The Bloomington PrairieThunder were a

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

professional

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 hock ...

team based in

Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area. Bloomington ...

. They were a member of the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

in the Turner Conference. The team was originally a member of the

United Hockey League The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league, with teams in the Unite ...

(later known as the International Hockey League) prior to its merger into the CHL in 2010. They played their home games at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

History

On September 12, 1999, John Butler and Mike Nelson, both of Bloomington, began formulating a plan to bring a minor league hockey team to

Central Illinois Central Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois that consists of the entire central third of the state, divided from north to south. Also known as the ''Heart of Illinois'', it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. Agri ...

. On August 18, 2004, ground was broken for the $37-million U.S. Cellular Coliseum, the arena that would become the home of the PrairieThunder. On September 20, 2005, the

(UHL) awarded Butler and Nelson a membership to obtain a franchise. On February 1, 2006, a contest was announced to name the new hockey franchise and on February 23, 2006, the official name was announced. "PrairieThunder" refers to a train called "Prairie Thunder" that passed through Bloomington in its early history. On July 20, 2006, the PrairieThunder unveiled their team logo, which featured a charging bison smashing its hooves into a sheet of ice. The team's colors were navy, silver, old gold, and white. *October 13, 2006: the PrairieThunder played their first game in franchise history, against the

Muskegon Lumberjacks The Muskegon Lumberjacks are a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League. They play in Muskegon, Michigan, at Mercy Health Arena. The Lumberjacks replaced the International Hockey League franchi ...

. They lost the contest 7–3. *October 14, 2006: the PrairieThunder played their first home game at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum against the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League, the original Inte ...

. This was also the PrairieThunder's first regular season victory, as they won the contest 4–2 before a crowd of 5,102. Andre Neic scored the first goal at the US Cellular Coliseum, at 4:20 of the first period. *February 17, 2007: Trevor Baker records the first

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

in franchise history. *January 27, 2007: Largest crowd in team history in attendance to see Lucas Horn, 5,488 (as of March 26, 2009) *January 12, 2008: Rookie goalie Loic Lacasse posts first shutout in franchise history in 2–0 win over Port Huron at U.S. Cellular Coliseum. *April 5, 2008: The PrairieThunder establish a professional hockey league record at all levels by scoring four goals in a 35-second span, during the first period in a 9–4 win at

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

. Scoring the goals were Jon Booras, John Nail, Neil Clark, and Brett Holmberg. The team was then featured in the April 21, 2008, edition of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' for the accomplishment. *July 12, 2008: PrairieThunder defenseman Rob Guinn was killed in auto accident in Iowa. This led the team to honor him on their jerseys and the ice during the 2008–09 season. *December 27, 2008: PrairieThunder center

Don Parsons Donald Parsons may refer to: * Donald F. Parsons, American former judge * Donald J. Parsons (1922–2016), American Episcopal bishop * Donald Parsons (businessman) (1930–2012), American businessman * Don Parsons (politician), member of the Ho ...

breaks the minor league career goals scored record by an American player with his 678th, passing Flint General Kevin Kerr. *December 3, 2009: PrairieThunder re-sign

Erie Otters The Erie Otters are a Major junior ice hockey team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Midwest division of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), one of only three American teams in the circuit. The team name refers to the North Am ...

forward

Michael Liambas Michael Liambas (born February 16, 1989) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward. He is currently an unrestricted free agent who most recently played with the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract with the Min ...

following his suspension from the

OHL OHL or Ohl may refer to: Initialisms *Latvian Hockey Higher League, known in Latvian as the ''Optibet hokeja līga'' *Oberste Heeresleitung, the Supreme Army Command of Germany in World War I *Obrascón Huarte Lain, a Spanish construction company * ...

for severely injuring

Kitchener Rangers The Kitchener Rangers are a major junior ice hockey team based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. The Rangers have won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL ...

defenceman Ben Fanelli. * June 1, 2010: The IHL makes major announcement that the IHL will merge with the

for the 2010–2011 season along with four other teams from the IHL (

Quad City Mallards The Quad City Mallards were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa that competed in the International Hockey League, Central Hockey League and ECHL. They were named after the Mallards team ...

Evansville IceMen The Evansville IceMen were a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL in Evansville, Indiana. The franchise was originally a member of the United Hockey League before it merged into the Central Hockey League in 2010. The franchise has won four po ...

Dayton Gems The Dayton Gems were a minor league ice hockey team based in Dayton, Ohio, and members of the International Hockey League from 1964 to 1977, and 1979–1980. In the fall of 1964, the lobby of their new arena, Hara Arena, had a natural gas exp ...

). * April 28, 2011: After the PrairieThunder was swept in the first round of the Central Hockey League playoffs, team owner Tim Leighton failed to contact the U.S Cellular Coliseum for a lease extension after their five-year lease ended. * May 23, 2011: East Coast investors Gary DelBuono and Sandra Hunnewell were approved of a new CHL expansion franchise to play in Bloomington for the 2011–12 season. They also announced that former PrairieThunder players would play for the new Bloomington CHL franchise. Former PrairieThunder general manager Jim Riggs would also be the GM of the new CHL franchise in Bloomington, the

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 downto ...

Season by season records

Mascot

The team held a name-the-mascot contest, sponsored by the ''

Bloomington Pantagraph ''The Pantagraph'' is a daily newspaper that serves Bloomington–Normal, Illinois, along with 60 communities and eight counties in the Central Illinois area. Its headquarters are in Bloomington and it is owned by Lee Enterprises. The name is d ...

'', to find a name for the mascot. Megan Fish, a 12-year-old sixth-grader at Chiddix Junior High School, was the first of 12 individuals to submit the name Chip. The next most popular entry was "Boomer", which had seven submissions. Chip the Buffalo made his first public appearance at the open house and public scrimmage held by the PrairieThunder on October 4, 2006, interacting with fans and signing autographs.

References

External links

PrairieThunder Hockey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloomington Prairiethunder Defunct Central Hockey League teams International Hockey League (2007–2010) teams Professional ice hockey teams in Illinois Ice hockey teams in Illinois Defunct ice hockey teams in Illinois Ice hockey clubs established in 2006 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2011

Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

2006 establishments in Illinois 2011 disestablishments in Illinois