The Quad City Mallards were a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

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 the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...

area of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

that competed in the International Hockey League,

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 ...

and

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 ...

. They were named after the Mallards team that played in 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 ...

from 1995 to 2007, this Mallards franchise marked their debut in 2009 in the International Hockey League. The Mallards played their home games at

TaxSlayer Center The Vibrant Arena at The MARK, formerly known as The MARK of the Quad Cities, the iWireless Center, and the TaxSlayer Center is a 12,000-seat multi-purpose arena located in Moline, Illinois. The facility opened in May 1993, under the name The MA ...

Moline, Illinois Moline ( ) is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in 2020, it is the largest city in Rock Island County. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline, Illinois, East M ...

. The Mallards ceased operations at the conclusion of the 2017–18 ECHL season. The Mallards were replaced by the

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 Vi ...

of 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 following season.

History

The original Mallards franchise played in the Quad Cities from the 1995–96 season through the 2006–07 season. Their first two seasons were played in the Colonial Hockey League, which was renamed the

(UHL) in 1997. The Mallards were an overwhelming success in their first few years, with attendance figures that regularly topped 6,000 per game. Attendance peaked in the 1997–98 season at over 8,500 fans per game, and while it declined, average attendance remained over 6,000 fans per game through the 2001–02 season. It continued to drop until it reached a low of 3,120 fans per game in the Mallards' final UHL season in 2006–07. In 2009, a new ownership group, headed by Eric Karls, brought the Mallards name back after two seasons. On May 11, 2011, the Mallards originally ceased operations due to a lack of funding, but almost a month later, Club 9 Sports, a consortium between Chicago-based investment bank Prometheus Capital Partners, LLC, management and consulting firm Tobacco Road Capitalists and sports management and marketing firm ScheerSports, Inc. (headed by former

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

general manager Carl Scheer) bought the team from former owner Eric Karls and announced the team would return for the 2011–12 Central Hockey League season. The franchise, as well as the entire CHL, ran into financial difficulties during the 2012–13 season. The entire league was then operated by the T&M Group of Companies, the company that owns

Boston Pizza Boston Pizza (BP), known as Boston's The Gourmet Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar outside of Canada, is a Canadian multinational restaurant chain that owns and franchises locations in Canada, the United States and Mexico. History Boston Pizza ...

. The Mallards' ownership group, T&M Management Services, was headed by Jordan Melville, son of Boston Pizza founder George Melville. At the end of the season, Melville's organization obtained the Mallards' franchise in June 2013. On August 27, 2013, a new affiliation agreement was announced between 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 ...

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

, its

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 se ...

affiliate

Iowa Wild The Iowa Wild are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League, that began play for the 2013–14 season. The team plays at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, as the AHL affiliate of the NHL's Minnesota Wild. The team was f ...

, and the Mallards. On October 7, 2014, soon before the 2014–15 Central Hockey League season was set to begin, it was announced that the Central Hockey League ceased operations and the Mallards, along with the

Allen Americans The Allen Americans are a professional ice hockey team headquartered at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, which currently plays in the ECHL. The team was founded in 2009 in the Central Hockey League (CHL) where they played ...

Brampton Beast The Brampton Beast were a professional ice hockey team based in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. The team originally played in the Central Hockey League for one year during the 2013–14 season prior to the league's folding before joining the ECHL f ...

Missouri Mavericks The Kansas City Mavericks are an ice hockey team in the ECHL. Founded in 2009 as the Missouri Mavericks of the Central Hockey League, CHL, the team plays in Independence, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, at the Cable Dahmer Arena. H ...

Rapid City Rush The Rapid City Rush are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL based in Rapid City, South Dakota, and play their home games at The Monument. The Rush are currently a minor affiliate of the Calgary Flames NHL franchise. History On June 2, ...

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tuls ...

and

Wichita Thunder The Wichita Thunder are a minor league hockey team based in Wichita, Kansas. 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 ...

, were all approved the expansion membership application into the

for the 2014–15 season. In 2017, the Mallards signed a multi-year affiliation with the NHL expansion team, the

Vegas Golden Knights The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Founded in 2017 as an expan ...

, and their AHL affiliate, the

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

, for the 2017–18 season ending their four-year affiliation with the Wild. However, the Mallards would only play one season with the Golden Knights' affiliation as the team would cease operations. Owner Jordan Melville stated he was folding the team due to losing the passion for operating the team and losing about US$4 million since he became the sole owner in 2013. A new ownership group obtained a team in the

called the

to replace the Mallards at the TaxSlayer Center for the 2018–19 season.

Season-by-season records

References

External links

Official Quad City Mallards website
{{IHL Professional ice hockey teams in Illinois Central Hockey League teams ECHL teams International Hockey League (2007–2010) teams

Mallards The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced species, introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Bra ...

Ice hockey clubs established in 2009 2009 establishments in Illinois Philadelphia Flyers minor league affiliates Minnesota Wild minor league affiliates Vegas Golden Knights minor league affiliates 2018 disestablishments in Illinois Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2018