Are sports what you crave? Then grab your seat at the North Charleston Coliseum to watch the 3-time Kelly Cup Champion South Carolina Stingrays ECHL Hockey Team or head up to the Charleston Southern University campus to cheer on the Buccaneers battle it out with other Big South Conference teams.
The South Carolina Stingrays are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in North Charleston, South Carolina, playing in the South Division of the ECHL’s Eastern Conference. Home games are played at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Carolina Ice Palace, also located in North Charleston, serves as a practice facility and backup arena for the Stingrays. Established in 1993, the team has been owned by a conglomerate of local business owners since 1995. The team was affiliated with the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League and the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League starting in 2004 and ending in July 2012 when the Capitals announced their affiliation with the ECHL’s Reading Royals. On July 25, 2012, the Stingrays announced an affiliation deal with the NHL’s Boston Bruins and their AHL affiliate Providence Bruins.
The Stingrays have qualified for the playoffs for every season except one. With Kelly Cup championships in 1997, 2001 and 2009, the Stingrays are tied with the Hampton Roads Admirals for the record for most league championships. Twenty-two former Stingrays players have gone on to play in the National Hockey League with one (Rich Peverley) winning the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011.
Charleston Southern University offers intercollegiate athletics for both men and women, competing in the NCAA Division I Big South Conference. Charleston Southern fields teams in basketball, baseball, softball, women’s soccer, cross country, track and field, golf, tennis and volleyball, as well as an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) football team.