After narrowly missing the Playoffs in 2008 with a few tough losses at the end, the Blaze decided to apply a nearly identical strategy in their team's formulation in 2009, keeping nearly the same collection of top players and once again supplementing them with two young up and comers.

     The Blaze unfortunately could not manage to achieve quite the results needed to make the Postseason.  Performing solidly on all boards, they just seemed to be a little bit short time and time again, losing many close matches and just never seeming to quite get over the hump to the promiseland, ending up with the same record as 2008 in the end.

     Most notable by far for the Blaze was the continued incredible play by 2009 All Star, IM Angelo Young, remaining undefeated in the League, giving up only one draw in six games in 2009, despite being outrated in almost all his encounters. IM Jan van de Mortel also scored very solidly also being outrated in nearly all of his games.

     There is no question that Chicago has a talent pool large enough to make them a real force in the USCL, just seeming to need a little extra spark somewhere to bring them over the top from being a solid team to a Playoff bound one.  Given the huge array of enthusiastic fans and supporters the Blaze have, it should be interesting to see if that key ingredient can be found for the 2010 Season to allow the Blaze to enter the Playoffs for the first time.