The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) is a

professional ice hockey Professional ice hockey (hockey) is the competition of ice hockey in which participants are paid to play. Professional competition began in North America in the United States in Pennsylvania and Michigan and in Canada around 1900. Professional ice ...

independent minor league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the

southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

as well as Illinois and Indiana in the

midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

. Following the 2021-22 season, the

Peoria Rivermen Peoria Rivermen is the name of four minor league hockey clubs: *Peoria Rivermen (IHL), named as such 1984–1996, formerly the Peoria Prancers 1982–1984 *Peoria Rivermen (ECHL), 1996–2005 *Peoria Rivermen (AHL), 2005–2013 *Peoria Rivermen (SP ...

are the reigning President's Cup champions. As of 2022, the

Knoxville Ice Bears The Knoxville Ice Bears are a professional ice hockey team. The team competes in the Southern Professional Hockey League. They play their home games at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Ice Bears have made the playoff ...

are the most successful team in SPHL history, having won five William B. Coffey Trophies as the regular season champions and four President's Cup playoff championships. The Peoria Rivermen have also won four William B. Coffey Trophies, while Pensacola has also won four President's Cups.

History

The SPHL's history traces back to three other short-lived leagues. The

Atlantic Coast Hockey League The Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) was a minor league hockey organization that operated between 1981 and 1987. The league was founded by Bill Coffey. The Bob Payne Trophy was awarded to the team who won the league playoff championship. Acc ...

started play in the 2002–03 season. After its only season, the ACHL dissolved with member teams forming the nucleus for two rival leagues, the

South East Hockey League South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

and the

World Hockey Association 2 The World Hockey Association 2 was a minor professional ice hockey league created at the instigation of the organizers of the proposed recreated World Hockey Association to serve as its development league. The WHA2 teams — some of which had ...

. After one season the SEHL and WHA2 disbanded, with their surviving teams rejoining with two expansion teams to form the SPHL, commencing with the 2004–05 season. In 2009, the SPHL saw a large expansion with three new franchises, 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 ...

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette (, ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the most populous city and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth largest incorporated municipality by population and the 234th- ...

and

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

. In 2010, the league added an expansion team in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

, another former long time ECHL market. For the 2011–12 season, the league added two-time

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 ...

champions, the

Mississippi RiverKings The Mississippi RiverKings were a professional minor league ice hockey team. The RiverKings were a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League from 2011 to 2018 after playing their first nineteen seasons (1992–2011) in the Central Ho ...

. For the 2013–14 season, the league lost the Augusta RiverHawks but also expanded northward with two franchises in

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 ...

: the Bloomington Thunder, a team also moving from the CHL, where they were known as 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 ...

, and the

, who were replacing an

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 ...

team of the same name in their market. In 2015, the Augusta franchise returned and relocated to

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

as the

Macon Mayhem The Macon Mayhem are a Southern Professional Hockey League team based in Macon, Georgia, and play in the Macon Coliseum. The team was formerly the Augusta RiverHawks, who suspended operations for the 2013–14 season due to ice system failure at Ja ...

. In November 2014,

Shannon Szabados Shannon Lynn Szabados (; born August 6, 1986) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the PWHPA and the Canada women's national ice hockey team. Szabados had played for the MacEwan University Griffins and the NAIT Ooks men's hock ...

became the first female goaltender to win an SPHL game, when the Columbus Cottonmouths defeated the Fayetteville FireAntz 5–4 in overtime. In that same game Erin Blair and Katie Guay became the first female officials to referee an SPHL game. At the end of the 2015–16 season, the Louisiana IceGators announced a one-year leave of absence for renovations to their arena but never returned. The IceGators' franchise was sold and reactivated as 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 ...

in 2018. Then in 2016, the dormant

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 ...

franchise was relocated to

Southwest Virginia Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Located within the broader region of western Virginia, Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Virg ...

to become the

Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs are a professional ice hockey team and a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League. Based in Roanoke, Virginia, the Rail Yard Dawgs play their home games at Berglund Center. History The Rail Yard Dawgs are t ...

. One of the inaugural SPHL teams, 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 ...

, suspended operations in 2017 after failing to find a buyer while an expansion team called the Birmingham Bulls were accepted into the league as the tenth team. Following the 2017–18 season, the

suspended operations while the league searched for new owners. With the acceptance of the

, the league was able to remain at ten teams for the 2018–19 season. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the 2019–20 season was curtailed and no champion was named. The following season, the league announced it would only play with five of the ten member teams due to pandemic-related capacity restrictions barring fans from attending games. During the season, the league approved of the

Vermilion County Bobcats The Vermilion County Bobcats were a professional ice hockey team in Danville, Illinois, that began play in the 2021–22 season as a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League. They ceased operations effective February 9, 2023. History D ...

as a 2021–22 expansion team based in

Danville, Illinois Danville is a city in and the county seat of Vermilion County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 33,027. As of 2019, the population was an estimated 30,479. History The area that is now Danville was once home to the Miami, K ...

Teams

2021–22 members

;Note

Timeline

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize = width:750 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:former value:rgb(0.95,0.5,0.4) id:hiatus value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2005 text: Asheville Aces (2004–2005) bar:2 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/03/2017 text:

(2004–2017) bar:3 color:red from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2017 text:

Fayetteville FireAntz The Fayetteville Marksmen are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. They currently play in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) and play their home games in the Crown Coliseum. The team, o ...

(2004–2017) bar:3 color:red from:06/01/2017 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text:

Fayetteville Marksmen The Fayetteville Marksmen are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. They currently play in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) and play their home games in the Crown Coliseum. The team, o ...

(2017–present) bar:3 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021 bar:3 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end bar:4 color:red from:07/01/2004 till:end text:

Huntsville Havoc The Huntsville Havoc are a professional ice hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). They play their home games at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville, Alabama. History The team began play in the 2004–05 season ...

(2004–present) bar:5 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2008 text:

Jacksonville Barracudas The Jacksonville Barracudas were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They were established in 2002, and played in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (2002–2003), the World Hockey Association 2 (2003–2004), ...

(2004–2008) bar:6 color:red from:07/01/2004 till:end text:

(2004–present) bar:7 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2005 text:

Macon Trax The Macon Trax were a minor-league professional ice hockey team based in Macon, Georgia. They played in the low minor leagues Atlantic Coast Hockey League (2002–03), World Hockey Association 2 (2003–04) and Southern Professional Hockey Lea ...

(2004–2005) bar:8 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2005 text: Winston-Salem Polar Twins (2004–2005) bar:9 color:former from:07/01/2005 till:01/04/2007 text:

Florida Seals The Florida Seals were a minor league ice hockey franchise, a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). Originally based in Orlando, Florida, as the Orlando Seals, they later moved to Kissimmee, Florida, a suburb thirty miles so ...

(2005–2007) bar:10 color:former from:07/01/2005 till:03/31/2007 shift:-40 text:

Pee Dee Cyclones Originally called the Pee Dee Cyclones, the Twin City Cyclones were a minor league ice hockey team based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They began play in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) in the 2005–06 season. In the 2005–0 ...

(2005–2007) bar:10 color:former from:04/24/2007 till:03/31/2009 shift:(40) text:

Twin City Cyclones Originally called the Pee Dee Cyclones, the Twin City Cyclones were a minor league ice hockey team based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They began play in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) in the 2005–06 season. In the 2005� ...

(2007–2009) bar:11 color:former from:07/01/2006 till:05/01/2009 text:

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 ...

(2006–2009) bar:12 color:former from:07/01/2009 till:06/30/2016 text: Louisiana IceGators (2009–2016) bar:12 color:red from:07/01/2018 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text:

(2018–present) bar:12 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021 bar:12 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end bar:13 color:former from:07/01/2009 till:05/02/2014 text:

(2009–2014) bar:13 color:red from:07/01/2016 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text:

(2016–present) bar:13 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021 bar:13 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end bar:14 color:red from:07/01/2009 till:end text:

Pensacola Ice Flyers The Pensacola Ice Flyers are a professional ice hockey team of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The team played their first season in 2009–10. Home games are played at the Pensacola Bay Center, previously home to the ECHL's Pensacola I ...

(2009–present) bar:15 color:former from:07/01/2010 till:05/14/2013 text: Augusta RiverHawks (2010–2013) bar:15 color:red from:07/10/2015 till:end text:

(2015–present) bar:16 color:former from:07/01/2011 till:06/30/2018 text:

(2011–2018) bar:17 color:former from:07/01/2013 till:05/01/2014 text: Bloomington Thunder (2013–2014) bar:18 color:red from:07/01/2013 till:10/06/2020 text:

(2013–present) bar:18 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021 bar:18 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end bar:19 color:red from:07/01/2016 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text:

Evansville Thunderbolts The Evansville Thunderbolts are a minor league ice hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League. The team plays at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. The team replaced the Evansville IceMen of the ECHL. History During the 2015� ...

(2016–present) bar:19 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021 bar:19 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end bar:20 color:red from:07/01/2017 till:end shift:0 text: Birmingham Bulls (2017–present) bar:21 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end shift:-100 text:

(2021–present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2004

Defunct and relocated teams

* Asheville Aces (2004–05) * Augusta RiverHawks (2010–13) Moved to

, as the Mayhem for the 2015–16 season. * Bloomington Thunder (2013–14) Membership terminated to make way for a team in the

United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly ...

. *

(2004–17) Inaugural member of the SPHL, suspended operations when ownership could no longer fund the team; could return under new ownership; in 2019 Columbus moved to the FPHL league and became the Columbus River Dragons. *

(2005–07) Membership terminated in the middle of the 2006–07 SPHL season. *

(2004–08) Suspended for the 2008–09 season and dissolved. * Louisiana IceGators (2009–16) Suspended operations for the 2016–17 season claiming the arena needed the year for renovations but later dissolved. In 2018, the franchise was sold and became the Quad City Storm. *

(2004–05) *

(2011–18) Joined from the

in 2011, ownership suspended operations in 2018 while the league searches for new owners. *

(2009–14) Moved to

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is lo ...

, as the Rail Yard Dawgs for the 2016–17 season. *

(2005–07) Moved to

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...

. *

(2006–09) *

(2007–09) * Winston-Salem Polar Twins (2004–05)

Key rule differences

As per minor leagues, there are some rule differences between the SPHL and the NHL (and even the ECHL and the AHL, the two official developmental leagues regulated by the

Professional Hockey Players' Association The Professional Hockey Players' Association, or PHPA, is the labor union that represents the interests of hockey players in the American Hockey League and ECHL, the two largest minor leagues in North American professional ice hockey. Established i ...

). * A team may dress eighteen regular players to a game. Two players dressed for the game will be goaltenders. * A mouthpiece is required for all players except the goaltender. * No curvature of stick limitations as in the NHL, AHL, and ECHL. * Shootouts are five players. After five different players have made an attempt, teams may reuse anyone including those who have previously attempted in later rounds, even using the same player in consecutive rounds if desired.

Champions

President's Cup

Awarded to the league playoff champion.

William B. Coffey Trophy

Originally known as the Commissioner's Cup, the regular season championship trophy was renamed in honor of league co-founder

Bill Coffey Bill Coffey is a businessman and minor league sports entrepreneur. He is one of the founders of the ECHL (formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League). Founded in 1988, the ECHL is a minor professional ice hockey league that serves as a develo ...

during the 2007–08 season.

References

External links

*
Southern Professional Hockey League website
{{NAProHockey Professional ice hockey leagues in the United States Minor league ice hockey Sports in the Southern United States Companies based in Charlotte, North Carolina 2004 establishments in the United States Sports leagues established in 2004