The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as part of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, and play their home games at PNC Arena.
The ECHL is a professional ice hockey minor 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 South Carolina Stingrays are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in North Charleston, South Carolina. The Stingrays play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. They play their home games at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Carolina Ice Palace, also located in North Charleston, serves as a practice facility and backup arena. Established in 1993, the team has been owned by a group of local businesses since 1995. The team was affiliated with the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League and the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League from 2004 to July 2012, when the Capitals announced their affiliation with the ECHL's Reading Royals. On June 26, 2014, the Washington Capitals announced an affiliation agreement with the Stingrays for the 2014–15 season.
The Greensboro Coliseum Complex, commonly referred to as Greensboro Coliseum, is an entertainment and sports complex located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Opened in 1959, the complex holds eight venues that includes an amphitheater, arena, aquatic center, banquet hall, convention center, museum, theatre, and an indoor pavilion. It is the home of the UNC Greensboro Spartans men's basketball team, the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League, the Carolina Cobras of the National Arena League, as well as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with their Men's and Women's basketball tournaments.
The Toledo Storm were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the ECHL from 1991 to 2007. The Storm played their home games at the venerable Toledo Sports Arena along the eastern banks of the Maumee River in Toledo, Ohio. The team colors were red and white, similar to the Detroit Red Wings, their NHL affiliate for fourteen of their sixteen seasons. The Storm would win six division titles, two Henry Brabham Cups and two Jack Riley Cups as champion of the East Coast Hockey League. The franchise suspended operations following the 2006–07 season after they were sold to Toledo Arena Sports, Inc. The Storm returned to the ECHL for the 2009–10 season as the Toledo Walleye.
The Charlotte Checkers were an American ice hockey team in Charlotte, North Carolina, and played in the ECHL.
The Carolina Thunderbirds were a professional ice hockey team located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. The Thunderbirds played their home games at the old Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum before the arena was demolished in 1989. The team played in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League from 1981 to 1987, the All-American Hockey League during 1987–88 and finally moved into the newly created East Coast Hockey League in 1988.
The Richmond Renegades were an ECHL 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 Freezer.
The Tallahassee Tiger Sharks were a minor league professional ice hockey team that played in Tallahassee, Florida, from 1994 to 2001 as members of the East Coast Hockey League. The Tiger Sharks home rink was the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center. While in Tallahassee, the franchise was affiliated with the NHL's New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, and Montreal Canadiens. Since the loss of the Tiger Sharks franchise, several attempts have been made by local residents to bring ice hockey back to Tallahassee. Thus far, none of these efforts have been successful.
The Greensboro Monarchs were a professional ice hockey team based in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Monarchs joined the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) as an expansion franchise prior to the start of the 1989–90 season and surrendered the franchise back to the league when the Monarchs ownership obtained an expansion franchise in the American Hockey League (AHL) at the conclusion of the 1994–95 ECHL season.
The Erie Panthers were a professional ice hockey team, and one of the founding members in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). Based in Erie, Pennsylvania, from 1988 to 1996, they were one of the most prolific teams in the ECHL. The Panthers were known for their ability to score goals quickly and often, as well as for the over-aggressive style of play that led to an abundance of fights. They currently hold records in 15 different categories in the ECHL and are in the top five of 38 different categories.
The 2004–05 ECHL season was the 17th season of the ECHL. The Brabham Cup regular season champions were the Pensacola Ice Pilots and the Kelly Cup playoff champions were the Trenton Titans.
The Carolina Monarchs were a short-lived ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the Greensboro Coliseum, succeeding the ECHL Greensboro Monarchs, some of whose owners accepted an expansion proposal from the AHL to start play in the 1995-96 season.
Athletes and sports teams from North Carolina compete across an array of professional and amateur levels of competition, along with athletes who compete at the World and Olympic levels in their respective sport. Major league professional teams based in North Carolina include teams that compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Soccer (MLS), and National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The state is also home to NASCAR Cup Series races. At the collegiate and university level, there are several North Carolina schools in various conferences across an array of divisions. North Carolina also has many minor league baseball teams. There are also a number of indoor football, indoor soccer, minor league basketball, and minor league ice hockey teams based throughout the state.
The Columbus Chill were a professional ice hockey team that played in the East Coast Hockey League from October 1991 through the 1998–99 season. They played at the Ohio Expo Center Coliseum in Columbus, Ohio. The Chill left Columbus in 1999 and relocated to Reading, Pennsylvania, with the impending arrival of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the National Hockey League. The Columbus Chill are now known as the Reading Royals.
The 1997–98 Carolina Hurricanes season was the 26th season in franchise history, their 19th as a member of the National Hockey League (NHL), and their first in North Carolina. Formerly the Hartford Whalers, the team would play in Greensboro while a new arena was being constructed in Raleigh. The club finished sub-.500 and failed to qualify for the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Charlotte Checkers are a minor-league professional ice hockey team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the top minor league affiliate of the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Checkers play their home games at Bojangles' Coliseum. The current organization is the third team by this name; it succeeded a Checkers franchise that played in the ECHL from 1993 until the end of the 2009–10 ECHL season. The original Checkers team played in the city from 1956 to 1977, originally in the Eastern Hockey League and then in the Southern Hockey League. The franchise is one of six teams to replace and share a name with a predecessor franchise from a lower-tier league; the others are the Bakersfield Condors, Colorado Eagles, Ontario Reign, Rockford IceHogs, and San Diego Gulls.
The Norfolk Admirals are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in Norfolk, Virginia, the team plays its home games at the Norfolk Scope. The Admirals replaced the American Hockey League team of the same name, which played from 2000 until 2015, after which they moved to San Diego, California, and became the current incarnation of the San Diego Gulls.
