Carolina Thunderbirds

The Carolina Thunderbirds were a professional ice hockey team located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. The Thunderbirds played their home games at the old Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum before the arena was demolished in 1989. The team played in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League from 1981 to 1987, the All-American Hockey League during 1987–88 and finally moved into the newly created East Coast Hockey League in 1988. The Carolina Thunderbirds were one of five teams that played during the inaugural season of East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). The Thunderbirds won the first ever ECHL championship and were awarded the Riley Cup for the 1988–89 ECHL season. The team changed its name to the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds before the start of 1989–90 season and the team remained in the ECHL until the end of the 1991–92 season when it was announced by co-owner Ed Broyhill that Winston-Salem would move to West Virginia to play as the Wheeling Thunderbirds. Team history The new franchise in Winston-Salem was awarded to a Cincinnati group headed by businessman Dave Gusky in 1981. The team was named the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds and were the second professional hockey team to be based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after the Winston-Salem Polar Twins, who played in the Southern Hockey League from 1973 to 1977. The Thunderbirds began in the inaugural 1981–82 season of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) and played their home games at the old Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum, with capacity of 5,500 for hockey games. During the season, Gusky called recently retired former Buffalo Sabres' player Rick Dudley and asked for help with the struggling team. Dudley originally planned on staying for a few weeks to evaluate the team but realized the team would fold if he left. Dudley proposed that he would stay with the team and try to sell the franchise for Gusky and if that did not work, he would buy the team himself. After three of the seven teams had folded during the season, the league decided to end early and set the playoffs with the four remaining teams by geographical area to save on travel expenses. In their inaugural season, the team would finished 14–33–3 under head coach Curry Whittaker. The Salem Raiders defeated the Thunderbirds in five games in the playoffs.