SPHL


The SPHL is a professional ice hockey independent minor league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the southeastern United States as well as Illinois and Indiana in the midwestern United States.
Following the 2024–25 season, the Evansville Thunderbolts are the reigning President's Cup champions., the Knoxville Ice Bears are the most successful team in SPHL history, having won five William B. Coffey Trophies as the regular season champions and four President's Cup playoff championships. The Peoria Rivermen have also won five William B. Coffey Trophies, while Pensacola has also won four President's Cups.
WWW Official Site

History

The SPHL's history traces back to three other short-lived leagues. The Atlantic Coast Hockey League started play in the 2002–03 season. After its only season, the ACHL dissolved with member teams forming the nucleus for two rival leagues, the South East Hockey League and the World Hockey Association 2. After one season, the SEHL and WHA2 disbanded, with their surviving teams rejoining with two expansion teams to form the SPHL, commencing with the 2004–05 season.
In 2009, the SPHL saw a large expansion with three new franchises, in Biloxi, Mississippi, Lafayette, Louisiana and Pensacola, Florida. In 2010, the league added an expansion team in Augusta, Georgia, another former long time ECHL market. For the 2011–12 season, the league added two-time Central Hockey League champions, the Mississippi RiverKings. For the 2013–14 season, the league lost the Augusta RiverHawks but also expanded northward with two franchises in Illinois: the Bloomington Thunder, a team also moving from the CHL, where they were known as the Bloomington Blaze, and the Peoria Rivermen, who were replacing an American Hockey League team of the same name in their market. In 2015, the Augusta franchise returned and relocated to Macon, Georgia as the Macon Mayhem.
In November 2014, Shannon Szabados became the first female goaltender to win an SPHL game, when the Columbus Cottonmouths defeated the Fayetteville FireAntz 5–4 in overtime. In that same game Erin Blair and Katie Guay became the first female officials to referee an SPHL game.
At the end of the 2015–16 season, the Louisiana IceGators announced a one-year leave of absence for renovations to their arena but never returned. The IceGators' franchise was sold and reactivated as the Quad City Storm in 2018. Then in 2016, the dormant Mississippi Surge franchise was relocated to Southwest Virginia to become the Roanoke [Rail Yard Dawgs]. One of the inaugural SPHL teams, the Columbus Cottonmouths, suspended operations in 2017 after failing to find a buyer while an expansion team called the Birmingham Bulls were accepted into the league as the tenth team. Following the 2017–18 season, the Mississippi RiverKings suspended operations while the league searched for new owners. With the acceptance of the Quad City Storm, the league was able to remain at ten teams for the 2018–19 season.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019–20 season was curtailed and no champion was named. The following season, the league announced it would only play with five of the ten member teams due to pandemic-related capacity restrictions barring fans from attending games. During the season, the league approved of the Vermilion County Bobcats as a 2021–22 expansion team based in Danville, Illinois. The Bobcats folded after only a year and a half.
In 2023, the league rebranded to the orphaned initialism "SPHL" to reflect the fact that the league's footprint had expanded beyond the southern United States.
On September 17, 2025, it was announced that Mobile will be joining the league for the 2027–28 season.

Teams

2025–26 members

Future expansion

'''Notes'''

Timeline


DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
ImageSize = width:750 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2026
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors =
id:former value:rgb
id:hiatus value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2005 text:Asheville Aces
bar:2 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/03/2017 text:Columbus Cottonmouths
bar:3 color:red from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2017 text:Fayetteville FireAntz
bar:3 color:red from:06/01/2017 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text:Fayetteville Marksmen
bar:3 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021
bar:3 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:4 color:red from:07/01/2004 till:end text:Huntsville Havoc
bar:5 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2008 text:Jacksonville Barracudas
bar:6 color:red from:07/01/2004 till:end text:Knoxville Ice Bears
bar:7 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2005 text:Macon Trax
bar:8 color:former from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2005 text:Winston-Salem Polar Twins
bar:9 color:former from:07/01/2005 till:01/04/2007 text:Florida Seals
bar:10 color:former from:07/01/2005 till:03/31/2007 shift:-40 text:Pee Dee Cyclones
bar:10 color:former from:04/24/2007 till:03/31/2009 shift: text:Twin City Cyclones
bar:11 color:former from:07/01/2006 till:05/01/2009 text:Richmond Renegades
bar:12 color:former from:07/01/2009 till:06/30/2016 text:Louisiana IceGators
bar:12 color:red from:07/01/2018 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text:Quad City Storm
bar:12 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021
bar:12 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:13 color:former from:07/01/2009 till:05/02/2014 text:Mississippi Surge
bar:13 color:red from:07/01/2016 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text:Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs
bar:13 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021
bar:13 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:14 color:red from:07/01/2009 till:end text:Pensacola Ice Flyers
bar:15 color:former from:07/01/2010 till:05/14/2013 text:Augusta RiverHawks
bar:15 color:red from:07/10/2015 till:end text:Macon Mayhem
bar:16 color:former from:07/01/2011 till:06/30/2018 text:Mississippi RiverKings
bar:17 color:former from:07/01/2013 till:05/01/2014 text:Bloomington Thunder
bar:18 color:red from:07/01/2013 till:10/06/2020 text:Peoria Rivermen
bar:18 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021
bar:18 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:19 color:red from:07/01/2016 till:10/06/2020 shift:0 text:Evansville Thunderbolts
bar:19 color:hiatus from:10/06/2020 till:06/30/2021
bar:19 color:red from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:20 color:red from:07/01/2017 till:end shift:0 text:Birmingham Bulls
bar:21 color:former from:07/01/2021 till:02/09/2023 shift:-100 text:Vermilion County Bobcats
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2004

Defunct and relocated teams

Key rule differences

As per minor leagues, there are some rule differences between the SPHL and the NHL.
  • A team may dress eighteen regular players to a game. Two players dressed for the game will be goaltenders.
  • A mouthpiece is required for all players except the goaltender.
  • No curvature of stick limitations as in the NHL, AHL, and ECHL.
  • Shootouts are five players. After five different players have made an attempt, teams may reuse anyone including those who have previously attempted in later rounds, even using the same player in consecutive rounds if desired.

Champions

President's Cup

Awarded to the league playoff champion.
TeamTitles
Knoxville Ice Bears4
Pensacola Ice Flyers4
Huntsville Havoc3
Peoria Rivermen2
Columbus Cottonmouths2
Fayetteville FireAntz1
Macon Mayhem1
Mississippi Surge1
Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs1
Evansville Thunderbolts1

William B. Coffey Trophy

Originally known as the Commissioner's Cup, the regular season championship trophy was renamed in honor of league co-founder Bill Coffey during the 2007–08 season.
TeamTitles
Peoria Rivermen6
Knoxville Ice Bears5
Macon Mayhem2
Mississippi Surge2
Augusta Riverhawks1
Columbus Cottonmouths1
Fayetteville FireAntz1
Pensacola Ice Flyers1
Birmingham Bulls1