The Utica Blizzard 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 hock ...

team from

Utica, New York Utica () is a Administrative divisions of New York, city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The List of cities in New York, tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 ...

, and member of 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) from 1994 to 1997. The Blizzard replaced the Utica Bulldogs after the team had to be taken over by the league in the middle of the previous season due to mismanagement. The Blizzard were owned by Jeff Croop and

Ric Seiling Richard James Seiling (born December 15, 1957) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He spent the majority of his 738-game National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Buffalo Sabres, but also played one season for the Detroit Red ...

was the team's first head coach, who also appeared in one of the team's games as emergency replacement player. In 1997, the team and

Utica Memorial Auditorium The Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium is a 3,860-seat multi-purpose arena in Utica, New York, with a capacity of 5,700 for concerts. Nicknamed the Aud, it is the home arena of the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliate of the NHL ...

did not come to terms on new lease agreement and relocated 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 N ...

, as the

Winston-Salem IceHawks The Winston-Salem IceHawks were a minor professional ice hockey team in the United Hockey League (UHL) based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The franchise was relocated from Utica, New York, in 1997 and played for two seasons in North Carolina b ...

for the 1997–98 season.

References

External links

Utica Blizzard
www.hockeydb.com Ice hockey teams in New York (state) Ice hockey clubs established in 1993 Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1997 1993 establishments in New York (state) 1997 disestablishments in New York (state) Utica, New York {{NewYork-sport-team-stub