South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the southeastern United States.
Its population is about 5,100,000.
The capital is Columbia and the largest city is Charleston.
History of hockey in South Carolina
Hockey was first played in Greenville around January 1980, when "transplanted Connecticut Yankee" named Ed Burns formed the Greenville Ice Hockey Club, which played at the Textile Hall Sports Center Rink. The club met on Sunday and Tuesday nights, playing inter-squad games, and also held a hockey school on Sunday mornings. Players were classified according to skill rather than age, "A's" often having played on high school or college teams in the North, and the "D's" only starting out. The rink they played on was rather small, measuring only 120x46'. Len Broderick, who played in one NHL game after being loaned to the Montreal Canadiens by the Toronto Marlboros to replace Jacques Plante, was one of the club's goalies. The Greenville team met the Charlotte Bears at the Eastland Mall rink in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 20, 1980, and got thrashed 16-0. They played a return game in Greenville a week later, Charlotte winning 11-5.
The club remained active at Textile Hall through early 1988, and was reorganized in December 1990, after the full-sized Pavilion rink opened in the Greenville suburb of Taylors. A league certified by USA Hockey was organized by the club, and the first championship game was held on April 28, 1991. The 1991-92 season consisted of four teams, Poe Corporation, Chiefs Wings and Water, Joseph's Tile, and I Skate. Joseph's Tile, Flyers, Spiders, Genstar, Chiefs Wings and Water and Mickey's Textiles competed in the 1992-93 season.
Professional hockey came to the state for the 1993-94 season, with the South Carolina Stingrays joining the ECHL, playing out of the North Charleston Coliseum. The Pee Dee Pride, based in Florence, were members of the ECHL from 1997-2005. The Pee Dee Cyclones competed in the Southern Professional Hockey League from 2005-2007. The Columbia Inferno later played in the ECHL from 2001-2008.
Greenville has had two franchises in the ECHL, the Grrrowl, who played from 1998-2006, and the Swamp Rabbits, who are currently in the league, and were known as the Road Warriors from 2010-2015.
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