Huntington Hornets Statistics and History

The Huntington Hornets were a minor professional hockey team that played in Huntington, West Virginia in the 1956-57 season. The team played in the International Hockey League. The Hornets franchise was previously located in Grand Rapids, known as the Rockets, before moving to Huntington. The Hornets played their games in the Memorial Field House, and were partially owned by the owner of the Fort Wayne Komets, Ernie Berg, as well as other unnamed investors.

Although the Hornets were moderately successful on the ice, finishing in third place and advancing to the playoffs, they did not have similar success drawing fans to their games, and by late December, the team was put up for sale. Initially, a local Huntington group headed by wrestling and boxing promoter Dick Deutsch expressed interest in buying the team, however they could not raise the $30,000 asking price. There was even talk that the team would move mid-season to Evansville, Indiana, however that never materialized.

A group of citizens offered $9,000 for the team, then later offered $15,000, however those offers were rejected and a counteroffer of $22,000 from owner Ernie Berg could not be met by the local group. The team was eventually sold to interests who moved it to Louisville, Kentucky, where it became the Louisville Rebels.