Eight years of the Pee Dee Pride. Two decades of empty ice. Then, in 2025,
professional hockey came back to the same building.
Game night at the Florence Center — the same building where the Pee
Dee Pride played, and where the IceCats play now.
Image: Generated via AI / Conceptual rendering of the Pee Dee IceCats
at the Florence Center
For eight years, Florence, South Carolina had a professional hockey
team.
The Pee Dee Pride arrived in 1997, a relocation of the Knoxville
Cherokees, one of the five original charter franchises of the East Coast
Hockey League. They played at the Florence Civic Center, which had
opened just a few years earlier in August 1993 after a $22 million
construction project. The Pride's mascot was Paws the Lion, and for one
season, 2003–04, the team even played under the name the Florence
Pride before switching back.
The team never won the ECHL's championship, the Kelly Cup, but they did
win the Palmetto Cup as the best team in South Carolina and the Brabham
Cup for the best regular-season record in the league, a title they
earned during their standout 1998–99 season.
Brabham Cup
Best regular-season record in the ECHL, earned in 1998–99.
Palmetto Cup
Best team in South Carolina.
Paws the Lion
The mascot, and one season as the Florence Pride in 2003–04.
After the 2004–05 season, the Pride relocated to Myrtle Beach. A
different team, the Pee Dee Cyclones, filled the arena for two more
seasons before folding in 2007. After that, Florence went without
professional hockey for close to two decades.
1993
The Florence Civic Center opens in August after a $22 million
construction project.
1997
The Pee Dee Pride arrive — a relocation of the Knoxville
Cherokees, one of the ECHL's five original charter franchises.
98–99
The standout season — the Brabham Cup for the league's best
regular-season record, plus the Palmetto Cup.
03–04
One season as the Florence Pride before switching the name back.
2005
After the 2004–05 season, the Pride relocate to Myrtle Beach.
2007
The Pee Dee Cyclones, who filled the arena for two seasons, fold.
Florence goes without pro hockey for close to two decades.
That changed in
2025. The
Pee Dee IceCats began play at what's now called the Florence Center, the
same building, under a new name since a 2017 rebrand. The IceCats trace
their own franchise history through several earlier relocations before
landing in Florence, and in 2026 the team moved from the Federal
Prospects Hockey League into the Southern Professional Hockey League for
the coming season.
So the arena that once hosted the Pride now hosts the IceCats. Same ice,
same building, a different generation of Florence hockey fans finding
their way back to seats that sat empty for most of two decades.
Playing now
The Pee Dee IceCats
Florence Center · Southern Professional Hockey League
Schedule and ticket details come straight from the team at
peedeeicecats.com.
Then
Pee Dee Pride
1997–2005 · ECHL · Florence Civic Center · Paws the Lion
Now
Pee Dee IceCats
Since 2025 · SPHL · Florence Center · same building, new name
Were you there for Pride games?
Did you go to Pee Dee Pride games? Do you remember the 1998–99 season,
or a specific game that stuck with you? And have you made it out to
see the IceCats yet?
Tell us in the comments; we're always looking for the game-night
details that never made it into any official record.
This is the one installment of The Florence Files with a
current-events hook. The IceCats play right now, which makes it a
natural fit for Weekend Picks — keep an eye out for a cross-post.
