President's Cup (SPHL)
The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the southeastern United States as well as Illinois and Indiana in the midwestern United States. Following the 2021-22 season, the Peoria Rivermen are the reigning President's Cup champions. As of 2022, the Knoxville Ice Bears are the most successful team in SPHL history, having won five William B. Coffey Trophies as the regular season champions and four President's Cup playoff championships. The Peoria Rivermen have also won four William B. Coffey Trophies, while Pensacola has also won four President's Cups. History The SPHL's history traces back to three other short-lived leagues. The Atlantic Coast Hockey League started play in the 2002–03 season. After its only season, the ACHL dissolved with member teams forming the nucleus for two rival leagues, the South East Hockey League and the World Hockey Associ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ice Hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hockey sticks to control, advance and shoot a closed, vulcanized, rubber disc called a " puck" into the other team's goal. Each goal is worth one point. The team which scores the most goals is declared the winner. In a formal game, each team has six skaters on the ice at a time, barring any penalties, one of whom is the goaltender. Ice hockey is a full contact sport. Ice hockey is one of the sports featured in the Winter Olympics while its premiere international amateur competition, the IIHF World Championships, are governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for both men's and women's competitions. Ice hockey is also played as a professional sport. In North America as well as many European countries, the sport is known simply ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Augusta RiverHawks
The Augusta RiverHawks were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Augusta, Georgia. They played in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) from 2010 to 2013. They played their home games at the James Brown Arena. History The Augusta RiverHawks were established as a new franchise in the Southern Professional Hockey League in 2010 by Bob and Diane Kerzner, who had formerly owned a different franchise, the Pee Dee/Twin City Cyclones. The RiverHawks replaced the Augusta Lynx, who had played in the city for ten years in the ECHL before folding in 2008. The name "RiverHawks" was announced for the new club on March 13, 2010, as the winning result of a fan vote. The RiverHawks opened their inaugural season on the road on October 21, 2010, losing to the Fayetteville FireAntz. They had their home opener the following evening, against 2009–10 SPHL champions the Huntsville Havoc, ultimately losing 5–3, however they went on to place second in league by the season's clo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Southwest Virginia
Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Located within the broader region of western Virginia, Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Virginia counties on the Appalachian Plateau, all Virginia counties west of the Eastern Continental Divide, or at its greatest expanse, as far east as Blacksburg and Roanoke. Another geographic categorization of the region places it as those counties within the Tennessee River watershed. Regardless of how borders are drawn, Southwest Virginia differs from the rest of the commonwealth in that its culture is more closely associated with Appalachia than the other regions of Virginia. Historically, the region has been and remains a rural area, but in the 20th century, coal mining became an important part of its economy. With the decline in the number of coal jobs and the decline of tobacco as a cash crop, Southwest Virginia is increasingly tu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Quad City Storm
The Quad City Storm is a professional minor league hockey team to begin play in the 2018–19 season as a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The team is based in the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa, with home games at the Vibrant Arena at The MARK in Moline, Illinois. The team replaced the ECHL's Quad City Mallards after the ownership ceased operations of the team in 2018. Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Storm was one of several SPHL teams to not participate in the 2020–21 season. History In 2018, the Quad City Mallards' owner Jordan Melville stated he was folding the team after losing about US$4 million since he became the sole owner in 2013. On May 24, 2018, local ownership consisting of Ryan Mosley and John Dawson obtained a franchise in the Southern Professional Hockey League to replace the Mallards at the TaxSlayer Center for the 2018–19 season by purchasing the franchise rights of the defunct Louisiana IceGators. Former original ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shannon Szabados
Shannon Lynn Szabados (; born August 6, 1986) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the PWHPA and the Canada women's national ice hockey team. Szabados had played for the MacEwan University Griffins and the NAIT Ooks men's hockey teams of the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference from 2007 until 2013. Szabados has been the first female player at several different tournaments and in several leagues, including minor, junior, and professional hockey. While playing junior hockey, Szabados became the first female to appear in the Western Hockey League (WHL) where she played exhibition games for the Tri-City Americans. Szabados was also the first female to play in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), and recorded a shutout in her first game. After the 2006–07 season, Szabados was named the AJHL's Top Goaltender. During the 2013–14 season, Szabados became the first woman to both sign and play in the Southern Professional Hockey League. Szabados represented ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Macon Mayhem
The Macon Mayhem are a Southern Professional Hockey League team based in Macon, Georgia, and play in the Macon Coliseum. The team was formerly the Augusta RiverHawks, who suspended operations for the 2013–14 season due to ice system failure at James Brown Arena. History The franchise originally played in Augusta, Georgia, as the Augusta RiverHawks from 2010 to 2013. Talks of relocation started in October 2013, when the RiverHawks, the city of Augusta, and Global Spectrum failed to reach an agreement on replacing the James Brown Arena's ice system at a cost of $1.2 million; additionally, the team, city officials and arena officials could not reach a settlement regarding the eight home games lost due to the ice system's failure. Team owner Bob Kerzner had not initially considered relocating to Macon; however Macon Centreplex officials had contacted the league, showing interest in bringing a team, either by expansion or relocation, to Macon. On June 17, 2014, the Macon-Bibb Commis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Macon, Georgia
Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Georgia—hence the city's nickname, "The Heart of Georgia". Macon had a population of 157,346 in the year 2020. It is the principal city of the Macon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 233,802 in 2020. Macon is also the largest city in the Macon–Warner Robins Combined Statistical Area (CSA), a larger trading area with an estimated 420,693 residents in 2017; the CSA abuts the Atlanta metropolitan area just to the north. In a 2012 referendum, voters approved the consolidation of the governments of the City of Macon and Bibb County, thereby making Macon Georgia's fourth-largest city (just after Augusta). The two governments officially merged on January 1, 2014. Macon is served by three interstate highways: I-16 ( ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Fayetteville Observer
''The Fayetteville Observer'' is an American English-language daily newspaper published in Fayetteville, North Carolina. As the oldest North Carolina newspaper, the paper was founded in 1816 as the ''Carolina Observer''. It was locally owned by the McMurray family from 1923 to 2016, when it was acquired by GateHouse Media, which became Gannett in an acquisition in 2019. History The ''Fayetteville Observer'' is the oldest newspaper in North Carolina. It was founded in 1816 as the ''Carolina Observer''. The ''Fayetteville Observer'' was not published between 1865 and 1883, so the Wilmington '' Star-News'' (founded in 1867) is North Carolina's oldest continually published newspaper. The name was changed to the ''Fayetteville Observer'' in 1833. The ''Observer''s offices were destroyed by William T. Sherman's invading army in 1865. It was refounded as ''The Fayetteville Observer'' in 1883. W. J. McMurray bought the paper in 1923, and his family-owned Fayetteville Publishing ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peoria Rivermen (AHL)
The Peoria Rivermen were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Peoria, Illinois, at the Peoria Civic Center, Carver Arena. After the 2012–13 AHL season, the team relocated to Utica, New York, and became the Utica Comets. History In 2011, Dave Checketts announced that the St. Louis Blues, Scottrade Center, and the Peoria Rivermen were all for sale. On May 10, 2012, Tom Stillman purchased the Peoria Rivermen franchise. On August 30, the Rivermen signed a one-year affiliation agreement with the Evansville IceMen, an expansion team in the ECHL, cutting ties with the Alaska Aces (ECHL), Alaska Aces, who they were affiliated with since the Rivermen joined the AHL. On March 29, 2013, the Rivermen were purchased by the Vancouver Canucks. On April 18, 2013, the AHL approved the sale of the Peoria Rivermen to the Vancouver Canucks. On May 13, 2013, the Vancouver Canucks confirmed with Peoria Civic Center officials that they would not bring back the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL season, 2010–11 season, every team in the league has an affiliation agreement with one NHL team. When NHL teams do not have an AHL affiliate, players are assigned to AHL teams affiliated with other NHL teams. Twenty-six AHL teams are located in the United States and the remaining six are in Canada. The league offices are located in Springfield, Massachusetts, and its current president is Scott Howson. In general, a player must be at least 18 years of age to play in the AHL or not currently be beholden to a junior ice hockey team. The league limits the number of experienced professional players on a team's active roster during any given game; only five skaters can have accumulated four full seasons of play or more at the professional level ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bloomington Blaze
The Bloomington Thunder were a minor professional ice hockey team that was a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League. Based in Bloomington, Illinois, the Thunder played their home games at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum, located in downtown Bloomington. After two years in the Central Hockey League as the Bloomington Blaze, the Thunder played under new ownership and in the Southern Professional Hockey League in the 2013–14 season. Although the Blaze played at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum, they were not a continuation of the former Bloomington PrairieThunder franchise, who failed to reach an operating agreement with the Coliseum and folded on July 3, 2011. Their first season, the Blaze were coached by Paul Gardner. On May 15, 2013, it was announced that the Thunder, along with a new Peoria Rivermen team, would join the Southern Professional Hockey League for the 2013–14 season. The Peoria Rivermen of the AHL had been notified that the Vancouver Canucks, who had purchase ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bloomington Thunder (SPHL)
The Bloomington Thunder were a minor professional ice hockey team that was a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League. Based in Bloomington, Illinois, the Thunder played their home games at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum, located in downtown Bloomington. After two years in the Central Hockey League as the Bloomington Blaze, the Thunder played under new ownership and in the Southern Professional Hockey League in the 2013–14 season. Although the Blaze played at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum, they were not a continuation of the former Bloomington PrairieThunder franchise, who failed to reach an operating agreement with the Coliseum and folded on July 3, 2011. Their first season, the Blaze were coached by Paul Gardner. On May 15, 2013, it was announced that the Thunder, along with a new Peoria Rivermen team, would join the Southern Professional Hockey League for the 2013–14 season. The Peoria Rivermen of the AHL had been notified that the Vancouver Canucks, who had purchased ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |