standings. After finishing runner-up in 1959–60, the Panthers took part in the first British Championship final in thirty years where they faced the Brighton Tigers. Nottingham were defeated 3–2 in the first leg but won the second in regulation time by the same scoreline forcing overtime. The Tigers clinched the tie 6–5 after six minutes and 32 seconds of the extra session. During the close season of 1960 the British National League collapsed and the Nottingham Panthers were disbanded. Ice hockey would not return to Nottingham for the next two decades. 1980–present: Modern era Ice Stadium years The Nottingham Panthers were revived largely thanks to the efforts of Gary Keward. In 1980 the Ice Stadium directors, led by Charles Walker, agreed to a request by Keward to give ice hockey another chance. The Sheffield Lancers, a team Keward helped to run, were relocated to Nottingham taking the name of the team that had occupied the same building 20 years earlier. On 20 September 1980 the modern Panthers took to the ice for the first time defeating the Solihull Barons 7–4 at the Ice Stadium. During their first three seasons the Panthers played in regional leagues, first in the English League South and then in Section B of the British Hockey League. In 1983 the British Hockey League reconstituted itself into the first truly national ice hockey league for 23 years and Nottingham became one of nine founder members of the league's Premier Division. The Panthers were one of the best supported teams in the league with games regularly selling out but success on the ice eluded them as the team struggled against more established opponents such as the Durham Wasps and the Murrayfield Racers. It was not until the appointment of Alex Dampier as coach in 1985 that the team's fortunes began to change. In his first season Dampier led Nottingham to the playoffs for the first time since reforming. The Panthers lost all four of their quarter final group games and failed to advance to the finals at Wembley Arena. In 1986 Nottingham secured their first trophy since reforming and their first overall in thirty years when they defeated the Fife Flyers 5–4 in overtime to win the Norwich Union Trophy at the NEC in Birmingham in front of a crowd of . Layton Eratt scored the winning goal after one minute and 53 seconds of the extra session