Southern Hockey League (1995-1996)
Tombstone
Born: 1995 – Southern Hockey League founding franchise
Folded: July 16, 19961Ford, Tom. “Hockey league beats Prowlers to final punch”. The Tribune (Tampa, FL). July 17, 1996
First Game: October 26, 1995 (W 4-3 @ Huntsville Channel Cats)
Last Game: March 31, 1996 (L 5-2 vs. Huntsville Channel Cats)
Southern Hockey League Championships: None
Arena
Lakeland Center
Opened: 1974
Ownership
Owner: Les Kaplan
Background
The Lakeland Prowlers were a low-level minor league professional hockey team that competed for one season in the Southern Hockey League during the winter of 1995-96. The first year league featured six clubs, including four Florida entries plus Huntsville Channel Cats from Alabama and the Winston-Salem Mammoths from North Carolina.
The Prowlers put up the best regular season record in the SHL (41-13-6) but were upset in the first round /semi-finals of the playoffs by the Huntsville Channel Cats, a team that came into the playoffs with a losing record.
No members of the Prowlers ever skated in the National Hockey League, either before or after coming to Lakeland. The team’s top scorer was 24-year old Lenny Pereira (44 goals, 73 assists). But Pereira would never played professional hockey again after the 1995-96 season ended.
The End
After the Southern Hockey League concluded its first season in April 1996, the league rapidly came unglued. With all four of the SHL’s Florida clubs either out of business or on the verge of folding, including Lakeland, 1996-97 expansion teams planned for Columbus and Macon, Georgia defected to the more established Central Hockey League. Without enough committed teams to continue on, the SHL ceased operations in July 1996, taking the Prowlers with them into the grave.
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