The Mississippi Sea Wolves were a professional hockey team based in

Biloxi, Mississippi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...

, and played in the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The Sea Wolves were members of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

. The Sea Wolves were founded in 1996 and had considerable success over their 10 seasons in the ECHL. They reached the playoffs in five of their first seven years and a league championship in 1999, when they defeated the

Richmond Renegades The Richmond Renegades were a professional ice hockey team in Richmond, Virginia that played in the East Coast Hockey League from 1990 until 2003. The Renegades played at the Richmond Coliseum, which they marketed in later years as ''the Freeze ...

in a best-of-seven series to claim the Kelly Cup. Damages from

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

to the Mississippi Coast Coliseum forced the team to suspend operations for the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons under the ECHL's hardship provisions. Hurricane Katrina resulted in extensive damage to the team’s home arena, including flood damage to team offices, locker rooms, ice-making equipment, and two Zambonis. During the 2006–07 ECHL All-Star Game, the league officially confirmed the Sea Wolves would return in 2007–08. On March 30, 2009, the Sea Wolves announced that the organization would be suspending operations again for the 2009–10 season, but a little more than a month later the team's management announced that professional hockey would continue to be played on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the form of the Mississippi Surge in the

Southern Professional Hockey League The SPHL (formerly the Southern Professional Hockey League) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the southeastern United States as well as Illinois and Indian ...

. The Surge played at the Coast Coliseum from the 2009–10 season through 2013–14. In 2021, the Federal Prospects Hockey League hosted three neutral site games in Biloxi. Biloxi Pro Hockey sold 20,163 tickets in the month of December and an announcement was made on December 30 that a new Sea Wolves team would return in 2022. The new team began play in the 2022–23 FPHL season.

History

References

External links

Sea Wolves Home Page

{{ECHLdefunct Defunct ECHL teams Tampa Bay Lightning minor league affiliates Norfolk Admirals Defunct ice hockey teams in Mississippi Arizona Coyotes minor league affiliates Los Angeles Kings minor league affiliates Minnesota Wild minor league affiliates Montreal Canadiens minor league affiliates Philadelphia Flyers minor league affiliates Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States 1996 establishments in Mississippi 2009 disestablishments in Mississippi Ice hockey clubs established in 1996 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2009 Sports in Biloxi, Mississippi