Bloomington PrairieThunder

Bloomington PrairieThunder
2010–11 Bloomington PrairieThunder season
City Bloomington, Illinois
League Central Hockey League
Conference Turner
Founded 2006
Home arena U.S. Cellular Coliseum
Colors Blue, gold, silver, white
                   
Owner(s) Tim Leighton
General manager Jim Riggs
Head coach Jason Christie
Captain Jon Booras
Media WJBC-FM (93.7 FM)
Franchise history
2006–2011 Bloomington PrairieThunder
Championships
Regular season titles None
Division Championships None
Conference Championships None
Turner Cups None
Ray Miron President's Cup None
Colonial Cups None

The Bloomington PrairieThunder was a minor league professional ice hockey team based in Bloomington, Illinois. They were a member of the Central Hockey League in the Turner Conference. The team was originally a member of the International Hockey League before it merged into the CHL in 2010. They played their home games at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

Contents

History

On September 12, 1999, John Butler and Mike Nelson, both of Bloomington, began formulating a plan to bring a minor league hockey team to Central Illinois.[1] On August 18, 2004, ground was broken for the $37-million U.S. Cellular Coliseum, the arena that would become the home of the PrarieThunder. On September 20, 2005, the United Hockey League awarded John Butler and Mike Nelson a membership to obtain a franchise.[1]

On February 1, 2006, a contest was announced to name the new hockey franchise and on February 23, 2006, the official name was announced. "PrarieThunder" refers to a train called "The Prairie Thunder" that passed through Bloomington in its early history.[1] On July 20, 2006 the PrairieThunder unveiled their new team logo which features a charging bison smashing its hooves into a sheet of ice. The team's colors are navy, silver, old gold, and white.

Season by season records

Season Games Won Lost OTL SOL Points Goals
for
Goals
against
PIM Standing Playoffs
2006-07 76 25 45 6 56 201 285 1392 5th, West Out of Playoffs
2007-08 76 31 38 3 4 69 210 258 1711 6th Out of Playoffs
2008-09 76 29 40 2 5 65 235 291 1418 5th Out of Playoffs
2009-10 76 31 34 5 6 73 241 273 1864 5th Out of Playoffs
2010-11 66 37 22 7 - 81 188 189 1212 3rd,Turner Conference Lost in 1st Round

Accomplishments

The Bloomington PrairieThunder were featured in the April 21, 2008 edition of Sports Illustrated. This was because they set a pro hockey record for the fastest four goal spurt. It took them just 35 seconds to score 4 goals against the Flint Generals on April 5, 2008. This is faster than any level of pro hockey.

Mascot

The team held a Name the Mascot Contest, sponsored by the Bloomington Pantagraph, to find a name for the mascot. Megan Fish, a 12-year-old sixth-grader at Chiddix Junior High School, was the first of 12 individuals to submit the name Chip. The next most popular entry was “Boomer” which had seven submissions.

Chip the Buffalo made his first public appearance at the Open House and Public Scrimmage held by the PrairieThunder on Wednesday October 4, 2006, interacting with fans and signing autographs.

References

External links