📍 Toledo, Ohio
🏒 Home of the Toledo Walleye

Hockey in the city of Toledo has always been an important pastime, with a handful of teams having skated through the Glass City over the last century. For sixty years, it all went down at the Toledo Sports Arena, a treasured venue on the east bank of the Maumee River that sadly closed in 2007. Two years later, the doors of the remarkable Huntington Center opened across the river in downtown, serving as the home of the freshly-born Toledo Walleye ever since.

Toledo’s first taste of professional hockey was with the Mercurys, a competitor in the International Hockey League for 15 seasons. The team was granted to the city as an expansion franchise and debuted at the newly-constructed Sports Arena in 1947. After the Mercurys folded in 1962, the IHL returned to Toledo the following year. This club, initially called the Blades and later renamed the Hornets, relocated in 1974 and was immediately replaced with the IHL’s Goaldiggers, a team that featured one of the sport’s greatest logos and color schemes. Sadly, the Goaldiggers would suspend operations in 1986, and what followed was a five year hiatus on hockey in the Glass City.

1991 saw the sport return for good to T-Town in the form of the ECHL’s Toledo Storm. Despite having an absolutely atrocious logo, the Storm were incredibly popular with fans, who packed out the Toledo Sports Arena to witness their boys storm their way to two Brabham Cups and many divisional titles. The team also won two straight Riley Cups during their first few years in the league. In 2007, the Storm were sold and subsequently suspended operations while a new venue could be built in downtown. When the Huntington Center debuted in 2009, the club returned as the Toledo Walleye. Today, the Toledo Hockey Heritage Hall – a relatively new addition to the corridors of Huntington Center – features cases full of memorabilia from each of the franchises that have called this city home over the years.

Because Toledoans have had such a long and loving relationship with the sport of hockey, the Walleye are fortunate to have one of the most passionate fanbases in the minor leagues. Huntington Center is often packed to the brim with Walleye resolute, an enthusiastic group that’s adept at starting chants and creating an intimidating atmosphere as they cheer on their Fish.

Like a few other teams in the ECHL, Toledo also has a “FanBoni” – a hollowed out Zamboni that can hold up to 15 fans who are willing to cough up the $35/person fee. The modified machine circles the ice several times to give its passengers the best possible experience both pre-game and during intermissions.

The venue features several gameday happenings that are unique to T-Town as well. When the Fish score, listen for the arena’s incredible goal horn, a pneumatic horn salvaged in 2011 directly from the SS Col. James M. Schoonmaker, a heavy-duty Great Lakes freighter that’s now a museum ship docked in Toledo. The ship was known as “the world’s largest bulk freighter” and featured two Leslie 300 Tyfon horns, one of which was converted from steam to air by boilermakers at the local shipyard and installed inside Huntington Center. Also worth checking out is the season records board in the southeast corner, which details team accomplishments throughout the current campaign. Finally, keep your eyes peeled for the Super Spike balloon, a giant blow-up of the Walleye mascot that flies across the arena and drops goodies on the expectant folks below.

One final tasty topic: Huntington Center boasts perhaps the best concessions spread in hockey, providing delicacies like smoked kielbasa and Nashville hot chicken po’boys. Pints of Toft’s Dairy ice cream – a local favorite – are also amongst the offerings.

Between the city’s well-established hockey culture, the success of the team on the ice and the excellence of the venue they play in, soaking in a Walleye game at Huntington Center is one of the best adventures one can have in minor league hockey.