The Mississippi Sea Wolves are a professional hockey team based in
Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated popu ...
, and play in the
Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Mississippi Coast Coliseum is an 11,500-seat reserved seating, 15,000 festival seating, multi-purpose arena in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was built in 1977. It hosted the WCW Beach Blast in 1993 and the Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tourname ...
. The Sea Wolves are members of the
FPHL
The Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league with teams in the Midwestern, Southern, and Northeastern United States. The FPHL began operations in November 2010 as the Federal Hockey League. ...
. They are a revival of a team by the same name that played in the
ECHL
The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL).
The E ...
, making them a
phoenix club
The Phoenix Building and Cincinnati Club are two historic buildings in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The membership of these two clubs was chiefly Jewish.
Located at 812 Race Street, the Phoenix Building was constructed in 1893, desi ...
.
The ECHL’s Sea Wolves were founded in 1996 and had considerable success over their 10 seasons in the league. They reached the playoffs in five of their first seven years and a league championship in 1999, when they defeated the
Richmond Renegades
The Richmond Renegades were an ECHL ice hockey team in Richmond, Virginia that played in the East Coast Hockey League from 1990 until 2003. The Renegades played at the Richmond Coliseum, which they marketed in later years as ''the Freezer''.
T ...
in a best of seven series to claim the
Kelly Cup.
Damages from
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
to the Mississippi Coast Coliseum forced the team to suspend operations for the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons under the ECHL's hardship provisions. Hurricane Katrina resulted in extensive damage to the team’s home arena, including flood damage to team offices and locker rooms as well as the ice-making equipment and two Zambonis. During the 2006–07 ECHL All-Star Game, the league officially confirmed the Sea Wolves would return in 2007–08.
On March 30, 2009, the Sea Wolves announced that the organization would be suspending operations again for the 2009–10 season, but a little more than a month later the team's management announced that professional hockey would continue to be played on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the form of the
Mississippi Surge
The Mississippi Surge were a professional hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League that began play in the 2009–10 season and folded on May 2, 2014. Playing for five seasons, the Surge was based in Biloxi and home games were played ...
in the
Southern Professional Hockey League
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 mid ...
. The Surge played at the Coast Coliseum from the 2009–10 season through 2013–14.
In 2021, the
Federal Prospects Hockey League
The Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league with teams in the Midwestern, Southern, and Northeastern United States. The FPHL began operations in November 2010 as the Federal Hockey League. D ...
hosted three neutral site games in Biloxi. Biloxi Pro Hockey sold 20,163 tickets in the month of December and an announcement was made on December 30 that the Sea Wolves would return in 2022. On April 27, 2022, the team announced Phil Esposito, a former ECHL player and winningest FPHL Head Coach, will serve as the teams first head coach in its FPHL history.
After a 2-9-2 start to their inaugural FPHL season, Esposito was relieved of his duties on November 28, to be replaced by team CEO, Defenseman, and director of Hockey Operations Joe Pace Jr. as interim Head Coach/Player.
History
References
External links
Sea Wolves Home Page
{{ECHLdefunct
Defunct ECHL teams
Tampa Bay Lightning minor league affiliates
Norfolk Admirals
Ice hockey teams in Mississippi
Arizona Coyotes minor league affiliates
Los Angeles Kings minor league affiliates
Minnesota Wild minor league affiliates
Montreal Canadiens minor league affiliates
Philadelphia Flyers minor league affiliates
Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States
1996 establishments in Mississippi
2009 disestablishments in Mississippi
Ice hockey clubs established in 1996
Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2009
Sports in Biloxi, Mississippi