Tupelo T-Rex
| Tupelo T-Rex | |
|---|---|
| City | Tupelo, Mississippi |
| League | WPHL |
| Division | Southeast Division |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Home arena | BancorpSouth Arena |
| Colors |
Green, white, yellow, purple |
| Owner(s) |
Bill MacFarlane (1998-1999) T-Rex 2000, Inc. (1999-2001) |
| Head coach |
Peter Esdale David Latta George Dupont |
| Franchise history | |
| 1998-2001 | WPHL |
| 2001-2003 | AWHL |
| Championships | |
| Regular season titles | 2001 |
The Tupelo T-Rex was a professional ice hockey team, a member of the Western Professional Hockey League, and played their home games at BancorpSouth Center from 1998 through 2001.[1] The franchise was originally owned by Bill MacFarlane and was later taken over by a local ownership group in January 2000.[2] During the 2000-2001 season, the team brought in key play makers including Jason Firth, Brant Blackned, and Barry McKinley who helped lead the T-Rex to a regular season championship. During the off-season in 2001, the Western Pro Hockey League joined the Central Hockey League and the T-Rex folded as a pro franchise and became a Junior A team in the America West Hockey League.
Issues with Tupelo, CHL, and SEHL
After the 2000-01 season, Tupelo was invited to be a part of the WPHL-Central Hockey League merger. It would have set up a local rivalry with current CHL member Memphis Riverkings. However, the T-Rex ownership refused and decided not to join the merger. Their attempts to join two other pro leagues backfired when the CHL invoked a non-compete clause, claiming the territorial rights to Tupelo as part of the merger. With no other options, Tupelo folded as a pro franchise and became a juniors team in the America West Hockey League where they lasted two more seasons putting together a dismal 4-107-0-0-1 record.[3]
Several attempts to restart the franchise, most notably as a team in the South East Hockey League failed, as it turned out that, despite not fielding a team, the Central Hockey League had a 5-year non-compete clause with the BancorpSouth Center. Thus, no professional hockey team could enter the venue in Tupelo. In addition to problems surrounding the facility's legal issues with the team, the T-Rex had attempted membership with the Atlantic Coast Hockey League and attempted the move to the SEHL, but were barred from this move due to the non-compete clause the CHL held over the arena.[4]
Future
As of the present there are no plans to bring the T-Rex back in Tupelo. The legal issues the team faced from its efforts to merge to either the SEHL or CHL blocked occupied too much time for the team to recover. Since then, the only ice hockey to have been played at the Bancorpsouth Arena has been the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University DIII men's club teams.
See also
List of defunct Mississippi sports teams
References
- ↑ Hall, Jamie (April 22, 2001). "Tupelo waits to see whether two teams can survive". Southeast Missourian (Cape Girardeau, MO: Rust Communications). Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- ↑ "Another new regime". Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, MS). January 21, 2000. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
- ↑ Tupelo T-Rex Statistics and History AWHL
- ↑ Will Birmingham join the South East Hockey League in 2003?