Guildford boss Paul Dixon quickly turned his attention to next season after the Flames were blown away by MK Lightning in the EPL play-offs at the weekend.

The teams were tied 3-3 at the end of the second period of Saturday’s semi-final tie, but five unanswered goals by Lightning in the final sessions ended Guildford’s hopes of victory.

The Flames are set to join the Elite League for the 2017/18 campaign and Dixon admitted the club faces a busy summer.

“We had a great run to advance this far by finishing on top of a very tough group,” said Dixon.

“When you get to the one-off games you just never know what is going to happen, and clearly giving up five goals in a very short period of time was something we did not expect.

“We had some ups and downs this season, but with the exception of the final ten minutes, we had a play-off stretch that we can be very proud of to close out the year.

“It could be seen as a cruel and abrupt end, but we are going to view the play-offs as a whole and look at how we managed to turn things around compared to the earlier parts of the season.

“We are now moving up to top flight so there will be a very large number of changes to our roster, and I want these players to know that they did themselves proud in the last competition they will spend as a member of this club.

“It is now time for us to look ahead to next season, and start looking at a line-up we think can compete in the country’s top level of pro hockey.”

(Image permission: Tony Sargent)