FIXTURE LIST WITH LINKS TO MEMORABLE GAMES

Import regulations from the BIHA allowed for each club to sign three imports plus one re-classified player, ie one eligible by residence or parentage to play for GB. Panthers were unable to find a reclass for the right money and started the season with the returnees Adey and Kurtenbach plus new boy Rick Strachan, who had been the captain of Manitoba University the season before. This left Panthers with ten or eleven players who were basically just starting their careers at the top level of British hockey. The season’s results reflected that. While some memorable results were obtained the inconsistency of the team reflected the general inexperience. At the end of November Panthers, who had been struggling to put the puck in the net collectively, released defenceman Strachan and signed left winger Todd Bidner. The first time in two and a half seasons that Panthers were to employ two import forwards. The form of 18 year old defenceman Graham Waghorn had enabled Dampier to strengthen what he saw as the teams weakness. "We needed to score more goals and hopefully Todd will provide them for us. We needed someone with experience and someone who will fit in with Paul Adey. Todd’s scored goals wherever he’s played and I’m sure he’ll do the job here. Our biggest problem is that the British players haven't been scoring. Of course we’ve missed Nigel Rhodes, who was always good for a goal a game, but other experienced guys like Randall and Gavin haven't given us the output we had hoped for." (By the end of the year Randall had 8 league goals and Gavin 4.) Although qualifying for an expanded play offs (two groups of four instead of two groups of three) Panthers were unable to progress from their group including Murrayfield, Whitley Bay & Cardiff.