Bloomington PrairieThunder
Bloomington Prairie Thunder | |
---|---|
City | Bloomington, Illinois |
League | International Hockey League |
Founded | 2005 |
Home arena | U.S. Cellular Coliseum |
Colors | Blue, Gold, and White |
Owner(s) | John Butler |
General manager | Jerry McBurney |
Head coach | Derek Booth |
Media | WTRX (93.7 FM) |
The Bloomington Prairie Thunder are a team of the International Hockey League who started play in 2006 (when the league was called the United Hockey League). They play their home games at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, Illinois (which is also the home of the UIF's Bloomington Extreme).
Coaching Staff
- Head Coach: Derek Booth
- Assistant Coach: Jarrod Skalde
- Equipment Manager: Brian Schmidt
Ownership
The Prairie Thunder operated in their inaugural season under the ownership of John Butler, Mike Nelson, and Tony Lisman. On May 1, 2007, it was announced that Lisman would assume complete ownership of the team.
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 4th, 2006, interacting with fans and signing autographs.
Players
# Pos. Player. Date Of Birth. Place of Birth 30 G Loic Lacasse 04/23/1986 Granby, QUE 31 G Derek Dolson 05/23/1981 Kitchener,ONT 7 D Rob Guinn 01/25/1976 Ottawa,ONT 3 D Casey Handrahan 04/20/1980 Niagra Falls,ONT 16 D Jeff Ewasko 11/12/1976 Sherwood Park, ALB 22 D Rod Aldoff 01/10/1971 Lethbridge, ALB 25 D Pascal Bedard 12/11/1980 Montreal, QUE 28 D Sam Miller 12/07/1980 Vancouver, WA 33 D Tim Schnedier 02/17/1980 Devils Lake, ND
8 F Jarrod Skalde 02/26/1971 Niagara Falls, ONT 9 F Kyle McCullough 10/02/1983 Danvers, MA 10 F Brent Clarke 06/01/1986 Bolton, ONT 11 F Jon Booras 12/17/1982 Billings, MT 13 F Don Parsons 01/17/1969 Boston, MA 14 F Adam Edinger 09/21/1977 Toledo, OH 15 F Noah Katz 09/14/1982 Columbia, MD 19 F Brett Holmberg 03/22/1986 Sherwood Park, ALB 20 F Bobby Kukulka 09/29/1983 Macomb, MI 23 F Don Margettie 07/10/1975 Niagara Falls, ONT 24 F Leo Thomas 12/29/1981 Toronto, ONT