The Springfield Jr. Blues 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 in 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 ...

's Midwest Division. The team plays their home games at the

Nelson Center The Franklin P. Nelson Recreation Center ("Nelson Center") is a 2,100-seat multi purpose ice arena and recreational facility located in Springfield, Illinois. The ice arena has two NHL regulation-sized ice sheets. It is the home to the Springfie ...

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...

History

Founded by John D. O'Laughlin and Al Jennings, the franchise joined the North American Hockey League for the 1993–94 season. Springfield had previously been home to multiple semi-pro teams the

Springfield Kings The Springfield Indians were a minor professional ice hockey franchise, originally based in West Springfield, Massachusetts and later Springfield, Massachusetts. The Indians were founding members of the American Hockey League. They were in existen ...

and

Springfield Capitols The Springfield Capitols were an American ice hockey team in Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 ...

. The team has made numerous appearances in the NAHL playoffs and were back-to-back

Robertson Cup 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 alternati ...

National Championships in 1996 and 1997. Due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

that curtailed the 2019–20 season, the Jr. Blues suspended operations for the 2020–21 season.

Season-by-season records

Playoff records

References

External links

Official site
North American Hockey League teams Jr. Blues Amateur ice hockey teams in Illinois Ice hockey clubs established in 1993 1993 establishments in Illinois {{Illinois-sport-team-stub