The SPHL (formerly the Southern Professional Hockey League) is a professional ice hockey independent

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

based in

Huntersville, North Carolina Huntersville is a large suburban town in northern Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Mecklenburg County () is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern region of the U.S. state of North Carolina, in the United States. As o ...

, with teams located primarily in the

southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

as well as Illinois and Indiana in the

midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

. Following the 2024–25 season, the Evansville Thunderbolts Thunderbolts are the reigning President's Cup champions. , the

Knoxville Ice Bears The Knoxville Ice Bears are a professional ice hockey team. The team competes in the SPHL. They play their home games at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 2006, the Ice Bears defeated the Florida Seals to take their f ...

are the most successful team in SPHL history, having won five William B. Coffey Trophies as the regular season champions and four President's Cup playoff championships. The Peoria Rivermen have also won five William B. Coffey Trophies, while Pensacola has also won four President's Cups.

History

The SPHL's history traces back to three other short-lived leagues. The Atlantic Coast Hockey League started play in the 2002–03 season. After its only season, the ACHL dissolved with member teams forming the nucleus for two rival leagues, the South East Hockey League and the World Hockey Association 2. After one season, the SEHL and WHA2 disbanded, with their surviving teams rejoining with two expansion teams to form the SPHL, commencing with the 2004–05 season. In 2009, the SPHL saw a large expansion with three new franchises, 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 ...

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette ( , ) is the most populous city in and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, Lafayette Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located along the Vermilion River (Louisiana), Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's List of municipaliti ...

and

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. In 2010, the league added an expansion team in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...

, another former long time ECHL market. For the 2011–12 season, the league added two-time

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 ...

champions, the Mississippi RiverKings. For the 2013–14 season, the league lost the Augusta RiverHawks but also expanded northward with two franchises in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

: the Bloomington Thunder, a team also moving from the CHL, where they were known as the Bloomington Blaze, and the Peoria Rivermen, who were replacing an

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

team of the same name in their market. In 2015, the Augusta franchise returned and relocated to

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...

as the Macon Mayhem. In November 2014, Shannon Szabados became the first female goaltender to win an SPHL game, when the Columbus Cottonmouths defeated the Fayetteville FireAntz 5–4 in overtime. In that same game Erin Blair and Katie Guay became the first female officials to referee an SPHL game. At the end of the 2015–16 season, the Louisiana IceGators announced a one-year leave of absence for renovations to their arena but never returned. The IceGators' franchise was sold and reactivated as the Quad City Storm in 2018. Then in 2016, the dormant

Mississippi Surge The Mississippi Surge were a professional hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League that began play in the 2009–10 season and folded on May 2, 2014. Playing for five seasons, the Surge was based in Biloxi, Mississippi, Biloxi and h ...

franchise was relocated to

Southwest Virginia Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Located within the broader region of western Virginia, Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all V ...

to become the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs. One of the inaugural SPHL teams, the

Columbus Cottonmouths The Columbus Cottonmouths were three separate professional ice hockey teams based in Columbus, Georgia. The team is nicknamed the Snakes and played their home games at the Columbus Civic Center. In 2017, the third franchise suspended operations af ...

, suspended operations in 2017 after failing to find a buyer while an expansion team called the Birmingham Bulls were accepted into the league as the tenth team. Following the 2017–18 season, the Mississippi RiverKings suspended operations while the league searched for new owners. With the acceptance of the Quad City Storm, the league was able to remain at ten teams for the 2018–19 season. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the 2019–20 season was curtailed and no champion was named. The following season, the league announced it would only play with five of the ten member teams due to pandemic-related capacity restrictions barring fans from attending games. During the season, the league approved of the Vermilion County Bobcats as a 2021–22 expansion team based in Danville, Illinois. The Bobcats folded after only a year and a half. In 2023, the league rebranded to the orphaned initialism "SPHL" to reflect the fact that the league's footprint had expanded beyond the southern United States.

Teams

2024-25 members

Notes

Timeline

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize = width:750 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:former value:rgb(0.95,0.5,0.4) id:hiatus value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2005 text: Asheville Aces (2004–2005) bar:2 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/03/2017 text:

(2004–2017) bar:3 color:red from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2017 text: Fayetteville FireAntz (2004–2017) bar:3 color:red from:06/01/2017 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text: Fayetteville Marksmen (2017–present) bar:3 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021 bar:3 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end bar:4 color:red from:07/01/2004 till:end text:

Huntsville Havoc The Huntsville Havoc are a professional ice hockey team in the SPHL. They play their home games at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville, Alabama. History The team began play in the 2004–05 season, following the defunct Huntsville ...

(2004–present) bar:5 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2008 text: Jacksonville Barracudas (2004–2008) bar:6 color:red from:07/01/2004 till:end text:

(2004–present) bar:7 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2005 text: Macon Trax (2004–2005) bar:8 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2005 text: Winston-Salem Polar Twins (2004–2005) bar:9 color:former from:07/01/2005 till:01/04/2007 text: Florida Seals (2005–2007) bar:10 color:former from:07/01/2005 till:03/31/2007 shift:-40 text: Pee Dee Cyclones (2005–2007) bar:10 color:former from:04/24/2007 till:03/31/2009 shift:(40) text: Twin City Cyclones (2007–2009) bar:11 color:former from:07/01/2006 till:05/01/2009 text:

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 ...

(2006–2009) bar:12 color:former from:07/01/2009 till:06/30/2016 text: Louisiana IceGators (2009–2016) bar:12 color:red from:07/01/2018 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text: Quad City Storm (2018–present) bar:12 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021 bar:12 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end bar:13 color:former from:07/01/2009 till:05/02/2014 text:

(2009–2014) bar:13 color:red from:07/01/2016 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text: Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs (2016–present) bar:13 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021 bar:13 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end bar:14 color:red from:07/01/2009 till:end text: Pensacola Ice Flyers (2009–present) bar:15 color:former from:07/01/2010 till:05/14/2013 text: Augusta RiverHawks (2010–2013) bar:15 color:red from:07/10/2015 till:end text: Macon Mayhem (2015–present) bar:16 color:former from:07/01/2011 till:06/30/2018 text: Mississippi RiverKings (2011–2018) bar:17 color:former from:07/01/2013 till:05/01/2014 text: Bloomington Thunder (2013–2014) bar:18 color:red from:07/01/2013 till:10/06/2020 text: Peoria Rivermen (2013–present) bar:18 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021 bar:18 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end bar:19 color:red from:07/01/2016 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text: Evansville Thunderbolts (2016–present) bar:19 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021 bar:19 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end bar:20 color:red from:07/01/2017 till:end shift:0 text: Birmingham Bulls (2017–present) bar:21 color:former from:07/01/2021 till:02/09/2023 shift:-100 text: Vermilion County Bobcats (2021–2023) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2004

Defunct and relocated teams

* Asheville Aces (2004–05) * Augusta RiverHawks (2010–13) Moved to

, as the Mayhem for the 2015–16 season. * Bloomington Thunder (2013–14) Membership terminated to make way for a team in the

United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the Midwestern United States and Great Plains, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. Th ...

. *

(2004–17) Inaugural member of the SPHL, suspended operations when ownership could no longer fund the team. * Florida Seals (2005–07) Membership terminated in the middle of the 2006–07 SPHL season. * Jacksonville Barracudas (2004–08) Suspended for the 2008–09 season and dissolved. * Louisiana IceGators (2009–16) Suspended operations for the 2016–17 season claiming the arena needed the year for renovations but later dissolved. In 2018, the franchise was sold and became the Quad City Storm. * Macon Trax (2004–05) * Mississippi RiverKings (2011–18) Joined from the

in 2011, ownership suspended operations in 2018. *

(2009–14) Moved to

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 ...

, as the Rail Yard Dawgs for the 2016–17 season. * Pee Dee Cyclones (2005–07) Moved to

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...

. *

(2006–09) * Twin City Cyclones (2007–09) * Vermilion County Bobcats (2021-23) Ceased operations on February 9, 2023 after 88 games played. * Winston-Salem Polar Twins (2004–05)

Key rule differences

As per minor leagues, there are some rule differences between the SPHL and the NHL (and even the ECHL and the AHL, the two official developmental leagues regulated by the Professional Hockey Players' Association). * A team may dress eighteen regular players to a game. Two players dressed for the game will be goaltenders. * A mouthpiece is required for all players except the goaltender. * No curvature of stick limitations as in the NHL, AHL, and ECHL. * Shootouts are five players. After five different players have made an attempt, teams may reuse anyone including those who have previously attempted in later rounds, even using the same player in consecutive rounds if desired.

Champions

President's Cup

Awarded to the league playoff champion.

William B. Coffey Trophy

Originally known as the Commissioner's Cup, the regular season championship trophy was renamed in honor of league co-founder Bill Coffey during the 2007–08 season.

References

External links

*
Official website
{{NAProHockey Professional ice hockey leagues in the United States Minor league ice hockey Sports in the Southern United States Companies based in Charlotte, North Carolina 2004 establishments in North Carolina Sports leagues established in 2004