2004-05 – The Southern Professional Hockey League is founded with nine teams taking the ice: the Asheville (NC) Aces, Columbus (GA) Cottonmouths, Fayetteville (NC) FireAntz, Huntsville (AL) Havoc, Jacksonville (FL) Barracudas, Knoxville (TN) Ice Bears, Macon (GA) Trax, Orlando (FL) Seals and Winston-Salem (NC) Polar Twins. The Orlando franchise was inactive for the 2004-05 season. Teams played a 56-game regular season schedule.
Tom Coolen was named the SPHL’s first commissioner, and the league office was established in Asheville, North Carolina.
The Knoxville Ice Bears captured the Commissioner’s Cup as regular season champions. The fifth-place Columbus Cottonmouths went a perfect 5-0 in the playoffs, scoring upsets in three playoff series to win the President’s Cup title over Macon.
2005-06 – Asheville, Macon, and Winston-Salem ceased operations before the season. The Pee Dee Cyclones, based in Florence, South Carolina, became the SPHL’s first expansion team, while the Orlando Seals relocated to Kissimmee and were renamed the Florida Seals. The league operated with seven teams.
Keith Jeffries became the SPHL’s second commissioner, and the league office moved to Huntsville, Alabama.
Teams now received one point in the regular season standings for an overtime or shootout loss.
Knoxville captured their second straight Commissioner’s Cup and first President’s Cup, defeating Florida in four games and becoming the first team to win both trophies in the same season.
2006-07 – The SPHL added the Richmond (VA) Renegades as an expansion team and iced eight teams.
The Florida Seals franchise was terminated on January 5, 2007, after 26 games.
Columbus broke Knoxville’s hold on the regular season championship, while the Fayetteville FireAntz captured their first President’s Cup, defeating Jacksonville in four games.
2007-08 – Jim Combs was named the third commissioner of the SPHL.
The regular season championship trophy was renamed the William B. Coffey Trophy. Coffey, one of the league’s founders, had been the SPHL’s Director of Hockey Operations since its inception.
The regular season schedule is reduced from 56 to 52 games.
The Pee Dee Cyclones relocated to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, before the season and were renamed the Twin City Cyclones.
The Knoxville Ice Bears captured both the regular season and playoff championships in the same season for the second time, earning their third regular season title and second President’s Cup as they defeated Jacksonville in the finals.
2008-09 – The SPHL celebrated its 5th anniversary season.
The regular season schedule was increased from 52 to 60 games.
The Jacksonville Barracudas voluntarily suspended operations for one year. The SPHL operated with six teams, including four original franchises – Columbus, Fayetteville, Huntsville, and Knoxville.
After capturing their fourth regular season title in five years, Knoxville became the league’s first back-to-back President’s Cup Champion, defeating Fayetteville in a thrilling five-game series.
2009-10 – Three expansion teams were added for the SPHL’s sixth season, with the (Lafayette) Louisiana IceGators, (Biloxi) Mississippi Surge, and Pensacola (FL) Ice Flyers joining the league. The Jacksonville Barracudas and Richmond Renegades were terminated, while the Twin City Cyclones voluntarily suspended operations for the 2009-10 season.
After going to 60 games the previous season, the regular season was reduced to 56 games.
The SPHL office moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and Doug Price was named the league’s new Vice President of Hockey Administration.
The Huntsville Havoc captured their first-ever President’s Cup, sweeping regular-season champion Mississippi in the finals, three games to none.
2010-11 – For the second straight season, an expansion team joined the SPHL as the Augusta (GA) RiverHawks dropped the puck in October.
Teams no longer received a point for a shootout or overtime loss.
After taking their second consecutive regular season title, the Mississippi Surge avenged last year’s playoff heartbreak by sweeping Augusta in the President’s Cup Finals.
2011-12 – The SPHL continued its recent growth as the Mississippi RiverKings became the league’s ninth member.
After a one-year hiatus, teams again received one point in the regular season standings for an overtime or shootout loss.
The number of teams making the President’s Cup Playoffs was increased from six to eight.
The Columbus Cottonmouths captured their second President’s Cup championship, sweeping Pensacola in the finals two games to none.
2012-13 – For the first time in four seasons, no new teams joined the SPHL as the league began its ninth season of play.
The Pensacola Ice Flyers won their first President’s Cup, defeating Huntsville two games to one. Entering the playoffs as the eighth seed, the Havoc upset regular-season champion Fayetteville and second-seeded Louisiana to earn a trip to the finals.
The SPHL set new post-season attendance records with an average of 3,126 per game. Of the 10 highest-attended playoff games in SPHL history, seven took place during the 2013 President’s Cup.
2013-14 – The SPHL entered its 10th anniversary season with several changes. The Bloomington Thunder and Peoria Rivermen joined the league as expansion teams, expanding the league’s footprint into the midwestern United States.
The Augusta RiverHawks were forced to suspend operations for the 2013-14 season due to ongoing problems with the ice plant at James Brown Arena. The same problem forced the RiverHawks to play their final eight home games at a practice facility last season.
Former NHL referee Mark Faucette was named the league’s Director of Officiating.
Pensacola captured their second-consecutive President’s Cup Championship, defeating Columbus two games to none. En route to the title, the Ice Flyers set several new regular-season league records, including most points (81), wins (38), and average attendance (4,090).
Goaltender Shannon Szabados, a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the Canadian women’s hockey team, became the first female to play in the SPHL when she started in net for the Columbus Cottonmouths against Knoxville on March 15, 2014. Szabados stopped 27 shots in a 4-3 loss to the Ice Bears.
The Augusta RiverHawks announce they will move to Macon, GA for the 2015-16 season and take the ice as the Macon Mayhem.
2014-15 – The SPHL began its second decade of play with eight teams, as the Bloomington Thunder and Mississippi Surge suspended operations for the season. With the change, the SPHL adopted a new, six-team playoff format.
The SPHL partnered with NeuLion to deliver live and on-demand content for all SPHL games across a variety of platforms.
On October 26, 2014, Goaltender Scott Darling became the first former SPHL player to play in the National Hockey League. Darling, who played for the Louisiana IceGators and Mississippi RiverKings from 2010-2012, made 32 saves in a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators in his NHL debut. Darling posted a 9-4 record in the regular season before going 3-1 in the playoffs, helping the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup Championship.
Columbus’ Shannon Szabados, a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the Canadian women’s hockey team, became the first female goaltender to win an SPHL game when she defeated Fayetteville on November 21, 2014. Szabados finished the season with a 15-9-1 record, which included an eight-game winning streak. That same day, referees Erin Blair and Katie Guay became the first women to officiate an SPHL game, working the Cottonmouths’ Girl Scout Night game against Fayetteville.
The SPHL set a new regular season attendance record with an average of 3,248 per game.
The Knoxville Ice Bears claimed their record fourth President’s Cup Championship, defeating Mississippi two games to none in the finals.
2015-16 – The SPHL began its 12th season of play with nine teams as the Macon Mayhem (formerly Augusta RiverHawks) returned to the ice.
The SPHL announced the move of the Mississippi Surge to Roanoke, VA, and the Bloomington Thunder to Evansville, IN.
The Peoria Rivermen set several league records in capturing their second SPHL regular season championship, including marks for most points (83), most wins (39), longest winning streak (14 games), and longest road winning streak (12 games).
The Huntsville Havoc established a new league attendance mark by drawing 117,298 fans to their games, an average of 4,189 per contest. The Havoc’s record season featured six sellouts.
The Pensacola Ice Flyers claimed their third President’s Cup Championship in four years, defeating the Peoria Rivermen three games to none. Pensacola’s Josh Cousineau scored the cup-winning goal with less than a second remaining in regulation and was featured on ESPN’s Top Plays.
Due to extensive renovations at the Cajundome, the Louisiana IceGators were forced to suspend operations for the 2016-2017 season.
2016-17 – The SPHL began its 13th season of play with ten teams, as the Evansville Thunderbolts and Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs took to the ice for their inaugural seasons.
After finishing eighth the previous season, the Macon Mayhem pulled off one the biggest year-to-year turnarounds as they captured both the William B. Coffey Trophy as regular season champions and the President’s Cup, defeating Peoria two games to none.
Following the season, the Columbus Cottonmouths announced they would suspend operations for the 2017-2018 season.
2017-18 – The SPHL added the Birmingham (AL) Bulls to the fold as the league entered its 14th season of play.
A new playoff format was announced, and the SPHL will conduct a Challenge Round selection event with all eight playoff teams participating. For the Challenge Round, the top three teams from the regular season would select their first-round opponent from the teams seeded 5-8. The #1 seed will select their Challenge Round opponent first. The #2 seed would then choose their opponent from the remaining three teams, after which the #3 seed would choose from the remaining two. The #4 seed would play the team that was not selected previously.
The Peoria Rivermen claimed the William B. Coffey trophy as regular season champions for the third time in four seasons.
The fourth-seeded Huntsville Havoc captured their second President’s Cup Championship, defeating Peoria two games to one. Huntsville also established a new regular-season attendance record, averaging 4,774 fans and breaking their record of 4,648 set the previous season.
Following the season, the Mississippi RiverKings announced they would suspend operations for the 2018-2019 season.
Former NHL official Andy McElman was named the league’s Director of Officiating.
2018-19 – The SPHL entered its 15th season of play with 10 teams, as the Quad City Storm (Moline, IL) joined the league.
On January 17, 2019, Doug Price was named the league’s fourth Commissioner, while Andy McElman was promoted to Vice President of Hockey Operations.
The Peoria Rivermen won their second consecutive William B. Coffey trophy as regular season champions.
The Huntsville Havoc led the SPHL in attendance for the fourth consecutive season, again breaking their record by averaging 4,932 fans per game.
The second season of the SPHL Challenge Round saw its first major upset as the fifth-seeded Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs upset Peoria in two games.
Huntsville became the third team to win back-to-back championships as the Havoc defeated the Birmingham Bulls two games to none.
2019-20 – The SPHL began its 16th season of play, returning all 10 teams from the previous year.
The SPHL entered into a historic licensing agreement with Marvel, Nickelodeon, Peanuts, and Mossy Oak, through which every team would have a specialty night with jerseys featuring each of the four partners.
On March 15, 2020, the Southern Professional Hockey League canceled the remainder of the 2019-2020 regular season and playoffs due to the worldwide COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak. This cancellation came two days after the league had initially suspended the regular season.
2020-21 – The SPHL’s 17th season would be like no other in its history. Due to the continuing Coronavirus pandemic and state and local restrictions on large gatherings, five teams (Evansville, Fayetteville, Peoria, Quad City, and Roanoke) were forced to sit out the 2020-2021 season. The remaining five teams (Birmingham, Huntsville, Knoxville, Macon, and Pensacola) played a shortened 42-game schedule that was delayed until Saturday, December 26.
The league entered into a new streaming and statistical partnership with HockeyTech where SPHL TV delivered live and on-demand content for all SPHL games across multiple platforms.
The Macon Mayhem captured the William B. Coffey Trophy as regular season champions, finishing with a league-record winning percentage of 0.810 (32-6-4).
The Pensacola Ice Flyers captured their record-tying fourth President’s Cup Championship, defeating top-seeded Macon two games to none.
2021-22 – The SPHL began its 18th season with 11 teams and a full schedule of 56 games as the Vermilion County Bobcats (Danville, IL) joined the league.
The Knoxville Ice Bears captured their fifth William B. Coffey Trophy as regular season champions, finishing with the second-most points in league history (88).
After three previous appearances in the finals, the Peoria Rivermen captured their first President’s Cup Championship, defeating the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs three games to one on a goal by JM Piotrowski just 1:06 into overtime of Game 4. The eighth-seeded Dawgs had an impressive playoff run, knocking off top-seeded Knoxville and second-seeded Huntsville to advance to their first finals in team history.
2022-23 – The SPHL began its 19th season of play, returning all 11 teams from the previous year.
The Vermilion County Bobcats ceased operations on February 8, 2023, after 30 games.
Birmingham’s Hayden Stewart became the first goaltender in SPHL history to score a goal when he shot the puck into the empty net in the Bulls’ 3-0 win over Evansville on March 18, 2023.
The Peoria Rivermen captured their fifth William B. Coffey Trophy as regular season champions.
The SPHL recorded its first-ever season with over one million fans in attendance as a record 1,026,831 fans attended SPHL games during the regular season – an average of 3,445 fans per game. The total number of fans surpassed the previous record set during the 2017-18 season, while the season average broke the previous record set in 2014-15.
The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs captured their first President’s Cup Championship, defeating the Birmingham Bulls three games to one, clinching the cup with an overtime goal by Mac Jansen in Game 4.
On August 1, 2023, the Southern Professional Hockey League announced it had officially rebranded to SPHL.
2023-24 – The SPHL celebrated its 20th anniversary season with 10 teams. In recognition, the league unveiled a commemorative logo to be used during the 2023-2024 season. In developing the anniversary logo, designs from team staff throughout the league were submitted for consideration. Ultimately, the logo submitted by former Fayetteville Marksmen broadcaster Drew Blevins was selected as the winner.
The Birmingham Bulls captured their first William B. Coffey trophy, finishing with a league-best 38-9-9 record.
For the second consecutive season, the SPHL topped one million fans in regular season attendance (1,149,410), breaking the league record set just one year prior. The SPHL also topped 4,000 fans per game (4,105) for the first time in its 20-year history as seven teams set new single-season attendance marks.
The Peoria Rivermen won their second President’s Cup in three seasons, rallying to defeat Huntsville two games to one in the finals.
