East Coast Hockey League (1996-2003)
Tombstone
Born: March 15, 1996 – The Erie Panthers announce they will move to Baton Rouge, LA
Suspended Operations: Spring 2003
Sold & Moved: 2003 (Victoria Salmon Kings)
First Game: October 19, 1996 (L 4-3 @ Tallahassee Tiger Sharks)
Last Game: March 30, 2003 (L 2-1 vs. Arkansas RiverBlades)
Riley Cup/Kelly Cup Championships: None
Arena
Riverside Centroplex (8,579)12000-01 East Coast Hockey League Official Guide
Opened: 1977
Marketing
Team Colors: Copenhagen Blue, Black, Silver, Copper & Red22000-01 East Coast Hockey League Official Guide
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners:
- ????-2001: Duane Wallin, Jim Wallin, Jim Clark, Ron Hansis & Philip Russell
- 2001-2003: Scott Bolduc & Lauren Bolduc
NHL Affiliation:
- 1996-1998: St. Louis Blues
Attendance
Our Favorite Stuff
Baton Rouge Kingfish
ECHL Logo T-Shirt
Baton Rouge’s first pro hockey team, the Kingfish, skated at the Centroplex from 1996 to 2003. The team reportedly took its name in honor of the notorious former Louisiana Governor and U.S. Senator Huey P. Long who was assassinated in Baton Rouge in 1935.
This Kingfish tee is available in several colors and in sizes Small through 6XL today at Vintage Ice Hockey!
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Background
The Baton Rouge Kingfish were a minor league pro hockey outfit that competed in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) from 1996 through 2003. The franchise relocated from Erie, Pennsylvania and was part of an aggressive ECHL expansion effort into south Louisiana during the mid-1990’s.
A year earlier, the league placed an expansion team at the Cajundome in nearby Lafayette for the 1995-96 season. Lafayette’s Louisiana IceGators promptly re-wrote the league’s all-time single season attendance record (342,154) during the 1995-96 season, averaging nearly 10,000 fans per game. The Kingfish arrived from Pennsylvania the following season. And one year later, the ECHL awarded an expansion franchise to New Orleans, the New Orleans Brass.
From 1997 through 2002, the Kingfish, IceGators and Brass established intense rivalries and competed for the Hibernia Cup, a competition for state-wide bragging rights from regular season head-to-head play.
In Competition
The Kingfish missed the ECHL’s Kelly Cup playoffs in four of their seven seasons and claimed just one playoff series victory in their history. After a 6th place divisional finish during the 1998-99 season, the Kingfish snuck into the playoffs and swept the Augusta Lynx in a two-game opening round series. The Pee Dee Pride eliminated the Kingfish in the second round of the 1999 Kelly Cup playoffs.
The Kingfish returned to the postseason in each of the next two seasons, but bowed out in first round sweeps at the hands of the South Carolina Stingrays (2000) and the Arkansas RiverBlades (2001).
Left winter Cam Brown was Baton Rouge’s all-time leading scorer with 103 goals and 158 assists over six seasons. Brown, who appeared in a single game for the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks during the 1990-91 season, was originally an Erie Panther who moved with the club to Baton Rouge in 1996. After skating for the Kingfish during their first six seasons, Brown moved behind the bench as the team’s head coach for the team’s final campaign in 2002-03. After the Kingfish went dark in 2003, Brown returned to the ice and played three more seasons in the ECHL with the Gwinnett Gladiators before retiring in 2006.
Canadian center Bryan Richardson played parts of five seasons with the Kingfish between 1997 and 2003 and finished as Baton Rouge’s all-time leading sniper. With 104 goals during his various Baton Rouge tours, Richardson notched one more tally than Cam Brown’s 103.
Demise
The fortunes of all three south Louisiana clubs plunged during the early 2000’s. In Lafayette, the IceGators underwent ownership changes. Their attendance plunged by 50% from over 11,000 per game in 1997-98 to under 5,000 per night in 2001-02. The New Orleans Brass lost their lease at New Orleans Arena after the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets moved town in 2002 and were forced out of business.
In Baton Rouge, Kingfish attendance simply declined steadily for seven seasons in a row. The team averaged 6,003 per game in their debut season at the Centroplex in 1996-97. By 2002-03, that number had fallen to 1,723. At the end of the season, following a failed season ticket drive, owner Scott Bolduc announced that his franchise would suspend operations for a season to evaluate its options. Ultimately the mothballed franchise was sold to new ownership who moved it to Victoria, British Columbia for the 2004-05 ECHL season. The Victoria Salmon Kings played seven more seasons before disbanding in 2011.
The Kingfish’s seven seasons between 1996 and 2003 remain Baton Rouge’s only experience with hosting professional hockey.
Baton Rouge Kingfish Shop
OUR FAVORITE STUFF
Baton Rouge Kingfish
Ceramic mug
Available now from our friends at Vintage Ice Hockey, this fully-insulated porcelain mug is ideal for your morning brew.
Ceramic | Capacity: 11 fl oz
Dishwasher safe
Lead and Cadmium free
Imported; processed and printed in the U.S.A.
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
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