The Nashville Ice Flyers (named the Nashville Nighthawks for the 1996–97 season) were a 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 h ...

franchise that played in 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 ...

from 1996–

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. Based in Nashville,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, they played their home games at

Nashville Municipal Auditorium The Nashville Municipal Auditorium is an indoor sports and concert venue in Nashville, Tennessee. It opened October 7, 1962 with both an arena and exhibition hall. The former exhibition hall has been permanent home to the Musicians Hall of Fame ...

1997–98 season

Alexsandr Chunchukov lead the team in points in the 1997–98 season, with 102 points. Iain Duncan also played for the Ice Flyers in the 1997–98 season. Duncan had previously spent time in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

and the AHL. David Lohrei was the head coach for the 1997–98 season. Lohrei and his staff brought in 17 new players after taking over, many of whom were rookies in the league. The Ice Flyers powered their way to 41 wins in 1997–98, but were defeated by the

Columbus Cottonmouths The Columbus Cottonmouths were a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Georgia. The team is nicknamed the Snakes and played their home games at the Columbus Civic Center. In 2017, the team suspended operations after failing to find a ne ...

in the second round of the CHL playoffs. Scott Mikesh and Kevin McCaffrey assisted Lohrei with the coaching duties. The team folded shortly after the season, as the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

, an expansion franchise of the

, began play a few blocks away at

Nashville Arena Bridgestone Arena (originally Nashville Arena, and formerly Gaylord Entertainment Center and Sommet Center) is a multi-purpose venue in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1996, it is the home of the Nashville Predators of ...

for the

1998–99 NHL season The 1998–99 NHL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Hockey League. The league expanded to 27 teams with the addition of the Nashville Predators. The Dallas Stars finished first in regular season play, and won the Stanley Cup cham ...

References

1996 establishments in Tennessee 1998 disestablishments in Tennessee Defunct Central Hockey League teams Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States Ice hockey teams in Tennessee Ice hockey clubs established in 1996 Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1998 Sports in Nashville, Tennessee {{Tennessee-sport-team-stub