St. Thomas Wildcats
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The St. Thomas Wildcats were an ice hockey team in the Colonial Hockey League, later the United Hockey League. They played at the St. Thomas-Elgin Memorial Centre in St. Thomas, Ontario. The team was a founding member of the league and was owned by Doug Tarry, Sr. and later by Doug Tarry, Jr., who went on to purchase the London Knights in 1994. The team moved to nearby London, Ontario in 1994 and became the London Wildcats. After playing in London for the 94-95 season, the franchise suspended operations for 1 year before moving to Dayton, Ohio and becoming the Dayton Ice Bandits. The Bandits suspended operations after the 96-97 season.
The Wildcats were Colonial Cup runners-up both in 1991-92 (losing to the Thunder Bay Thunder Cats) and 1992-93 (losing to the Brantford Smoke). The team's NHL affiliations were the Buffalo Sabres and St. Louis Blues.
During the 92-93 season, the Wildcats were involved in 2 major incidents. The first was during the 2nd round of the playoffs, when the Thunder Bay Thunder Cats players went into the stands after their coach was doused with beer by a fan. Players involved included Mel Angelstad and Bryan Wells. During the final round of the playoffs, against the Brantford Smoke, the 2 teams engaged in a bench clearing brawl after the first game that was played in St. Thomas (unsure if it was game 1 or 2 of the series). The brawl was started after Kent Hawley of the Wildcats was speared when he went to pick up the game puck after the final whistle. All players were invovled, including all 4 goaltenders.
