In the realm of sports in Louisiana, where football and basketball often dominate the headlines, ice hockey has carved its own unique niche. While the state may never host an NHL franchise, the passion for the sport is undeniable. Over the past few decades, numerous teams have emerged across Louisiana, and among them was the Baton Rouge Kingfish of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL).
Let's delve into the history of the Baton Rouge Kingfish, a minor league pro hockey outfit that competed in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) from 1996 through 2003. In the midst of the chase for the Stanley Cup, let’s take a look back at the Baton Rouge Kingfish of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL).
The Kingfish's story begins in Eerie, Pennsylvania. The Eerie Panthers were a charter member of the ECHL and relocated to Baton Rouge, LA after the 1995 season.
The East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) was established in 1988 as a new professional minor league circuit, initially comprising five teams to fill a gap in affordable, competitive hockey in smaller markets across the eastern United States. The Erie Panthers were one of these charter franchises, founded that year in Erie, Pennsylvania.
In their inaugural 1988-89 season, the Panthers quickly demonstrated competitive potential, finishing with a league-best 37-20-3 record and capturing the first-ever Henry Brabham Cup as regular-season champions, named in honor of their owner. This success propelled them to the playoffs, where they advanced but fell short of the Riley Cup finals, marking the start of a strong early run that included postseason appearances in each of their first five seasons.
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By the mid-1990s, however, the Panthers faced mounting challenges that eroded their viability in Erie. The team missed the playoffs in their final three seasons, including a dismal 1995-96 campaign with a 25-40-5 record, exacerbated by injuries, roster instability, and increased competition from nearby NHL affiliates. Attendance plummeted below 3,000 fans per game on average during this period, reflecting broader market saturation in Pennsylvania-where proximity to Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers games diluted local interest-and economic pressures on a small-market franchise.
In 1996, the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) franchise previously known as the Erie Panthers relocated from Erie, Pennsylvania, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as part of the league's expansion efforts into the American South. The move was announced that summer, with the team adopting the name Baton Rouge Kingfish following a public naming contest; the moniker paid homage to Huey P. senator famously nicknamed the "Kingfish" for his commanding political style.
The city held a team-naming contest and Kingfish was chosen in honor of former LA Governor and US Senator Huey P. Long who shared the nickname.
The Kingfish established an NHL affiliation with the St. Louis Blues, which facilitated roster construction by blending carryover players from the Erie era with Blues prospects and free agents seeking to advance their careers. Affiliated with the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League from 1996 to 1998, the Kingfish experienced moderate success on the ice, with their best regular-season performance coming in 2000-01 (35 wins, 26 losses, 11 ties, 81 points).[1] They qualified for the playoffs three times.
The Kingfish launched their inaugural 1996-97 season on October 19, 1996, with a 4-3 road loss to the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks, followed by their home opener on October 24 at the River Center Arena against the Hampton Roads Admirals. Under head coach Pierre McGuire, a former NHL bench boss with the Hartford Whalers, the team navigated the challenges of a new market by emphasizing disciplined play and local fan engagement.
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The Kingfish played their home games in the Riverside Centroplex (now known as the Baton Rouge River Center). Originally designed for a variety of events including concerts and conventions, the Riverside Centroplex was adapted for professional ice hockey with an NHL-standard ice surface measuring 200 feet by 85 feet, compliant with ECHL regulations.
Uniform designs emphasized the core colors, with home jerseys in white featuring blue and silver trim, and away jerseys in dark blue with contrasting silver accents and the primary logo embroidered on the chest.[27] These jerseys incorporated unique, complex striping patterns along the sleeves and hem, often sublimated for intricate detailing.[30] Helmets were predominantly silver, displaying the kingfish logo on the sides.
The season culminated in a 31-33-6 record, good for 68 points and a playoff berth, highlighted by a heated intrastate rivalry with the Lafayette IceGators. The two clubs vied for the Atchafalaya Governor's Cup-named for the river basin separating Baton Rouge and Lafayette-with the Kingfish claiming the trophy via superior head-to-head results despite finishing second in the division standings.
Beginning with the Kingfish inaugural season in 1996-1997, the Kingfish and IceGators challenged each other annually for the Atchafalaya Governor's Cup, which was named for the river that divided the two cities and was awarded to the team with the best head-to-head record. The Kingfish won the cup in their first season despite finishing behind the IceGators in the division. The name of the cup was later changed to the Hibernia Cup when New Orleans subsequently joined the league, effectively making it a 3-way challenge for state bragging rights.
Lafayette, the most successful city for hockey in Louisiana, was only 50 miles west of Baton Rouge and set up a natural rivalry. After the New Orleans Brass joined the league, this created a second rival for the Kingfish and they too joined in the fun.
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The proximity of the IceGators, (about 50 miles west of Baton Rouge) contributed to them immediately becoming a fierce rival of both the Kingfish players and fans, a rivalry dubbed by bumper stickers as "the cold war". Despite some modest success in head-to-head games against the IceGators, the Kingfish franchise ultimately spent most of its existence in their shadow, and were never able to match the on-ice success or popularity of the Lafayette club.
Early coaching transitions marked the Kingfish's establishment phase, as McGuire departed after one season-having guided the team to a .500 overall mark-and was replaced by Dave Schultz for 1997-98. Schultz, a veteran of minor-league coaching, steered the squad to a similar competitive level, finishing 33-27-10 for 76 points and another playoff appearance. The Blues affiliation continued to shape personnel decisions, with the roster featuring journeymen like goaltender Jason Saal and defenseman Chris Cichocki, who helped maintain on-ice stability. Community integration was swift, as the Kingfish tapped into Baton Rouge's sports culture by hosting promotional events and youth clinics, fostering a loyal fanbase amid the ECHL's regional growth.
The Kingfish also had some notable coaches on their bench throughout their stay. Pierre McGuire is a name that hockey fans should easily recognize. He is a commentator for the NHL on NBC. Dave Schultz is the NHL all-time record holder for penalty minutes in a season with 472 minutes.
Following their promising 1998-99 season, in which the Baton Rouge Kingfish achieved 30 wins and advanced to the conference semifinals before losing to the Pee Dee Pride, the team's performance began to wane in the subsequent years. The Kingfish's strongest offensive output came in the 1999-00 season with 253 goals scored, while their best defensive mark was in 2000-01, allowing just 225 goals against.[1] Despite achieving a high-water mark of 81 points in 2000-01-their only season above 80 points-the team never finished higher than sixth in their division, often overshadowed by rivals like the Louisiana IceGators.
In their most successful playoff run during the 1998-99 season, the Kingfish entered as the eighth seed in the Southern Conference after a 30-30-10 regular-season record. They swept the Augusta Lynx in the opening round best-of-three series, winning 3-0 on April 5 in Augusta and 3-2 on April 6 at home in Baton Rouge's Riverside Centroplex, outscoring their opponents 6-2 overall. This marked the franchise's only playoff series win.
The 1999-2000 playoffs saw the Kingfish, seeded sixth in the Southern Conference with a 33-32-5 regular-season mark, eliminated in the first round by the top-seeded South Carolina Stingrays. In 2000-01, following a stronger 35-26-11 regular season that placed them sixth in the Southwest Division, the Kingfish entered the playoffs via the wild card and were swept 0-2 by the fifth-seeded Arkansas RiverBlades.
As for the players on the ice, the Kingfish had 4 players that were in the NHL before coming to Baton Rouge and 7 players that went on to play in the NHL.
Several players from the Baton Rouge Kingfish advanced to the National Hockey League (NHL), contributing to the team's reputation as a developmental hub in the ECHL during its existence from 1996 to 2003. Approximately 10 individuals associated with the Kingfish either played in the NHL after their time in Baton Rouge or arrived with prior NHL experience, often using the team as a stepping stone or late-career stop.
Alex Burrows joined the Kingfish late in the 2002-03 season, appearing in 13 games where he recorded 4 goals and 2 assists for 6 points, along with 64 penalty minutes and a -7 plus-minus rating. His physical style and scoring touch impressed scouts, leading to a contract with the Vancouver Canucks; Burrows made his NHL debut in the 2003-04 season and went on to play 13 NHL seasons, primarily with Vancouver, amassing 189 goals and 520 points while winning a Stanley Cup in 2011.
Raitis Ivanāns spent the 2001-02 season with the Kingfish, playing 40 games and tallying 4 goals, 5 assists, and 180 penalty minutes with a -19 rating, showcasing his enforcer role. This performance earned him an NHL call-up to the Los Angeles Kings in 2003-04, where he played 271 career NHL games across five teams, recording 11 goals and 229 penalty minutes as a gritty depth forward.
David Van Drunen was a defensive standout in the Kingfish's inaugural 1997-98 season, logging 59 games with 8 goals, 22 assists for 30 points, 107 penalty minutes, and a +7 rating.
Travis Scott, a goaltender, anchored the Kingfish net in their early years, posting a 2.96 goals-against average (GAA) and .910 save percentage over 36 games in 1997-98, following a 2.63 GAA and .917 save percentage in 10 games the prior season. Signed by the Los Angeles Kings, Scott played one NHL game in 2000-01, allowing three goals on 19 shots.
Johan Hedberg briefly appeared in two games for the Kingfish in 1997-98 early in his North American career, serving as a backup before signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins; he went on to play 210 NHL games with Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Atlanta, posting a 2.63 career GAA and earning a reputation as a reliable starter.
Players with prior NHL experience on the Kingfish roster added veteran presence. Cam Brown, a fan favorite and occasional player-coach, played multiple seasons (1996-97 to 2001-02) after his one-game NHL stint with Vancouver in 1992-93, bringing leadership and physicality to the team.
But probably the most well known of these players is Johan Hedburg. Hedburg was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers and has played for the Thrashers, Stars, Canucks, Penguins, and Devils. While Hedburg may be the most known player in Kingfish history, he was not the most popular with Baton Rouge fans. That honor goes to Cam Brown.
Brown played from 1987-2006 with teams in the NHL, ECHL, WHL, IHL, AHL, and CZE. In the NHL, he played only one game with the Vancouver Canucks. But with the Kingfish, Brown was either the captain or player/coach every year he played except his first year in Baton Rouge. He was on the ice for every Kingfish game and holds ECHL career records for games played and penalty minutes. He had his #44 retired in Baton Rouge. The only other number retired is #55 for defenseman Scott Humeniuk who suffered a stroke while a member of the team.
Among the staff, Pierre McGuire served as the inaugural head coach in 1996-97, guiding the team to a 31-33-6 record in 70 games before moving to the NHL as head coach of the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes in 1997-98, where he coached 63 games.
The Baton Rouge Kingfish attendance records are now complete. 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.
Here's a look at the Kingfish's attendance figures over the years:
| Season | Average Attendance |
|---|---|
| 1996-97 | 6,003 |
| 2002-03 | 1,723 |
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. 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.
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. 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 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.
Sean O'Brien Hockey Fight, Tallahassee Tiger Sharks vs. Cam Brown With Baton Rouge Kingfish
So while the Kingfish may have had a brief stay in Baton Rouge, their history is loaded with great players, great coaches, and great rivalries. I think it is a shame that there is not more minor league hockey in Louisiana. I love to watch a good, physical hockey game. But, it is south Louisiana. And hockey is not what people down here talk about.