The Toledo Pride were a One-Year Wonder indoor soccer outfit, playing in the Midwest-based American Indoor Soccer Association. The Pride played a winter schedule during 1986-87, filling empty dates at the Toledo Sports Arena after the city’s long-time minor league ice hockey club went out of business earlier in 1986. The Pride closed their doors after one season of play.
Of all the minor league hockey teams that plied their trade at the old Toledo Sports Arena – the Mercury, the Blades, the Hornets, the Goaldiggers – it was the Toledo Storm that lasted the longest. The Storm skated for sixteen seasons between 1991 and 2007, winning the Riley Cup as champions of the East Coast Hockey League in back-to-back years in 1993 and 1994.
The gold-and-black clad Hornets were Toledo’s International Hockey League franchise of the early 1970’s. The Hornets replaced the IHL’s previous Toledo club, the Blades, the fall of 1970. Owner Paul Bright moved the Blades franchise to Lansing, Michigan in the spring of 1974. The IHL responded less than a week later by awarding a new expansion club to Toledo, the Goaldiggers, to begin play that October.
International Hockey League (1974-1986) Born: May 16, 1974 – IHL expansion franchise Folded: 1986 First Game: October 18, 1974 (W 4-1 vs. Lansing Lancers) Last
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