to the bankruptcy of Ice hockey Services Ltd, the Eagles operating company.[7] The Eagles side was an all-star team that played against a UK select all-star team. The match officials were referee Moray Hanson and linesmen Alan Craig and Rab Cowan.[8]
Friends of Eagles Hockey, campaigned for the return of ice hockey to the Centrum Arena after the Eagles's demise. Ice rink operators Planet Ice showed an interest in running the Centrum as an ice arena; however the arena was demolished in 2009 and the site is now home to a new supermarket.[9]
Braehead Clan
The Braehead Clan ice hockey club are now based at the Braehead Arena and play in the Elite Ice Hockey League. In their first season, there was an effort to recruit former Ayr Scottish Eagles fans to the Clan support. Ayr Scottish Eagles fans who held a season ticket at Braehead in the 2002–03 season that was cut short due to the team folding were offered a season ticket in Braehead's first season.[10]
Although the Scottish Eagles and Braehead Clan were both based at the Braehead Arena, this is where the commonalities between the two ice hockey clubs end. The Scottish Eagles were operated by Ice Hockey Services Ltd [11] which underwent a Voluntary Members Liquidation and was wound up on 23 June 2005.[12] Braehead Clan is operated by Clan Entertainment Ltd [13] that was Incorporated on 3 February 2010.[14]
Home arenas
The original home of the Eagles was the Centrum Arena. It was officially opened on 25 August 1996 and was run by Barr Leisure Limited, a subsidiary of Barr Holdings Ltd. The Eagles played their first home game there on 1 September 1996.[15]
After an announcement by Bill Barr, the Eagles moved to the Braehead Arena for the 2002–03 season, where they played just six home games before folding.[2] The Centrum was still used as a training venue throughout this period.
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; PTS = Points; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; † = Club folded six games into the season
Player records
Franchise scoring leaders
These are the top-ten point-scorers, scoring leaders and assists in franchise history.
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game
Points
Player
Pos
GP
G
A
Pts
P/G
Shawn Byram
F
200
63
123
186
0.93
Dino Bauba
F
189
54
84
138
0.73
Scott Young
D
210
49
82
131
0.62
Samuel Groleau
F
120
56
66
122
1.02
Mark Montanari
F
123
35
79
114
0.93
Jamie Steer
F
156
61
49
110
0.70
Mark Woolf
F
124
51
57
108
0.87
Tony Hand
F
86
27
71
98
1.13
Ed Courtenay
F
91
41
48
89
0.98
David St. Pierre
F
118
18
67
85
0.72
Goals
Player
Pos
G
Shawn Byram
F
63
Jamie Steer
F
61
Samuel Groleau
F
56
Dino Bauba
F
54
Mark Woolf
F
51
Scott Young
D
49
Ed Courtenay
F
41
Mark Montanari
F
35
Matt Hoffman
F
35
Jonathan Weaver
D
32
Assists
Player
Pos
A
Shawn Byram
F
123
Dino Bauba
F
84
Scott Young
D
82
Mark Montanari
F
79
Alan Schuler
D
72
Tony Hand
F
71
David St. Pierre
F
67
Samuel Groleau
F
66
Mark Woolf
F
57
Vince Boe
D
50
Team captains
Angelo Catenaro, 1996–99
Shawn Byram, 1999–2001
Alan Schuler, 2001–02
Sean Selmser, 2002–03
NHL alumni
Many of Ayr's players were NHL draft picks and played in the NHL before signing for the Ayr Eagles.
William James Barr OBE FICE
1997–98 Winners
2001–02 Runners-up
The inaugural uniform (1996–97 season)
The uniform of the "grand slam" winning team (1997–98 season)
The uniform of the Express Cup runners-up (2000–01 season)
The uniform of the Express Cup winning team and Superleague Runners-up (2001–02 season)
The last uniform to be worn by an Eagles side, in the exhibition match held at the Centrum in 2003 (there was no away jersey of this design)
