Wichita Thunder

Wichita Thunder
2015–16 ECHL season
City	Wichita, Kansas, U.S.
League	ECHL
Conference	Western
Division	Central
Founded	1992 (In the CHL)
Home arena	Intrust Bank Arena
Owner(s)	Rodney Steven Brandon Steven Johnny Steven
General manager	Joel Lomurno
Head coach	Vacant
Captain	Ian Lowe
Media	The Wichita Eagle KAKE-TV KWCH
Affiliates	Independent
Franchise history
1992–present	Wichita Thunder
Championships
Regular season titles	3 (1993–94, 1994–95, 2011–12)
Conference Championships	1 (1997–98, 2011–12)
Ray Miron President's Cup	2 (1993–94, 1994–95)

The Wichita Thunder are a minor league hockey team based in Wichita, Kansas, United States. The team played in the Central Hockey League from 1992 until 2014, and then in the ECHL since the 2014–15 season. From 1992 until December 2009 the Thunder played in the Britt Brown Arena located in the northern Wichita suburb of Park City. In January 2010 (the second half of the 2009–10 season), the team began playing its home games at the newly built Intrust Bank Arena.

Franchise history

Early history (1992–95)

The Thunder were one of the first six original teams of the second iteration of the Central Hockey League, along with the Oklahoma City Blazers, Tulsa Oilers, Memphis RiverKings, Dallas Freeze and the Fort Worth Fire.

Wichita played their first home game at Britt Brown Arena on November 4, 1992 in front of a crowd of 5,486. In the same season the Thunder had their first sellout in team history, the crowd of 9,686 fans watched the Thunder defeat Oklahoma City 4-3.

The Thunder were originally coached by Gary Fay, but after a 6-20 start he was replaced by Doug Shedden. Although they started out with a 6-20 record the season was quickly turned around by Shedden and they finished their first season with a 25-32-2 record. On April 5, 1993, Thunder goaltender Robert Desjardins was named the first CHL Rookie of the Year.

In the following two seasons the Thunder were the Regular Season Champions (Adams Cup) and Playoff Champions (William Levins Memorial Cup) for both seasons. Ron Handy was the Playoff Most Valuable Player for both seasons, he is the only player in Central Hockey League history to win the award on multiple occasions. In the 1993–94 season Doug Shedden won the Coach of the Year award, Robert Desjardins won the Regular Season Most Valuable Player award and Paul Jackson won the Scoring Champion award.

On May 14, 1995, Head Coach Doug Shedden resigned to become coach of the Louisiana IceGators of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL).

Don Jackson (1995–96)

Don Jackson was hired as the new head coach on July 21, 1995. He led the Thunder to a 22-39-3 record and missed the playoffs for the second time in franchise history.

On July 19, 1996, Don Jackson resigned to become head coach of the Kansas City Blades of the International Hockey League (IHL).

Bryan Wells Era (1996–01)

In July 1996, Bryan Wells was named the Thunder's fourth head coach in franchise history. Wells would go on to coach the Thunder for five seasons, they made the playoffs four out of the five seasons he coached. On May 2, 2001, Wells was dismissed as head coach.

James Latos (2001–03)

After the dismissal of Coach Wells the Thunder announced that James Latos would be the new head coach. In Lato's first season coaching the team went 24-34-6 and were out of the playoffs. Latos was fired the following season after a disappointing start of just 8-19-7.

Derek Laxdal (2003–05)

Just five days after coach Lato's dismissal, the Thunder announced that Derek Laxdal would become the team's new head coach. Laxdal went on to coach the Thunder for two more seasons comprising an 87-58-8 record while clinching two separate playoff berths. On August 3, 2005, Laxdal announced his resignation in order to become head coach of the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads.

Present

On October 7, 2014, soon before the 2014–15 CHL season was set to begin, it was announced that the Central Hockey League ceased operations and the Thunder, along with the Allen Americans, Brampton Beast, Quad City Mallards, Missouri Mavericks, Rapid City Rush and Tulsa Oilers, were all approved for membership into the ECHL for the 2014–15 season.^[1][2] The team finished 5th out of 7 teams in the Central Division, scoring 73 points out of 144.

Players

Current roster

Updated October 28, 2015^[3]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace	Contract
10		Baptista, MasonMason Baptista	C	L	26	2015	North York, Ontario	Thunder
5		Blazek, AndrewAndrew Blazek	D	L	27	2015	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Thunder
91		DeLuca, AnthonyAnthony DeLuca	LW	L	21	2015	Rosemere, Quebec	Thunder
40		Fiddler, ToddTodd Fiddler	LW	L	22	2015	Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan	Thunder
18		Flath, R.G.R.G. Flath	F	R	31	2011	Park City, Utah	Thunder
81		Gauthier, DanickDanick Gauthier	LW	L	24	2014	Repentigny, Quebec	Thunder
4		Harris, DonnieDonnie Harris	D	R	25	2015	Lavale, Maryland	Thunder
21		Hosmer, ToddTodd Hosmer	LW	L	28	2014	Scarborough, Ontario	Thunder
12		Huff, AndrewAndrew Huff	LW	R	23	2015	Howell, Michigan	Thunder
20		Leroux, PaxtonPaxton Leroux	LW	R	23	2015	Peterborough, Ontario	Thunder
22		Lizon, ErickErick Lizon	RW	R	30	2011	Kitchener, Ontario	Thunder
13		Lowe, IanIan Lowe (C)	C	R	29	2012	Bradwardine, Manitoba	Thunder
7		Martell, BrandonBrandon Martell	D	L	27	2015	Andover, Minnesota	Thunder
6		Milan, DanDan Milan (A)	D	L	24	2014	Detroit, Michigan	Thunder
28		Miller, KentonKenton Miller	C	L	25	2014	Redvers, Saskatchewan	Thunder
14		Neal, MichaelMichael Neal (A)	LW	L	27	2015	Whitby, Ontario	Thunder
24		Peckham, TheoTheo Peckham	D	L	28	2015	Richmond Hill, Ontario	Thunder
8		Reum, DaltonDalton Reum	D	R	23	2014	Camrose, Alberta	Thunder
37		Rollheiser, GrantGrant Rollheiser	G	L	26	2015	Chilliwack, British Columbia	Thunder
2		Ruikka, RyanRyan Ruikka	D	R	28	2015	Chelsea, Michigan	Thunder
90		Sakaris, PeterPeter Sakaris	W	L	23	2015	Candiac, Quebec	Thunder
1		Shantz, DavidDavid Shantz	G	L	30	2015	Burlington, Ontario	Thunder
19		Sides, JoeyJoey Sides	LW	L	30	2015	Sun Valley, Idaho	Thunder

Retired numbers

• 9 - Ron Handy
• 11 - Jason Duda
• 15 - Rob Weingartner
• 35 - Robert Desjardins
• 38 - Travis Clayton

Leaders

Head coaches

Name	Year(s) Coached	Record
Gary Fay	1992	6 - 20
Doug Shedden	1992–1995	103 - 49 - 12
Don Jackson	1995–1996	22 - 50 - 29
Bryan Wells	1996–2001	161 - 146 - 39
James Latos	2001–2003	32 - 53 - 13
Sean O'Reilly	Interim Coach	1 - 0 - 0
Derek Laxdal	2003–2005	87 - 58 - 8
Mark French	2005–2007	70 - 56 - 16
Rob Weingartner	2007–2008	16 - 29 - 2
Brent Bilodeau	2008–2009	22 - 52
Jason Duda	Interim Coach	7 - 40 - 4
Kevin McClelland	2010–2016	194 - 166 - 48

General managers

Name	Appointment	Departure
Bill Shuck	1992	2002
David Holt	2003	2005
Chris Presson	2005	2008
Joel Lomurno	2008	Present

CHL awards and trophies

The following lists the league awards which have been won by the Thunder team and its players:^[4]

William Levins Memorial Cup 1993–94, 1994–95 Adams Cup 1993–94, 1994–95 Coach of the Year Doug Shedden: 1993–94 Kevin McClelland: 2011–12 Joe Burton Award Jason Duda: 2004–05 Ken McKenzie Trophy Paul Jackson: 1993–94 Playoff Most Valuable Player Ron Handy: 1993–94, 1994–95

Most Outstanding Defenseman Paul Esdale: 2004–05 Andrew Martens: 2010–11 Kevin Young: 2012–13 Rick Kozuback Award Jason Duda: 2009–10 Rookie of the Year Robert Desjardins: 1992–93 Cory Dosdall: 1996–97 David Beauregard: 1997–98 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (North) Joe Blaznek: 2005–06

References

1. "CHL Clubs Join ECHL for 2014-15 Season". Central Hockey League. October 7, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
2. "ECHL Accepts Seven Members". ECHL. October 7, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
3. "Wichita Thunder Roster - Wichita Thunder Hockey". Wichita Thunder. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
4. "Central Hockey League Historical Award Winners". Retrieved November 6, 2010.

External links

• Wichita Thunder official site
• Wichita Thunder official message board