From the Evansville IceMen site: THE ICEMEN WILL BE THE HOCKEY TENANT AT THE NEW DOWNTOWN EVANSVILLE ARENA! Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel made the announcement at a press conference this afternoon. The IceMen will finish this season at Swonder Ice Arena, then move downtown next season!
More details will be posted on EvansvilleIceMen.com later today!
That's good news for the future of the CHL team and should help the Komets long-term.According to an Evansville city press release, ``Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel announced today that the Evansville IceMen have been selected to be the home hockey team for the new Evansville Arena. The IceMen, who play in the Central Hockey League (CHL), were chosen after a lengthy and deliberate process in
which they were competing against teams from the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) and the U.S. Hockey League (USHL).
“The selection of the IceMen is a significant step forward for the new Evansville Arena. We anticipate that hockey will boost overall event and attendance numbers at the arena and it will bring more than 100,000 people to downtown Evansville each year,” said Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. “The IceMen already have a loyal fan base and we look forward to seeing that grow as they begin play in the arena next year.”
A Request for Proposals (RFP) for a home hockey team for the arena was issued in August. The three leagues that responded to the RFP were asked to make presentations to the hockey subcommittee of the Evansville Arena Project Committee. A series of follow-up questions were then sent to each league.
“We were very impressed with the presentations from all of the leagues. Each demonstrated a
desire to have Evansville as part of their organizations, but in the end we felt that the IceMen
would be the best fit for the new Evansville Arena and our community. The subcommittee also
recognizes what the IceMen have done to improve their level of play with their move to the CHL
and their commitment as an organization overall,” said Brian Williams, chairman of the hockey
subcommittee.
