SPHL facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
SPHL

Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	2004
Commissioner	Doug Price
No. of teams	10
Country	United States
Most recent champion(s)	Evansville Thunderbolts (2025)
Most titles	Knoxville Ice Bears and Pensacola Ice Flyers (4 each)
TV partner(s)	FloSports
Official website	thesphl.com

The SPHL is a fun and exciting professional ice hockey league in the United States. It used to be called the Southern Professional Hockey League. Most of its teams are in the southeastern United States, but some are also in Illinois and Indiana.

The SPHL is a "minor league." This means it's a professional league, but it's not as big as the NHL. Think of it like a stepping stone for players who want to reach higher levels of hockey.

After the 2024–25 season, the Evansville Thunderbolts are the champions, having won the President's Cup. The Knoxville Ice Bears are one of the most successful teams in SPHL history. They have won the William B. Coffey Trophy five times and the President's Cup four times. The Peoria Rivermen have also won five William B. Coffey Trophies. The Pensacola Ice Flyers have won four President's Cups.

How the SPHL Started

The SPHL began in 2004. Its history is linked to three other hockey leagues that didn't last very long.

• The Atlantic Coast Hockey League played for one season in 2002–03.
• After that, some of its teams formed two new leagues: the South East Hockey League and the World Hockey Association 2.
• These two leagues also lasted only one season.
• Then, the remaining teams from those leagues joined with two new teams to create the SPHL in 2004.

Growing the League

The SPHL has grown a lot over the years.

• In 2009, three new teams joined in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida.
• In 2010, a team was added in Augusta, Georgia.
• For the 2011–12 season, the league welcomed the Mississippi RiverKings, who had won championships in another league.
• In 2013–14, the league expanded north into Illinois. The Bloomington Thunder and Peoria Rivermen joined.
• In 2015, the Augusta team returned and moved to Macon, Georgia, becoming the Macon Mayhem.

Important Moments

The SPHL has seen some cool firsts:

• In November 2014, Shannon Szabados became the first female goalie to win an SPHL game. Her team, the Columbus Cottonmouths, won 5–4 in overtime.
• In the same game, Erin Blair and Katie Guay became the first female officials to referee an SPHL game.

Changes Over Time

Some teams have left or moved over the years:

• The Louisiana IceGators stopped playing in 2016. Their team was later sold and became the Quad City Storm in 2018.
• The Mississippi Surge team moved to Southwest Virginia in 2016 and became the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs.
• The Columbus Cottonmouths, one of the original SPHL teams, stopped playing in 2017.
• A new team, the Birmingham Bulls, joined the league in 2017.
• The Mississippi RiverKings stopped playing in 2018.
• The Quad City Storm joined, keeping the league at ten teams for the 2018–19 season.

Recent Seasons

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the SPHL:

• The 2019–20 season was cut short, and no champion was named.
• For the next season, only five of the ten teams played because fans couldn't attend games.
• The Vermilion County Bobcats joined as a new team in 2021 but stopped playing after only a year and a half.

In 2023, the league changed its name to just "SPHL." This was because the teams were no longer only in the southern United States.

SPHL Teams

Here are the teams currently playing in the SPHL.

Teams for 2024-25 Season

SPHL Rules

The SPHL has some rules that are a little different from bigger leagues like the NHL.

• Each team can have 18 regular players and two goalies dressed for a game.
• All players, except the goalie, must wear a mouthguard for safety.
• There are no strict rules about how much a player's stick can curve.
• If a game goes to a shootout, five different players take shots first. After that, teams can use any player again, even the same player multiple times in a row.

SPHL Champions

There are two main championships in the SPHL: the President's Cup and the William B. Coffey Trophy.

President's Cup Winners

The President's Cup is given to the team that wins the league playoffs.

William B. Coffey Trophy Winners

This trophy is for the team that finishes first in the regular season. It was named after Bill Coffey, one of the league's founders.

Images for kids

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  The official SPHL logo.