The Bloomington PrairieThunder are a team of the International Hockey League who started play in 2006 (when the league was called the United Hockey League). They play their home games at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, Illinois (which is also the home of the UIF's Bloomington Extreme). The PrairieThunder operated in their inaugural season under the ownership of John Butler, Mike Nelson, and Tony Lisman. On May 1, 2007, it was announced that Lisman would assume complete ownership of the team.

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History

On September 12, 1999, John Butler and Mike Nelson, both of Bloomington, began formulating a plan to bring a minor league hockey team to Central Illinois. On August 18, 2004, ground was broken for the $37-million U.S. Cellular Coliseum, the arena that would become the home of the PrarieThunder. On September 20, 2005, the United Hockey League awarded John Butler and Mike Nelson a membership to obtain a franchise.

On February 1, 2006, a contest was announced to name the new hockey franchise and on February 23, 2006, the official name was announced. "PrarieThunder" refers to a train called "The Prairie Thunder" that passed through Bloomington in its early history. On July 20, 2006 the PrairieThunder unveiled their new team logo which features a charging bison smashing its hooves into a sheet of ice. The team's colors are navy, silver, old gold, and white.

• October 13, 2006: the PrairieThunder played their first game in franchise history against the Muskegon Lumberjacks. They lost the contest 7-3.
• October 14, 2006: the Prairie Thunder play their first home game at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum against the Fort Wayne Komets. This was also the PrairieThunder's first franchise regular season win as they won the contest 4-2 before a crowd of 5,102. Andre Neic scored the first goal at the US Cellular Coliseum at 4:20 in the first periord.
• February 17, 2007: Trevor Baker records the first hat trick in franchise history.
• January 27, 2007: Largest crowd in team history 5,488 (as of Mar. 26, 2009)
• Jan. 12, 2008: Rookie goalie Loic Lacasse posts first shutout in franchise history in 2-0 win over Port Huron at U.S. Cellular Coliseum
• April 5, 2008: PrairieThunder establish a professional hockey league record at all levels by scoring four goals in a 35-second span during the first period in a 9-4 win at Flint. Scoring the goals were Jon Booras, John Nail, Neil Clark and Brett Holmberg.
• July 15, 2008: PrairieThunder defenseman Rob Guinn killed in auto accident in Iowa. This led the team to remember him on their jerseys and the ice during the 2008-2009 season.
• December 27, 2008: Prairie Thunder center Don Parsons breaks the minor league career goals scored record with his 678th, passing former Flint General, Kevin Kerr. ,

Season by Season Records

Season	Games	Won	Lost	OTL	SOL	Points	Goals for	Goals against	PIM	Standing	Playoffs
2006-07	76	25	45	—	6	56	201	285	1392	5th, West	Out of Playoffs
2007-08	76	31	38	3	4	69	210	258	1711	6th	Out of Playoffs
2008-09	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA

Accomplishments

The Bloomington PrairieThunder were featured in the April 21, 2008 edition of Sports Illustrated. This was because they set a pro hockey record for the fastest four goal spurt. It took them just 35 seconds to score 4 goals against the Flint Generals on April 5th, 2008. This is faster than any level of pro hockey.

Current roster

As of March 30th, 2009.

Goaltenders
#		align=left	Player	Date of birth	Place of birth
30		Scott Fankhouser	July 1, 1975	Bismarck, North Dakota
31		Jason Wolfe	November 26, 1977	College Park, Maryland
37		Ryan Ludzik	October 14, 1988	Niagara Falls, Ontario

Defensemen
#		align=left	Player	Date of birth	Place of birth
2		Russell Smith	August 22, 1983	Annapolis, Maryland
3		Shaun Fisher	June 2, 1979	Detroit, Michigan
4		Jason Lepine	March 26, 1985	Cornwall, Ontario
5		Nick Goyens	July 14, 1988	Montreal, Quebec
6		Matt Frick	November 26, 1977	Detroit, Michigan
22		Geoff Patton	September 21, 1983	Lindsay, Ontario
24		John Neal	May 29, 1985	Scotland, Ontario

Forwards
#		align=left	Player	Position	Date of birth	Place of birth
10		Brent Clarke	F	June 1, 1986	Bolton, Ontario
11		Jan Jas	RW	June 6, 1978	Prešov, Slovakia
12		Travis Granbois	F	October 9, 1985	Campbell River, British Columbia
14		Corey Rutt	LW	December 23, 1985	Edmonton, Alberta
15		Bill Bagron	C	May 18, 1982	Eagle River, Alaska
16		Mike Kusy	LW	December 18, 1988	St. Catharines, Ontario
17		Henry Kuster	RW	November 11, 1977	Stony Plain, Alberta
19		Brett Holmberg	RW	March 22, 1986	Sherwood Park, Alberta
20		Adam Tomkow	LW	April 16, 1987	St. Albert, Alberta
21		John Nail	F	February 5, 1979	Bramalea, Ontario
27		Jon Booras	F	December 17, 1982	Billings, Montana
34		Michael Liambas	LW	February 16, 1989	Woodbridge, Ontario
48		Marty Standish	C	July 10, 1978	Kelvington, Saskatchewan

Coaching Staff

• Head Coach: Jarrod Skalde

Mascot

The team held a Name the Mascot Contest, sponsored by the Bloomington Pantagraph, to find a name for the mascot. Megan Fish, a 12-year-old sixth-grader at Chiddix Junior High School, was the first of 12 individuals to submit the name Chip. The next most popular entry was “Boomer” which had seven submissions.

Chip the Buffalo made his first public appearance at the Open House and Public Scrimmage held by the PrairieThunder on Wednesday October 4th, 2006, interacting with fans and signing autographs.