Columbus River Dragons | |
---|---|
City | Columbus, Georgia |
League | Federal Prospects Hockey League |
Division | Continental |
Founded | 2019 |
Home arena | Columbus Civic Center |
Colors | Red, black, teal, white |
Owner(s) | Ignite Pro Hockey, LLC |
General manager | Jeff Croop [1] |
Head coach | Jerome Bechard [2] |
Captain | Josh Pietrantonio |
Website | RDragons.com |
Franchise history | |
2019–present | Columbus River Dragons |
Championships | |
Regular season titles | 2 (2020–21,2023-24) |
Playoff championships | 1 (2021) |
The Columbus River Dragons are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Georgia. The team is a member of the Federal Prospects Hockey League and plays at the Columbus Civic Center.
In 2017, the Columbus Cottonmouths, a longtime Civic Center tenant, folded after 21 years. This left the Civic Center without a hockey tenant for the first time in its existence. Almost two years later in April 2019, the Columbus city council voted to award a five-year lease to Ignite Pro Hockey, LLC at the Civic Center. [3] On May 21, 2019, it was announced that the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) had awarded an expansion team to Columbus, Georgia, and would be called the Columbus River Dragons. [4] Due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the River Dragons' inaugural season was curtailed after the team had clinched the fourth-seeded Western Division playoff position.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, a shortened 2020–21 season was delayed until starting February 19 consisting of four teams: the Carolina Thunderbirds, Columbus River Dragons, Elmira Enforcers, and Port Huron Prowlers, with Carolina playing all games on the road. The league announced an end-of-season tournament, but it would instead be called the Ignite Cup and not the Commissioner's Cup due to the unusual season format. [5] The Ignite Cup consists of a five-game series between the top two teams that had played at least 16 regular season games. [6] Columbus finished with the best regular season record, qualifying to face the second-seeded Elmira Enforcers in the Ignite Cup where they won the league championship three-games-to-none. [7]