Blackburn Hawks - The Beginning

The Blackhawks Era

The Blackburn Blackhawks as they were originally called were founded in 1990 and played their first game on 28 October of that year, beating the Oxford City Stars 6–3.  The game was played as a non-import challenge match, where no professional players born outside of the UK were iced. During the 1990–91, all Blackhawks games were played on the road, as the newly built Blackburn Arena had not been completed. The club's colours were initially similar to the red, white, and black of the Chicago Blackhawks, due to the similarities in name. When they finally played their first home game, on 26 January 1991, it just so happened to be against Oxford with another 6-3 victory. Dan Holden, an offensive defenceman who accrued a total of 116 points over the course of the season had the honor of netting the first ever goal at Blackburn Arena. Fred Perlini, finished as leading scorer with 132 points (83 goals and 49 assists) in just 21 games. Other notable players were Gary Shearman Trevor Foster, Georgie Powell, and Paul Fleury. Under manager Keith Purvis and coach Pete Murray, the Blackhawks finished fourth place in the English League Division One and received a promotion due to the collapse of Solihull in the Heineken League.

A promising start to the 1991–92 season saw ex-Toronto Maple Leafs coach Doug McKay take over the running of the team. However, his tenure was short-lived due to financial problems, and soon the Blackhawks were left without a manager. By the end of the season the Blackhawks were relegated back into the English League Division One.

In 1992–93, the team began to rebuild under the new name of the Blackburn Hawks. Canadian Glenn Knight took up the reins as player-coach, but soon passed the responsibility to the new signing, Steve Moria who had experience of playing in the AHL. Moria changed the team colours to teal, grey, black, and white, a similar scheme to that of the San Jose Sharks at the time. The change coincided with the change in name. The team's financial situation was improved following a buyout by Peel Holdings, the firm owning the site on which Blackburn Arena is situated. This enabled an influx of new imports to arrive at the club. The Hawks just missed out on a play-off spot. The early season demolition of the Milton Keynes Kings was not only the greatest shock defeat of the season, but made the Hawks a feared and recognized team.

Prior to the start of the 1994–95 season, the Hawks were again left in turmoil due to the sudden departure of Steve Moria for the Swindon Wildcats. Future Whitley forward, Mark Stokes volunteered himself for the role of player-coach. The Hawks' suffered a disastrous B&H Cup campaign, losing six straight games. Following Moria’s departure, the club adopted a red, white, and gold scheme which is still in use today.

Blackburn have never been a team far from the headlines and the most unusual of which saw the BIHA impose bans on new imports Sverre Sears, Matt Zilinskas, and Jeff Winstanley after they appeared on the front page of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph following a late night naked skating session. This led to their dismissal from the club, and prompted a shakeup in staffing. Ex-Toronto Maple Leaf Rocky Saganiuk arrived, promising the fans a spot in the playoffs. Sangiuk brought in Trent Casey, Darren Durdle, and Tony Cimellaro, but the Hawks' leaky defence contributed to their relegation to Division Two at the end of the season. However, a last minute re-structure of the league meant that the team began the new season back in division one. For those old enough to remember it was something similar that saved the Durham Wasps after they finished bottom of the Premier League with the wooden spoon and relegated only to be reinstated following a divisional re-structure.

Before the 1995–96 campaign began, Saganiuk decided to stay in Canada. Whilst manager Mike Cockayne, helped secure a lucrative sponsorship deal with Thwaites Beer, and began the season sporting new look red, black, and yellow uniforms. For the first time, the Hawks took top place in the league, with the most important result being a 12–9 victory over the newly formed Manchester Storm. The match was played at the Nynex Arena in front of a then record-breaking crowd of 9,500, and watched by millions on Sky TV, in what was the first live UK hockey match to be shown on satellite television in the UK. Later in the season the Hawks again visited the Nynex Arena in a league title decider that generated another British attendance record of 16,280.

The Northern Premier League

The 1996–97 season gave the Hawks yet another new coach in Jim Pennycook, one of the most experienced players in the British game. The season saw the start of the well-televised Ice Hockey Superleague, which ultimately split British ice hockey teams according to their financial position. Blackburn were not part of this new wave, and instead competed in the Northern Premier League alongside Whitley, in a competition which was limited to three imports. Scottish teams Murrayfield, Fife, Paisley & Dumfries (Now Solway Sharks) along with Northern Ireland side Castlereagh made up the Division. The Hawks' difficulties began right at the start of the season, losing two of their three imports before the end of November. The Hawks did manage a 4-3 win at Hillheads against Peter Bender's Warriors over Christmas, with the Hawks fans singing the Match of the Day theme tune after every goal. Former Newcastle United goalie, John Burridge's son Tom was in the line-up that night.
Pennycook played most of the season through injury and suffered from a very depleted roster after Christmas with only eight players available for some games. They quickly made a couple of new signings before the transfer deadline, and finish the season in mid-table.

The club changed their name to the Lancashire Hawks ahead of the 1997–98 season. This was with the idea of promoting the team across the whole County. However, attendances failed to improve, and many fans expressed disapproval of the new name. A number of staffing issues, injuries, and roster changes saw the Hawks finish bottom of the league and last in the play-offs.