North Carolina
North Carolina is a state in the southeastern United States.
Its population is over 10,400,000.
The capital is Raleigh and the largest city is Charlotte.
History of hockey in North Carolina
The first ice hockey game in North Carolina was played at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh on April 18, 1952, the Boston Olympics and New Haven Tomahawks of the Eastern Hockey League drawing 5-5. The teams met again the following day, New Haven winning 8-6 in front of 4,000 spectators. There were talks of establishing a minor league team in Raleigh, but nothing came of them.
On January 23, 1956, Carlin's Iceland in Baltimore burned down, forcing the Eastern Hockey League's Baltimore Clippers to scramble for a place to play their last 12 home games. Local businessmen in Charlotte offered the one-year-old Charlotte Coliseum as a temporary site. The Baltimore Clippers played six of their remaining 12 games in Charlotte, using the name Rebels. The first professional hockey game in Charlotte was played on January 30, 1956, attended by 10,363 fans, with approximately 3,000 more unable to find a ticket. The Rebels lost the game 6–2, to the New Haven Blades. The six games played in Charlotte by the Rebels drew more than 40,000 fans. By comparison, the Clippers typically drew 2,000 fans per game in Baltimore.
Buoyed by the Rebels' strong attendance figures in Charlotte, owner Charles Rock chose to move the team there full-time for the following season as the Charlotte Clippers. In the 1956–57 season, the Clippers earned 101 points, to finish first place, and win the Walker Cup as regular season champions, also copping the playoff title. The team played two games in Raleigh on October 21 and 22, 1958, defeating the Philadelphia Blazers 3-1 and tying them 4-4. The Clippers changed their name to the Charlotte Checkers in 1960, and played in the EHL until it folded in 1973, before jumping to the Southern Hockey League, which itself was shuttered in 1977.
It would be 16 years until pro hockey would return to Charlotte, when the Checkers began play in the ECHL for the 1993-94 season. They were succeeded by an American Hockey League franchise of the same name in 2010. The AHL Checkers won the Calder Cup in 2019.
Senior and youth hockey, organized by the Charlotte Amateur Hockey Association, remained active in Charlotte in the later 1970s and 1980s. There was an ice rink inside the Eastland Mall, which opened in 1975. The Polar Palace Ice Rink was also open in Charlotte from September 1973 until 1978. The Queen City Youth Tournament dated back to 1974. The amateur game was also played in Greensboro (at the Greensboro Coliseum and Triad Arena, which closed in 1979), Winston-Salem and Hillsborough (at the Daniel Boone Ice Rink, which had hockey from 1979-1995) in this era, Triangle Youth Hockey being established in 1980. The Fort Bragg Dragons had an amateur team as far back as 1977. The Ice House opened in the Raleigh suburb of Cary in November 1986, and youth and adult programs were soon established at the rink. The Budweiser Eagles were formed as a senior team in 1985. The 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival hockey tournament was held at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Greensboro Generals became the second EHL franchise in North Carolina when they commenced operations out of the Greensboro Coliseum in 1959. Like the Checkers, they remained in the EHL until 1973, and then played in the Southern Hockey League from 1973-1977. Greensboro was later home to the Monarchs and a new Generals team, who competed in the ECHL from 1989-1995 and 1999-2004, respectively. The Carolina Monarchs represented Greensboro in the American Hockey League from 1995-1997. The Pinebridge Bucks, based in Spruce Pine, played in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League from 1983-1985.
Winston-Salem has had numerous minor professional franchises dating back to 1973.
- List of Winston-Salem teams
- Carolina Thunderbirds - Atlantic Coast Hockey League (1981-1982) relabeled as Winston-Salem Thunderbirds; East Coast Hockey League (1988-1989) relabeled as Winston-Salem Thunderbirds
- Carolina Thunderbirds - Federal Hockey League (2017-present)
- Twin City Cyclones - Southern Professional Hockey League (2007-March 3, 2009) folded
- Winston-Salem IceHawks - United Hockey League (1997-1999) became Adirondack IceHawks
- Winston-Salem Mammoths - Southern Hockey League (1995-1996) folded
- Winston-Salem Parrots - Atlantic Coast Hockey League (2002-November 30, 2002) moved to St. Petersburg, FL
- Winston-Salem Polar Twins - Southern Hockey League (1973-January 7, 1977) folded
- Winston-Salem Polar Twins - Southern Professional Hockey League (2004-2005) folded
- Winston-Salem Thunderbirds - Atlantic Coast Hockey League (1982-1987) join All-American Hockey League for 1987-88; East Coast Hockey League (1989-1992) became Wheeling Thunderbirds
- Winston-Salem T-Birds - South East Hockey League (2003-2004) folded
The Fayetteville Arsenal were a planned team that were to play in the Cumberland County Memorial Arena as a member of the Southern Hockey League for the 1974-75 season. However, due to the inability to secure enough dates in the arena the team would relocate to the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia where they became the Hampton Gulls. Fayetteville eventually got a franchise, with the Force playing in the Central Hockey League from 1997-2001, and the FireAntz in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League in 2002-03 and South East Hockey League in 2003-04, before jumping to the Southern Professional Hockey League. The team was renamed the Fayetteville Marksmen in 2017.
The Raleigh Icecaps of the ECHL were in existence from 1991-1998. The Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League debuted in 1997-98, the Hartford Whalers relocating. They played in Greensboro from 1997-1999, before moving into what is now PNC Arena. The Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in 2006. The Asheville Smoke played in the United Hockey League from 1998-2002 and the Asheville Aces spent the 2004-05 season in the Southern Professional Hockey League.
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