The Shreveport Mudbugs are a Tier II junior

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

team based in Shreveport, Louisiana, as a member of the

North American Hockey League The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 48th season of operation in 2022–23. It is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternat ...

. The new Mudbugs replaced a former professional team that played in the area from 1997 to 2011 known as the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs.

History

From 1997 to 2000, Shreveport, Louisiana was home to a professional hockey team in the

Western Professional Hockey League The Western Professional Hockey League (abbreviated WPHL) is a defunct minor professional ice hockey league. The WPHL operated from 1996 to 2001 with teams based in the southern United States, primarily Texas and Louisiana. The league started with ...

(WPHL) named the Shreveport Mudbugs. In 2000, the Mudbugs relocated to nearby Bossier City to play out of

CenturyTel Center The Brookshire Grocery Arena (formerly CenturyLink Center, CenturyTel Center, and Bossier City Arena) is a 14,000-seat multi-purpose arena, in Bossier City, Louisiana. The naming rights were purchased by the company Brookshire Grocery Group of ...

and changed their name to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. The Mudbugs then joined the

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 ...

in 2001 when the WPHL merged with the CHL. The professional Mudbugs would eventually fold in 2011 citing low attendance and financial issues even though the team had just won the league championship. In October 2015, it was announced that a new Mudbugs team would return for the 2016–17 season after signing a 12-year lease agreement with the Louisiana State Fairgrounds and returning to Hirsch Coliseum but as a member of the Tier II junior

. On April 8, 2016, the Shreveport Mudbugs were officially announced as an expansion team in the NAHL. Former Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs player, Karlis Zirnis, was named the team's first head coach. In their second season, the Mudbugs finished first in the South Division at the end of the regular season and played their way through the Robertson Cup playoffs to take the NAHL championship in 2018. Following the season, head coach Zirnis left the team to take an assistant coaching position with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks hockey team.

Season-by-season records

References

External links

Shreveport Mudbugs
(Official website) {{Louisiana Sports 2016 establishments in Louisiana Ice hockey clubs established in 2016