Oklahoma City Jr. Blazers


The Oklahoma City Jr. Blazers are a United Hockey Union-sanctioned junior ice hockey team, based in Edmond, Oklahoma, in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The Blazers compete in the North American 3 Hockey League. Their home games are played at the Arctic Edge Ice Arena.

History

The Jr. Blazers were announced in February 2014, founded by former CHL Oklahoma City Blazers captain Tyler Fleck. The team began play in the 2014–15 season, playing in the United Hockey Union junior Western States Hockey League with most of its home games at the Blazers Ice Centre.
On October 25, 2014, the Blazers set the WSHL's attendance record while playing at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City. The team defeated the Dallas Snipers in front of a crowd of 7,109 by a score of 8–3.
For the 2015–16 season, the WSHL announced that they would be playing under an UHU Tier II status. The Blazers hosted the 2016 WSHL All-Star Game, the first time that the league had held the event. The format for the 2016 All-Star Game featured the Blazers taking on a team of WSHL All-Stars.
On September 5, 2016, the United Hockey Union announced the formation of a new Tier I junior hockey league called the Central One Hockey League. The league was announced to begin with the 2017–18 season. However, some of the announced C1HL teams backed out and the launch of the new league was initially postponed to the 2018–19 season.
After the 2016–17 season, Fleck sold the WSHL team to Gary Gill and Cole Hudek, with Gill set to be the head coach for the 2017–18 season. Fleck remained with the team as a consultant, but would focus on the promotion of the Blazers to the new C1HL in 2018, although there was never any mention of the C1HL afterwards.
After four seasons in the Blazers Ice Centre, the Jr. Blazers moved their home games to the Arctic Edge Ice Arena in nearby Edmond, Oklahoma, for the 2018–19 season with a few games at the Blazers Ice Centre.
In 2019, Gary Gill left the coaching position to become the associate head coach with the Columbus River Dragons in the Federal Hockey League and he named Ty Smith as the head coach for the 2019–20 season. On January 1, 2020, Gill relinquished his ownership stake in the franchise altogether and the WSHL took over operations of the team. Subsequently, the league named Rick Gowin as general manager and released head coach Ty Smith to replace him with assistant Daniel Armstrong. On January 27, the league announced Jake Runey as the new owner who released coach Armstrong after the season was cancelled.
Following the 2019-20 WSHL season, the team announced they were moving to the NA3HL. The announcement of the move came days after the organization announced Josh Berge as the new Head Coach and General Manager.

Season-by-season results

Team records

Single season

Career