6-816: The Pee Dee Pride , known as the Florence Pride for the 2003–04 ECHL season , was a professional minor-league hockey team that was based in Florence, South Carolina , where they played in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) from 1997 until 2005. The team came to Florence as a relocation of the Knoxville Cherokees , one of the five charter members of the ECHL which was originally housed in Knoxville, Tennessee . The Pride played at
12-907: The Florence Civic Center , which seats 7,426 fans. The name of the organization came from the Pee Dee region of South Carolina in which Florence is located. The team's mascot was Paws the Lion. The organization never won the Kelly Cup, the ECHL championship trophy. However, the Pride were previous winners of the Palmetto Cup for best team in South Carolina, and the Brabham Cup for best regular season record. In-state rivals of
18-674: The 2003 off-season, the Richmond Renegades , Arkansas RiverBlades , Jackson Bandits , Baton Rouge Kingfish , and Lexington Men O' War all ceased operations. In addition to the former WCHL teams, the league also added two reactivated franchises in the Gwinnett Gladiators (formerly the Mobile Mysticks ) and Texas Wildcatters (formerly the Huntington Blizzard ). The ECHL All-Star Game
24-1021: The Board of Governors approved membership applications from the Anchorage Aces , the Bakersfield Condors , the Fresno Falcons , the Idaho Steelheads , the Las Vegas Wranglers , the Long Beach Ice Dogs and the San Diego Gulls from the recently defunct West Coast Hockey League . In a change reflective of the nationwide presence, the East Coast Hockey League changed its name to simply ECHL on May 19, 2003. During
30-878: The Pride included the South Carolina Stingrays , the Greenville Grrrowl , and the Columbia Inferno . After the 2004–05 season, the team moved to Myrtle Beach as the Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz. However, construction on a planned 7,000-seat arena on the campus of Coastal Carolina University stalled. Finally, at the ECHL league meetings in June 2009, the franchise was returned to the league, ending its lineage. 2003%E2%80%9304 ECHL season The 2003–04 ECHL season
36-460: Was the 16th season of the ECHL . This was the first season that the league would be known as only the ECHL instead of East Coast Hockey League after the absorption of the former West Coast Hockey League teams. The Brabham Cup regular season champions were the San Diego Gulls and the Kelly Cup playoff champions were the Idaho Steelheads . This season brought a major change in the ECHL as
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