The South East Prairie Thunder were a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Senior 'AAA' ice hockey team based out of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

and two-time

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the senior ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. It was most recently won by the Wentworth Gryphins ...

champions. They played an independent schedule under the jurisdiction of

Hockey Manitoba Hockey Manitoba is the governing body of amateur ice hockey in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Hockey Manitoba was founded in 1914 as the ''Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association'' and is a branch affiliate of Hockey Canada. As part of its mand ...

. The team is inactive as of 2021.

History

The team was founded in 2004 as the Grunthal Red Wings and based out of

Grunthal, Manitoba Grunthal ( German: ''Grünthal'', 'Green Valley') is a local urban district in the Rural Municipality of Hanover, Manitoba, located 24 kilometres southwest of Steinbach, and about 50 minutes south of Winnipeg. It had a population of 1,680 in ...

. The Red Wings became the Southeast Prairie Thunder, relocating to Steinbach in 2006 and playing out of the T.G. Smith Centre from 2006 to 2017. Since then, the team has played its home games at the Seven Oaks and Wayne Fleming Arenas in Winnipeg. The team have made nine appearances at the

, Canada's national senior 'AAA' championship. Their first was at the 2009 Allan Cup, which was played in Steinbach, but hosted by their local rivals, the Steinbach North Stars. The Prairie Thunder advanced to the final, but lost 4-3 in double overtime to the Bentley Generals. Three years later, the Thunder captured their first national title at the 2012 Allan Cup in

Lloydminster, Saskatchewan Lloydminster is a city in Canada which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city is incorporated by both provinces as a single city with a single municipal administra ...

. They claimed their second national title at the

2015 Allan Cup The 2015 Allan Cup was the Canadian championship of senior ice hockey and the 107th year the Allan Cup was awarded. The tournament was contended in Clarenville, Newfoundland and Labrador from April 13 to April 18, 2015 and hosted by the Clare ...

Clarenville, Newfoundland and Labrador Clarenville is a town on the east coast of Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Clarenville was incorporated in 1951. It is located in the Shoal Harbour valley, fronting an arm of the Atlant ...

, defeating Bentley in the final by a score of 2-0. The Prairie Thunder also participated in the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, and

2019 Allan Cup The 2019 Allan Cup was the Canadian championship of senior ice hockey and the 111th year the Allan Cup was awarded. The tournament played in Lacombe, Alberta from April 8–13, 2019. The Lacombe Generals defeated the Innisfail Eagles 5–2 i ...

s. The Prairie Thunder hosted the

2016 Allan Cup The 2016 Allan Cup was the Canadian championship of senior ice hockey and the 108th year the Allan Cup was awarded. The tournament was contended in Steinbach, Manitoba from April 11 to April 16, 2016, with all games played at the T.G. Smith C ...

in Steinbach, where they finished runner-up to the Generals. Over the years, the team's roster included former professional players such as

Terry Yake Terry Donald Yake (born October 22, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and right wing who played for the Hartford Whalers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Toronto Maple Leafs, St. Louis Blues, and Washington Capitals. Playing car ...

Brad Purdie Brad Purdie (born July 11, 1972) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey centre. Early life Born in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, Purdie spent four seasons with the Maine Black Bears men's ice hockey team. Career Purdie began his professio ...

Justin Kurtz Justin Kurtz (born January 14, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 27 games for the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks.https://www.nhl.com/player/justin-kurtz-8462111 Playing career Kurtz was drafted ...

Ryan Garbutt Ryan Jonathan Garbutt (born August 12, 1985) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He last played under contract to ERC Ingolstadt of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Playing career Undrafted, Garbutt attended Brown University, p ...

, Ian White, Mark Stuart, Ryan Bonni, and Steve Christie. The Prairie Thunder have not fielded a team since 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 ...

ended their 2019-20 season.

References

External links

South East Prairie Thunder South East Prairie Thunder statistics at HockeyManitoba.ca
{{Manitoba Sports Ice hockey teams in Manitoba Ice hockey teams in Winnipeg Senior ice hockey teams Sport in Steinbach, Manitoba

History

See also

References

External links