Baton Rouge Kingfish

Baton Rouge Kingfish
City	Baton Rouge, LA
League	ECHL
Founded	1988
Operated	1996–2003
Home arena	Riverside Centroplex
Head coach	Luke St. Pe
Franchise history
1988–1995	Erie Panthers
1996–2003	Baton Rouge Kingfish
2004–2011	Victoria Salmon Kings

The Baton Rouge Kingfish were a minor professional ice hockey team in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as a member of the East Coast Hockey League.^[1][2] The franchise arrived in Baton Rouge in 1996 after relocating from Erie, Pennsylvania, where they had played as the Erie Panthers since 1988 as one of the ECHL's charter teams.^[1] After a team-naming contest, they were renamed the Kingfish in honor of legendary Louisiana governor and U.S. Senator Huey P. Long who shared the nickname. They played as the Baton Rouge Kingfish from 1996 to 2003 before moving to Victoria, British Columbia, as the Victoria Salmon Kings.^[1]

They played their home games at the Riverside Centroplex (since renamed Raising Cane's River Center) and maintained a parent club affiliation with the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League.^[1] Former coaches included Pierre McGuire, currently a commentator for NHL on NBC, Dave Schultz, the NHL's all-time record holder for penalty minutes in a single season (472), and Cam Brown, who served as a player-coach. Brown was also probably the most popular Kingfish player. He played every single season for the Kingfish and was either the captain or the player coach in every season but the first. Cam Brown currently holds the ECHL career records for both games played and penalty minutes. He retired from play in the league after the 2005-06 season as a member of the Gwinnett Gladiators. His #44 was one of two to be retired by the Kingfish along with #55 of defenseman Scott Humeniuk who suffered a stroke while a member of the team.