The Regina Pats are a junior ice hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League. The Pats are based out of Regina, Saskatchewan and Brandt Centre is their home arena. The Regina Pats are the oldest major junior hockey franchise in the world that have continuously operated from their original location and use the same name. They began operations in 1917. They were originally named the Regina Patricia Hockey Club, after Princess Patricia of Connaught, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria and daughter of the Governor General. The team name was also associated with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, named for the same Princess, to the point that Pats sweaters still bear the regimental badge and "PPCLI" flash as a shoulder patch. In 2017 the club celebrated its 100th anniversary. Games are broadcast on 620 CKRM radio.
The Medicine Hat Tigers are a junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League (WHL) who play in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. Established in 1970, the team has won two national Memorial Cups, five WHL League Championships and seven Division Titles, and continues to rally for the Cup annually. Starting in the 2015–16 season, the Tigers have begun play at Co-op Place after forty-five seasons at the Medicine Hat Arena. They had a sell-out streak at The Arena dating back 197 games.
James Allen Crockett Jr. was an American professional wrestling promoter. From 1973 to 1989, he was part owner of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), a wrestling company affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). From 1976 to 1987, Jim Crockett Promotions also owned the Charlotte Orioles, a minor league baseball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina as well as a short stint as the owner of the Winston-Salem Polar Twins in the Southern Hockey League from 1974 to 1975.
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 Southern Hockey League was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league that operated from 1973 to 1977. The league was formed when the Eastern Hockey League split in two; the southern teams became the Southern Hockey League, and the northern teams became the North American Hockey League. It was the first professional hockey league to operate wholly within the Southern United States, and followed the establishment of the Atlanta Flames in the National Hockey League; and also the Richmond Robins and the Tidewater Wings in the American Hockey League. The Southern Hockey League was a feeder league for the recently started World Hockey Association. Tedd Munchak was appointed the league's first commissioner, and was owner of the Greensboro Generals. The championship trophy of the league was named the James Crockett Cup, after local figure Jim Crockett Sr. The league disbanded during its fourth season, when four of its seven teams folded due to financial issues.
Robert Allen Gassoff was a professional ice hockey player, born in Quesnel, British Columbia. From an early age he was passionate about hockey, playing first on a rink on the family farm on the Quesnel Hydraulic Road and then on a variety of local junior leagues. He played four seasons in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues. He was killed in a motorcycle accident on the country property of his friend and teammate Garry Unger near Gray Summit, Missouri; his number three was subsequently retired by the Blues.
The Hampton Gulls were an American minor league professional ice hockey team based in Hampton, Virginia, from 1974 to 1978 at the Hampton Coliseum. The Gulls played three seasons in the Southern Hockey League, beginning in 1974. When that league folded in 1977, the Hampton played one season in the American Hockey League. The Gulls were a World Hockey Association farm team to the Cincinnati Stingers each season. John Brophy was team's only head coach during its existence. Hampton ceased operations on February 10, 1978, part way through its fourth season.
Ronald Ashton is a former WHA left winger for the Winnipeg Jets. In the World Hockey Association, he played 36 games and registering 1 goal, 3 assists, and 66 penalty minutes. He was best known as a fourth line player and enforcer. Ashton's stint with the Jets included him playing with the likes of hockey superstars Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson.
Gregory Holst is a Canadian-born Austrian ice hockey coach and a former player. He played eleven games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers between 1975 and 1977. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1974 to 1993, was mainly spent in the Austrian Hockey League. A naturalized Austrian citizen, Holst played for the Austrian national team in four World Championships between 1982 and 1986. After retiring he turned to coaching, and worked in the Austrian league and with the Austrian national team.
The Charlotte Checkers were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The team began as the Baltimore Clippers in 1954, playing in the Eastern Hockey League. When the arena in Baltimore burned down, the team briefly played as the Charlotte Rebels, before permanently relocating to the Charlotte Coliseum in 1956, becoming the Charlotte Clippers. The team was renamed the Checkers in 1960, and played its final four seasons in the Southern Hockey League, before folding in 1977. The Clippers/Checkers franchise won five playoff championships in its existence, and were the first team to be based in the Southeast United States.
The Roanoke Valley Rebels were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in the Roanoke Valley in Virginia. The team first played in the Eastern Hockey League and then joined the Southern Hockey League. The team was originally known as the Salem Rebels from 1967 to 1970, playing at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia. In 1971, the Rebels began splitting home games between Salem at the newer and larger Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke.
The 1973–74 Southern Hockey League season was the first season of the Southern Hockey League. The league was formed when the Eastern Hockey League split in two; the southern teams became the Southern Hockey League, and the northern teams became the North American Hockey League. Four of the six founding members of the SHL came from the EHL, including the Charlotte Checkers, Greensboro Generals, Roanoke Valley Rebels, and the Suncoast Suns. Two expansion teams were added to complete the league, including the Macon Whoopees, and the Winston-Salem Polar Twins.
The 1974–75 Southern Hockey League season was the second season of the Southern Hockey League. On July 31, 1975, Jack Riley was announced as the new commissioner of the SHL, taking over for interim leader Gene Hawthorne, of the Roanoke Valley Rebels. The four existing teams returned from the previous season, joined by a fifth expansion team from Fayetteville, North Carolina. The new team was named after the Fayetteville Arsenal, and was scheduled to play at the Cumberland County Memorial Arena. In October 1974, owner Bill Raue moved the team, to Hampton, Virginia before playing any games, when availability of home ice dates became a problem. The new Hampton Gulls moved into the Hampton Coliseum recently vacated by the Virginia Wings of the American Hockey League. The five teams played a complete schedule of 72 games, with the Charlotte Checkers winning the regular season, and the playoffs.
The 1975–76 Southern Hockey League season was the third season of the Southern Hockey League. The five existing teams returned from the previous season, joined by a sixth expansion team from Norfolk, Virginia. The Tidewater Sharks joined the league owned by Virginia politician Dick Davis, playing at the Norfolk Scope. The six teams played a complete schedule of 72 games, with the Charlotte Checkers winning the regular season, and the playoffs.
The 1976–77 Southern Hockey League season was the fourth and final season of the Southern Hockey League. The Roanoke Valley Rebels ceased operations, and two new teams were added for the season. The Baltimore Clippers transferred from the American Hockey League, and the Richmond Wildcats were an expansion team. Both the Richmond Wildcats and Greensboro Generals folded on January 3, 1977 due to financial problems. On January 7, the Tidewater Sharks folded after missing payroll, and the Winston-Salem Polar Twins pulled the Polar Twins out of the league. The remaining three teams considered adding a fourth team, but the league was short on funds when Greensboro and Winstom-Salem defaulted on $25,000 loans. The league also considered playing a round-robin tournament to determine a champion, or develop an interlocking schedule with either the North American Hockey League or the International Hockey League. On January 22, 1977, both the NAHL and IHL rejected the proposal, and the final game was played on January 31, 1977, although the league planned on playing a 1977–78 season.
The Tidewater Sharks were a minor league professional ice hockey team, based in Norfolk, Virginia, and members of the Southern Hockey League from 1975 to 1977. The Sharks played home games at the Norfolk Scope, and shared the Hampton Roads area with the Hampton Gulls. The ownership group led by Dick Davis, also operated the Tidewater Tides baseball team. The Sharks ceased operations in January on 1977, during the second season of play.
The Suncoast Suns was a minor league professional ice hockey team based in St. Petersburg, Florida, and played home games at the Bayfront Center. The Suns began in the Eastern Hockey League in 1971, and was a founding member of the Southern Hockey League in 1973. The Suns ceased operations in December 1973, partway through its third season.
The Macon Whoopees were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in Macon, Georgia, and played home games at the Macon Coliseum. The Whoopees played in the Southern Hockey League, and were the second professional hockey team in Georgia. The attempt in Macon to expand hockey southward failed, as the team ceased operations before completion of the 1973–74 season. Hockey did not return to Macon until 1996, when the name was revived by the Macon Whoopee in the Central Hockey League. The original Whoopees team was named after the song "Makin' Whoopee" by Gus Kahn, and is the subject of the book Once Upon A Whoopee: A Town, A Team, A Song, A Dream, by Ed Grisamore and Bill Buckley.
The Greensboro Generals were a minor league ice hockey team based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Greensboro was part of the Eastern Hockey League from 1959 to 1973, and then played in the Southern Hockey League from 1973 to 1977. The team was founded when the Troy Bruins of the International Hockey League were relocated by owner Ken Wilson and admitted to the EHL, to play in the recently built Greensboro Coliseum.
Gregg Pilling is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach. He was named coach of the year by the International Hockey League in 1977–78 season, after he led the Fort Wayne Komets to the Fred A. Huber Trophy as the regular season champions. He also won coach of the year awards in Southern Hockey League, and North American Hockey League, while guiding the Roanoke Valley Rebels and the Philadelphia Firebirds to league championships. Pilling made headlines as a coach for his colourful in-game protests and multiple ejections. Prior to coaching, he had a brief playing career, including a 1963 Memorial Cup championship with the Edmonton Oil Kings, and was voted the most valuable player in his final full season as a player.
