The New Face of Hockey in the Lehigh Valley.

On February 9, 2011, after many years of energetic competition, the executive boards of the Bethlehem Blast and Lehigh Valley Comets Youth Hockey Clubs announced that the two organizations agreed to merge, and began to play the 2011-2012 DVHL season under a new name:

The Lehigh Valley Flames.

The merger was accepted by the DVHL board with overwhelming approval.

For many years, the Bethlehem Blast and Lehigh Valley Comets had competed against each other both on and off the ice. The competition was exciting and hard fought – but it also took its toll.  While each club was able to afford its members a quality experience — neither was able to reach the pinnacle of what a Lehigh Valley Youth Hockey organization could truly be.

Now… by finally coming together under the banner of the Lehigh Valley Flames… a major step has been taken to establish the Lehigh Valley as a premiere destination for Youth Hockey in Pennsylvania. By eliminating the division of Lehigh Valley’s talented youth between two hockey franchises operating in a small geographic area, the creation of the Lehigh Valley Flames is competing as a more successful and united organization.

Organizationally, the new parent organization, Lehigh Valley Youth Hockey, is able to reduce operational costs, and improve the performance and effectiveness of the franchise through player retention, unified management and coaching. We are establishing programs that allow for top-level play and retain the Lehigh Valley talent beyond the DVHL teams.

Our single, stronger organization is drawing back those who have left our Lehigh Valley hockey family in search of a stronger, more stable club. With the emergence of a unified Lehigh Valley Flames, those disenfranchised friends and former teammates that have returned to the Lehigh Valley have found an inclusive and powerful organization that meets their needs.

All of this – and more – leads us to one ultimate goal: To provide the youth of the Lehigh Valley the most rewarding hockey experience possible.

Identity.

In selecting a name and an identity for our organization,  we chose to honor both organizations’ proud histories. Our new name, The Lehigh Valley Flames, draws from both former teams’ names. From the Comets we draw imagery of a fiery, flaming tail of a comet — and from the Blast, the intense flames that explode from the historic blast furnaces after which the team took its name.

The Flames logo incorporates elements from the Blast and Comets logos — to pay respect to our histories — while at the same time establishing a new image for our new organization.