Gulf Coast Swords
| Gulf Coast Swords | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| City | Bradenton, Florida |
| League | ECHL |
| Home arena | Lakewood Arena |
| Colors | Black, Red, White |
The Gulf Coast Swords were a planned expansion team of the ECHL. Due to years of delays in the construction of Lakewood Arena in Bradenton, Florida, the ECHL terminated the franchise on September 28, 2006, more than two years after the franchise was supposed to begin play.
The Swords were the ECHL membership that played in Columbus, Georgia from 2002 until 2004. The franchise originated in Norfolk, Virginia in 1989 as the Hampton Roads Admirals and played at the Norfolk Scope until the completion of the 1999–2000 ECHL season when the Admirals' ownership obtained a franchise in the AHL as the Norfolk Admirals. The Admirals' owners sold their ECHL franchise rights to the Columbus Cottonmouths, an organization that had been playing in the Central Hockey League, in 2001. In April 2004, the ECHL Board of Governors approved a voluntary suspension request for the franchise and a transfer of home territory request from the membership, allowing the franchise to relocate to Florida.
A contest was held to name the relocated franchise in September 2004, with over 3,000 entries received. The winning entry was created by eleven-year-old Mitchell Hudson, whose father Brian suggested the idea of creating a logo after an evening dinner as a way "to keep him busy for the weekend." The logo was later debuted in front of seventy people at nearby Lakeland County Club, located several miles from the nearby arena.
The Swords were originally granted a waiver to skip the 2004–05 ECHL season due to their relocation from Columbus, Georgia, and join the league at the start of the 2005–06 ECHL season. On February 7, 2005, Waldinger-Albridge (the contractor assigned to build the Swords' new arena) halted construction on the new arena. During the league's teleconference in April 2005, ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna attempted to contact DVS Sports, the firm in charge of building the new arena. DVA Sports Vice President Larry Kish did not return any calls. The Swords eventually asked for a second one-year waiver in order for their arena to be completed. Despite a full season without a game played, coach Brian Curran was retained by the team and remained under contract during the franchise's inactive status.
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