The St. Thomas Wildcats were a minor 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 in the

Colonial Hockey League Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

(CoHL) and played at the St. Thomas-Elgin Memorial Centre in St. Thomas, Ontario. The team was a founding member of the league and was owned by Doug Tarry, Sr. and later by Doug Tarry, Jr., who went on to purchase the

London Knights The London Knights are a junior ice hockey team from London, Ontario, Canada, playing in the Ontario Hockey League, one of the leagues of the Canadian Hockey League. The Knights started out in 1965 as the London Nationals but changed to their cu ...

in 1994. The team moved to nearby

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, in 1994 and became the

London Wildcats The St. Thomas Wildcats were a minor professional ice hockey team in the Colonial Hockey League (CoHL) and played at the St. Thomas-Elgin Memorial Centre in St. Thomas, Ontario. The team was a founding member of the league and was owned by Doug ...

with red and blue colours. After playing in London for the 1994–95 season, the franchise suspended operations for one year before moving to

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, and becoming the

Dayton Ice Bandits The Dayton Ice Bandits were a minor professional Colonial Hockey League team that played from 1996 to 1997 in Dayton, Ohio. The franchise was originally the St. Thomas Wildcats in St. Thomas, Ontario, one of the original franchises in the Coloni ...

. The Wildcats were Colonial Cup runners-up both in 1992 (losing to the

Thunder Bay Thunder Cats The Thunder Bay Thunder Cats was a minor professional ice hockey team based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, and a member of the United Hockey League. The team went through a number of different names prior to being the Thunder Cats, including th ...

) and 1993 (losing to the

Brantford Smoke The Brantford Smoke were a minor professional ice hockey team in the Colonial Hockey League and the United Hockey League. They played in Brantford, Ontario, from 1991–92 (the league's inaugural season) until 1997–98, playing home games at th ...

). The team's

NHL 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 ...

affiliations were the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

and

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

. During the 1992–93 season, the Wildcats were involved in two major incidents. The first was during the second round of the playoffs when the

players went into the stands after their coach was doused with beer by a fan. Players involved included

Mel Angelstad Melvin Angelstad (born October 31, 1971) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played two games in the National Hockey League with the Washington Capitals during the 2003–04 NHL season to become the first player to wear #69 in ...

and Bryan Wells. During the final round of the playoffs against the

, the two teams engaged in a bench-clearing brawl after the second game of the series after the Wildcats' Kent Hawley was speared when he went to pick up the game puck following the final whistle. All players were involved, including all four goaltenders.

See also