The Skydome played host to the first game of the 2024/2025 season, a pre-season clash against the Oxford Rising Stars of NIHL2 South. The Rising Stars were here eleven months ago for a pre-season clash, that game ending in a score line of 4-2 to the good, we were looking for more of the same for the first game since early April.

The two starting goaltenders were each team's number one from last season, Kayla Poole in away white for the Stars, whilst Hayden Laverick wore the new Blaze blue for the home side. The first ten minutes of the first period where what you expected of two teams who haven't played in a while, a cagey start with a lot of turn overs and a lot of the play being in and around the neutral zone.

The Rising Stars however, broke the ice just past the mid-point of the first period. A pass well defended fell kindly to Theodore Bundock who finished nicely on the backhand to give the away side the lead.

It took nearly all of the first period for the NIHL Blaze to find a reply and it came on the powerplay. A missed clearance fell kindly to Kyle Nash who turned and fired it home with ten seconds left in the period and that was all it wrote for the first twenty, a 1-1 scoreline.

More of the same again to start the second period before the Rising Stars took a bit of a hold on the game. They would get their second just over five minutes into the period. Tempest from Crotty for the Stars and the Stars would lead once again.

It wasn't long before it was a two goal lead for the visitors. A turn over that lead to a shot from the point, tipped in at close range from George Quinnell and the Blaze found themselves with a two-goal deficit to over come. With that, Head Coach Sean Alderson call his time out, to gather the troops and reset, which turned out to have worked.

Three minutes after the time out, Ashton Rudkin would half the deficit to one with a nice finish on a net-drive to make the score 2-3. And then another three minutes later, the game was tied. The powerplay unit struck again with a nice finish from Prosser with the assists going to C Wheeldon and Brooke-Smith.

A late penalty in the second on Stars was well killed and the game was tied headed into the third, 3-3.

A third period that saw a much improved performance by the NIHL Blaze, whom it was their turn to take a real hold of the game. Seven minutes into the final frame, we grabbed our first lead through a great tic-tac-toe play, finished off at the top of the crease by Jamie Lewis.

Forty seconds later, we would double our lead and it was a double for Kyle Nash. Another powerplay goal, worked nicely below the goal line and a jam play by Nash saw it sneak through the five hole and we would lead 5-3.

A bench minor for too-many-men half way through the third proved costly for the Rising Stars as Nash would again capitalise and score his hat-trick, from Sumner, would mean we led 6-3 after being down 1-3, with five unanswered.

A late shorthanded goal by the Stars brought the game back to two goals but a final lamp lit, again from a good play below the goal-line, would see Brookes cap off the game and a great third period and the NIHL Blaze would win this one by a score line of 7-4.