The Roanoke Valley Vipers were a minor professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) 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. Tw ...

team located in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

. They were a member of the

United Hockey League The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league, with teams in the Unite ...

and played in the Roanoke Civic Center. The franchise was formed in 2002 as the Port Huron Beacons and played in McMorran Arena in

Port Huron, Michigan Port Huron is a city in and seat of government of St. Clair County, Michigan, United States. The population was 28,983 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the west by Port Huron Township, but the two are administered autonomously. Po ...

, through the end of the 2004–05 season. The franchise was relocated to Roanoke for the 2005–06 season, filling the void left after 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 ...

's Roanoke Express disbanded and to provide a travel partner near the Richmond RiverDogs. While professional ice hockey had been previously played and successful in the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

n towns of Roanoke, Salem and Vinton since 1967, the Vipers were unsuccessful on and off the ice with a losing record in their lone season in Virginia and an average attendance of about 1,000 fans in an arena with a capacity of over 9,000. Local fans complained about high ticket prices and a lower level of play than the ECHL. The midwestern focus of the UHL also made rivalries less intense than they had been with the southeastern and mid-Atlantic teams of the ECHL. The owners and their marketing plans were frequently criticized by local media. The Vipers folded on May 15, 2006, shortly after the RiverDogs moved to Chicago and became the Chicago Hounds.

Notable players

* David-Alexandre Beauregard * Matt Elich * Alexander Erofeev

References

Defunct United Hockey League teams Sports in Roanoke, Virginia Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States Defunct ice hockey teams in Virginia Ice hockey clubs established in 2005 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2006 2005 establishments in Virginia 2006 disestablishments in Virginia {{Virginia-sport-team-stub