Alabama

Alabama is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Alabama has 67 counties and a total population of about 5 million and is 52,419 square miles making Alabama the nation's 24th most populous and 30th largest state in the US. The state name derives from a tribe that populated the area, the Alabama. The capital is Montgomery and the largest city is Birmingham.

History of hockey in Alabama

Hockey came to Alabama in March 1955, when the Birmingham Amateur Ice Hockey League was established at the Parad-Ice Rink in the Birmingham suburb of Irondale. The league remained in operation until 1960. A team called the Birmingham All-Stars was also put together in 1955-56, and is known to have faced all-star outfits from Memphis and Atlanta through 1958.

The Ice Palace opened in Huntsville in 1961 and the local YMCA organized a league for boys aged 8-12 in January 1963. The Nashville Dixie Flyers of the Eastern Hockey League came to Huntsville on January 29, giving an exhibition and demonstrating the basics of the game. Blossomwood won the YMCA League title, defeating University Park in the final. Fred Hudson played an important role in developing the league and was awarded the William Thayer Tutt Award for his efforts in 2018. The Huntsville Amateur Hockey Association was eventually formed and the University of Alabama-Huntsville established a club team in 1979, which, after brief stints at the NAIA and Division II levels, jumped to Division I by 1988.

Major league hockey came to Alabama in 1976, when the Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association began play at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center. After the WHA ceased operations in 1979, the Bulls competed in the Central Hockey League until 1981. Birmingham has had several other minor pro franchises, as has Huntsville, with the Havoc having played in the Southern Professional Hockey League since 2004.

List of pro franchises

• Birmingham Bulls - (1976-79) - (WHA)
• Birmingham Bulls - (1979-81) - (CHL)
• Birmingham South Stars - (1982-83) - (CHL)
• Birmingham Bulls - (1983-84) - (ACHL)
• Birmingham Bulls - (1992-01) - (ECHL)
• Huntsville Blast - (1993-94) - (ECHL)
• Huntsville Channel Cats - (1995-00) - (CHL)
• Mobile Mysticks - (1995-02) - (ECHL)
• Huntsville Tornado - (2000-01) - (CHL)
• Alabama Slammers - (2003-04) - (WHA2)
• Huntsville Channel Cats - (2003-04) - (SEHL)
• Huntsville Havoc - (2004-present) - (SPHL)
• Birmingham Bulls - (2017-present) - (SPHL)

References

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