- St. Thomas Wildcats
The St. Thomas Wildcats were an
ice hockey team in theColonial Hockey League , later theUnited Hockey League , now known as the International Hocley League. They played at theSt. Thomas-Elgin Memorial Centre inSt. Thomas, Ontario . The team was a founding member of the league and was owned by Doug Tarry, Sr. and later by Doug Tarry, Jr., who went on to purchase theLondon Knights in 1994. The team moved to nearbyLondon, Ontario in 1994 and became theLondon Wildcats . After playing in London for the 94-95 season, the franchise suspended operations for 1 year before moving toDayton, Ohio and becoming theDayton Ice Bandits . The Bandits suspended operations after the 96-97 season.The Wildcats were
Colonial Cup runners-up both in 1991-92 (losing to theThunder Bay Thunder Cats ) and 1992-93 (losing to theBrantford Smoke ). The team'sNHL affiliations were theBuffalo Sabres and St. Louis Blues.During the 92-93 season, the Wildcats were involved in 2 major incidents. The first was during the 2nd round of the playoffs, when the
Thunder Bay Thunder Cats players went into the stands after their coach was doused with beer by a fan. Players involved includedMel Angelstad andBryan Wells . During the final round of the playoffs, against theBrantford Smoke , the 2 teams engaged in a bench clearing brawl after the first game that was played in St. Thomas (unsure if it was game 1 or 2 of the series). The brawl was started afterKent Hawley of the Wildcats was speared when he went to pick up the game puck after the final whistle. All players were invovled, including all 4 goaltenders.ee also
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List of ice hockey teams in Ontario
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