Charlotte Checkers
The Charlotte Checkers are a minor-league professional ice hockey team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Checkers play their home games at Bojangles' Coliseum. The current organization is the third team by this name; it succeeded a Checkers franchise which played in the ECHL from 1993 until the end of the 2009–10 ECHL season. The original Checkers team played in the city from 1956 to 1977, originally in the Eastern Hockey League and then in the Southern Hockey League. The franchise is one of five teams to directly replace and share a name with a predecessor from a lower-tier league; the others are the Bakersfield Condors, Ontario Reign, Rockford IceHogs, and San Diego Gulls.
History
The franchise was originally the Capital District Islanders from 1990–1993. They then became the Albany River Rats from 1993–2010, until the River Rats were sold to MAK Hockey, LLC, led by Charlotte beer distributor Michael Kahn, owner of the ECHL Checkers. The new ownership relocated the team to Charlotte for the 2010–11 season, renaming the franchise the "Charlotte Checkers", and relinquished the ECHL franchise to the league. The Checkers are the second North Carolina-based team to play at the highest level of minor-league hockey, following the Carolina Monarchs, which played in Greensboro from 1995 to 1997.
Charlotte Checkers (1956–77)
The Charlotte Checkers were an American ice hockey team in Charlotte, North Carolina, playing in the Eastern Hockey League and Southern Hockey League.
Franchise history
Origin
The first effort to bring professional hockey to Charlotte began with the formation of the Charlotte Hockey Club, a group of local businessmen represented by Bill Shields who lobbied for a franchise in the Eastern Hockey League. On Jan. 23, 1956, a mechanical fire caused the total destruction of the Carlin's Iceland rink in Baltimore, leaving the EHL's Baltimore Clippers without a home rink for the remainder of their schedule. Clippers owner Charlie Rock was approached by Shields with an offer to play some of the games newly dedicated Charlotte Coliseum, with the ultimate aim of securing the franchise in Charlotte for the following season as well. Rock agreed to play five of the Clippers' remaining twelve home games in Charlotte.
At the time, there was little precedent for hockey in the American South. Aside from an abortive attempt to form a league in Florida during the 1930s, no professional team had ever played south of Louisville, Kentucky or east of Houston, Texas. The EHL approved the move, and only a week later the temporarily renamed "Rebels" played their first game in Charlotte. The result was a smashing success at the gate—an over-capacity crowd of 10,363 turned out for the debut, with an estimated 3,000 turned away. In all, the first five games in Charlotte drew a crowd of nearly 40,000, prompting Rock to keep the franchise in Charlotte for good.
Charlotte Checkers (1993–2010)
The Charlotte Checkers were an American ice hockey team in Charlotte, North Carolina, and played in the ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League).
Franchise history
Following a 17-year break from ice hockey, the Checkers returned in 1993 and made the playoffs ten times, including winning the ECHL Championship in 1996.
The Checkers franchise was founded in 1993 and played from then until 2005 in Bojangles' Coliseum. In 2005, they moved to Time Warner Cable Arena. The team set their all time attendance record of 12,398 on February 21, 2009 in a 5-2 win against the Florida Everblades. Their previous record was 11,237 in a loss against the Texas Wildcatters in February 2007.
On January 21, 2010, it was reported that negotiations were underway for the owner of the Checkers to buy the Albany River Rats, the American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes. On February 10, the sale of the River Rats to the Checkers owner was confirmed, with the Rats taking on the Checkers identity starting with the 2010-11 season. As a result of this, the Checkers' ECHL membership was relinquished to the League at the end of the 2009-10 ECHL season, ending the franchise's ECHL history.
Charlotte Checkers (disambiguation)
Charlotte Checkers is the name of several professional ice hockey franchises:
Podcasts:
