City Evansville, Indiana Home arena Ford Center Owner(s) Mike Hall Head coach Jeff Pyle | Founded 2016 (2016) Colors Red, white, blue Arena/Stadium Ford Center | |
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League Southern Professional Hockey League Location Evansville, Indiana, United States | ||
Video highlights from peoria rivermen 5 1 win at expansion evansville thunderbolts in ford center o
The Evansville Thunderbolts are a minor league ice hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League. The team plays at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. The team replaced the Evansville IceMen of the ECHL.
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Evansville thunderbolts 2016 17 goal horn
History
During the 2015–16 season, the City of Evansville and the owner of the ECHL's Evansville IceMen, Ron Geary, were unable to agree to a new lease for the IceMen to continue to operate out of the Ford Center. On January 19, 2016, Geary announced that he had agreed to terms with the nearby city of Owensboro, Kentucky to relocate the team to the Owensboro Sports Center.
On February 8, 2016, Evansville mayor, Lloyd Winnecke, announced that local businessman and IceMen season ticket holder, Mike Hall, had secured an expansion team in the Southern Professional Hockey League to play at the Ford Center beginning in the 2016–17 season, thus displacing the IceMen franchise from Evansville. On March 1, the City of Evansville and the new team signed a five-year lease agreement to play at the Ford Center.
On March 22, 2016, former IceMen head coach Jeff Pyle was announced as the head coach for its inaugural season. The new team name was announced on April 15, 2016, taken from the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft which was manufactured in Evansville during the Second World War.