They were the longest-serving Scottish team in ice hockey’s top flight, but as Edinburgh Capitals bow out of the Elite League, it’s a sad goodbye to everyone’s favourite underdog.

They’ve spent 13 years taking on the best of what the league had to offer in terms of talent and while there’s no trophy to reflect on in that time, they definitely made a contribution to the league.

Whether they can find a way back after losing their ice time to what was meant to be a revitalised Murrayfield Racers, who themselves were rejected from taking the Capitals’ place in the UK top flight last week, only time will tell.

The Caps reached the play-offs only five times in that 13-year stint, one of which by default with the league having only eight teams in their first season back in 2005/06.

The other four were through top eight finishes, three of which under Doug Christiansen, a coach who later won the league with Belfast Giants in 2012 and coached the GB national team and the other in 2013 under Richard Hartmann, more recently assistant coach at Braehead Clan.

Former captain, Slovakian Martin Cingel was the last captain to lead them into the play-offs five years ago and is their highest-ever appearance maker with 443 in all competitions. He admits the fact they were a team who knew they would never compete was almost something to be proud of.

“Our fans understood our limitations, but when you look back at the days when Doug was our coach, we reached the play-offs and other teams had to come to us to earn the points. They knew we could punish them,” he said.

“We realised as players we couldn’t compete financially with some of the other teams and, being honest, we were never a team that would be up there when it came to silverware.

“The highlight of the Capitals, for me, would have to be the fact that despite the limitations on the budget, they always tried to be competitive, something the fans appreciated. We wouldn’t beat the top teams week in and week out, we always made it tough for them.”

Their home rink of Murrayfield Ice Rink was a place to experience, perhaps the only sporting venue in Scotland where extra layers were more a requirement than a luxury as they played host on Sunday nights. Indeed, it was often colder inside the place than it was out.

The fans were a hardy bunch, making as much noise as possible despite their limited numbers, averaging just under 1,000 per home game, highlighting the lack of parity compared to those teams regularly bringing in 3,000-6,000 in their rinks.

A game night in Murrayfield wouldn’t have been one without mascot ‘Pawz’ a lion who combined its Capitals jersey with a kilt, waving and greeting all fans as well as posing for more selfies than it was possible to count.

But this is a team that was a foundation for future GB internationals such as Ben O’Connor, recently a gold medal winner as Britain secured a return to the top flight of the World Championships as well as Mark Garside, Owen Fussey and Jeff Hutchins.

The big question though is, will we ever see them back at the top table of UK ice hockey? Cingel remains hopeful, at least for the fans, but admits it’s a tough one to consider after what has happened.

He added: “I hope we can get Elite League ice hockey back in Edinburgh one day. Certainly, the fans deserve it, but it’s a tough question to ask right now. It’s one of the best cities in the UK and hopefully we’ll be in stands watching it again soon.”