City Missoula, Montana Owner(s) Michael Burks Arena Glacier Ice Rink | Home arena Glacier Ice Rink General manager Marcus Baxter Date founded 2007 | |
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League Western States Hockey League Colors Dark Blue, Black, White, and Gray Location Missoula, Montana, United States Color Dark Blue, Black, White, and Gray | ||
Missoula maulers
The Missoula Maulers were a junior ice hockey team from Missoula, Montana. The team played in the Western States Hockey League, the American West Hockey League, and the Northern Pacific Hockey League, out of Missoula's Glacier Ice Rink.
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Michael Burks is the club's principal owner and president of operations. In 2016, Burks and the operators of the Glacier Ice Rink had a lease dispute and Burks decided to shut down the team rather than continue to fight the operators for a better contract. The Maulers were quickly replaced at the Glacier Ice Rink by a North American 3 Hockey League expansion team, named the Missoula Bruins, to be run by the local Bruins youth hockey organization.
Missoula maulers vs seattle totems
History
The Maulers were founded as an expansion team for the 2007–08 season in the Northern Pacific Hockey League (NorPac). They played in the NorPac until 2011 when many of the eastern NorPac teams formed the new American West Hockey League (AWHL) including the Maulers. After two seasons, the Maulers announced that were leaving the AWHL for the Amateur Athletic Union-sanctioned Western States Hockey League(WSHL).
The players, ages 16–20, carried amateur status under Tier III/Tier II/Junior A guidelines with hopes to earn a spot on a collegiate or minor professional team.