The 2024 off season was a busy one for Flames as they implemented one of the biggest re-tools in recent memory with just 8 skaters returning from the year prior. Lewis Hook, Matt Alvaro, Ryan Tait, Brett Ferguson, and Sam Talbot up front with Defenders Marcus Tesink, Mike Crocock and Kyle Locke resuming on the blue line. Eamon McAdam and Adam Long returned to the net, joined for this season by newcomer Jake Kupsky.
Hopes were high for a new lineup that appeared to add significant firepower with former NHLer Dan Catenacci rostered along with former Cardiff Devils star Jake Coughler, Nottingham Panthers standout Brett Welychka and Daniel Tedesco returning for a 2nd stint with the club after tallying 90+ points just 2 seasons prior. Spectrum’s men also secured the services of British international Josh Waller and the youngest of the foreign contingent, Canadian Ethan Strang. They would play in front of incoming Defencemen Travis Brown most recently of the Belfast Giants and Charlie Dodero fresh off a championship in Slovenia.
Excitement for what was believed to be a team that might be competing for a title, was dampened early and often starting with an opening night loss at Manchester Storm. Flames recovered the next night in the return visit on home ice, but 4 consecutive losses that followed in the newly formatted Cup competition already had hopes for advanced Cup round play fading; a reality of which eventually came to fruition while finishing last in the group thanks to just 2 wins in 10 Cup games. Worse than results was an indication of what was to be the story of the season for Flames when Welychka suffered a training injury in the opening week that would keep him out until mid December. It was the start of a medical crisis the club had not seen in its entire existence that ended with just 2 players appearing in all 54 league outings. The early months saw Coughler and Locke both leave the ice and not return for the season, while a host of other injuries across the roster had Flames playing short staffed for nearly the entire campaign. There were some silver linings with the additions of Defenceman Charlie Curti and forward Jack Jacome early on to fill some gaps. The injury run also eventually returned Austin Glover to the front lines after his season ending injury the year prior, while James Shearer, Sam Jones, himself sidelined for around 3 months shortly after arrival, and Zack Hoffman all came in to help patrol a severely depleted blue line unit that had 9 rostered at the position often with only 4 able to take to match duty. All of the mid season signings helped Flames maintain a solid home record and gain a little more than half the points on offer over the course of the schedule, eventually settling for a 6th place league table finish and a playoff quarter final date against Nottingham Panthers.
The post season 2 leg aggregate goal event started well for Spectum’s men on home ice with a 3-2 Leg 1 win, but a 6-3 defeat at Nottingham in Leg 2 just 24 hours later eliminated Flames from playoff contention.
