Southern Professional Hockey League team folds, impacting Evansville Thunderbolts schedule
One of the Evansville Thunderbolts' opponents in the Southern Professional Hockey League announced Thursday morning it has ceased operations.
The Vermilion County Bobcats, who are based in Danville, Illinois, will not finish out the remainder of the season after they made headlines over the weekend when they no-showed for a home game against Quad City. They lost 77 of 86 games in two years of existence.
This news, in turn, will affect six of the Thunderbolts' 19 remaining contests, including three games at Ford Center. The Thunderbolts were set to host the Bobcats on March 10-11 and April 1. They also were supposed to travel to play Vermilion on Feb. 17-18 and March 31.
The Vermillion County Bobcats of the SPHL announced today that they have ceased operations, effective immediately.
— Vermilion County Bobcats (@VCBobcats) February 9, 2023
The Thunderbolts’ games that were supposed to be played against Vermilion County will be rescheduled with other opponents. The departure reduces the number of teams in the league from 11 to 10.
Evansville (21-14-2, 44 points) is in sixth place but has experienced success at home, winning 14 of 19 games while averaging 3,130 fans — the most since it was founded in 2016. It has never finished higher than fifth place.
The Thunderbolts will return to their home ice on Friday night against Quad City.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Southern Professional Hockey League: Vermilion County Bobcats fold
