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Omaha Lancers | |
---|---|
City | Omaha, Nebraska |
League | United States Hockey League |
Conference | Western |
Founded | 1986 |
Home arena | Liberty First Credit Union Arena |
Colors | Orange, black, white |
Owner(s) | Mike Picozzi [1] |
Head coach | David Wilkie |
Media | FloHockey & MixIr (Broadcaster Frank Zawrazky) |
Franchise history | |
1986–2002 | Omaha Lancers |
2002–2004 | River City Lancers |
2004–present | Omaha Lancers |
Championships | |
Regular season titles | 5 Anderson Cups (1989–90, 1992–93, 2001–02, 2004–05 (shared), 2007–08) |
Playoff championships | 7 Clark Cups (1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2008) 2 USA Hockey Junior National Championships (2001, 2008) |
The Omaha Lancers are a Tier I junior ice hockey team and are members of the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). Founded in 1986, the Lancers play at the Liberty First Credit Union Arena in Ralston, Nebraska. Previous arenas of use include the Omaha Civic Auditorium, Mid-America Center, Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum, and Motto McLean Ice Arena.
The Lancers have claimed a league-record seven Clark Cup championships as playoff champions, five Anderson Cup titles as regular season champions, and two USA Hockey national championships. [2] In addition, the Lancers have aided in the development of hundreds of NCAA Division I hockey players, National Hockey League (NHL) draft picks, and dozens of NHL players.
In 2014, the majority ownership of the Lancers was bought by Crossbar Down, LLC, led by Anthony DiCesare, from the American Hockey Group, Inc, who had owned the franchise since 2004. [3]
On July 10, 2021, Chadd Cassidy was hired as head coach and general manager. [4] During the 2021–22 season, the players boycotted the team and the coaching staff resigned on November 18 citing operational budget cuts causing inadequate player treatment and coaching the resources. The league then postponed the three scheduled weekend games and placed team president Dave DeLuca on administrative leave. [5] [6] [7] Former Fort Wayne Komets' head coach Gary Graham was then brought in as interim head coach and the league designated Josh Mervis to oversee operations of the team while an investigation into the operations of the team was underway. [8] In January 2022, the majority ownership of the Lancers was transferred from Anthony DiCesare to Mike Picozzi. [1]
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