Evansville Thunderbolts

Evansville Thunderbolts
City Evansville, Indiana
League Southern Professional Hockey League
Founded 2016 (2016)
Home arena Ford Center
Colors

Red, white, blue

              
Owner(s) Mike Hall
Head coach Jeff Pyle
Franchise history
2016–present Evansville Thunderbolts

The Evansville Thunderbolts are a minor league ice hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League announced to begin in the 2016–17 season. The team is set to play at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. The team replaced the Evansville IceMen of the ECHL.

History

During the 2015–16 season, the City of Evansville and the owner of the ECHL's Evansville IceMen, Ron Geary, were unable to agree to a new lease for the IceMen to continue to operate out of the Ford Center.[1] On January 19, 2016, Geary announced that he had agreed to terms with the nearby city of Owensboro, Kentucky to relocate the team to the Owensboro Sports Center.[2]

On February 8, 2016, Evansville mayor, Lloyd Winnecke, announced that local businessman and IceMen season ticket holder, Mike Hall, had secured an expansion team in the Southern Professional Hockey League to play at the Ford Center beginning in the 2016–17 season, thus displacing the IceMen franchise from Evansville.[3] On March 1, the City of Evansville and the new team signed a five-year lease agreement to play at the Ford Center.[4]

On March 22, 2016, former IceMen head coach Jeff Pyle was announced as the head coach for its inaugural season.[5] The new team name was announced on April 15, 2016.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "A Letter To IceMen Fans, From Team Owner Ron Geary". Evansville IceMen. November 16, 2015.
  2. ↑ "BREAKING: Evansville IceMen Announce Move". The Sin Bin. January 19, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Evansville will be home to Southern Professional Hockey League franchise". Evansville Courier & Press. February 8, 2016.
  4. ↑ "City signs lease contract with new hockey team". Evansville Courier & Press. March 1, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Jeff Pyle returning to coach Evansville’s SPHL hockey team". Evansville Courier & Press. March 22, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Evansville Announces New SPHL Team Name". Tristate Homepage. April 15, 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.