Thunder Announce Home Schedule for 2015-16 Season

Wichita, KS (April 22nd) - The Wichita Thunder, proud member of the ECHL and powered by Toyota, announced this afternoon their home schedule for the upcoming 2015-16 season. Entering their second year as a member of the ECHL, the Thunder will play 36 home games at INTRUST Bank Arena. The league is expected to announce a full schedule release next week.

Wichita will begin its home portion of the 2015-16 campaign on Saturday, October 17th against the Quad City Mallards. The Thunder will host divisional opponents 20 of the 36 games played in the Air Capital, which will consist of the Allen Americans, Missouri Mavericks and Tulsa Oilers. Several teams will make their first-ever appearance to the Sunflower State, which includes the Alaska Aces, Cincinnati Cyclones, Idaho Steelheads, Indy Fuel, South Carolina Stingrays and Utah Grizzlies. The Thunder will welcome back the Colorado Eagles for the first time since March 1st, 2011 when the two teams were both members of the Central Hockey League. Wichita will host Colorado three times, including Halloween night (Saturday, October 31st).

The Thunder will play eight home games in November, which is the busiest month of the home slate. Indy will make its first-ever trip on Thanksgiving Eve (November 25th). Wichita will host the Tulsa Oilers the day after Christmas and follow that up with a Sunday meeting against Allen.

In terms of the most home games against an opponent, Wichita will host the Missouri Mavericks eight times followed by six games a-piece against Tulsa and Allen. 26 of the 36 home games will take place on a Friday (10), Saturday (10) or a Sunday (6). The Thunder's final regular season home contest will be on Friday, April 8th against Tulsa.

A full breakdown of the Thunder's 2015-16 home schedule is listed below:

Date Opponent

Saturday, Oct. 17th Quad City Mallards Friday, Oct. 23rd Missouri MavericksFriday, Oct. 30th Colorado EaglesSaturday, Oct. 31st Colorado Eagles

Sunday, Nov. 8th Missouri MavericksWednesday, Nov. 11th Tulsa OilersFriday, Nov. 13th Missouri MavericksSaturday, Nov. 14th Missouri MavericksFriday, Nov. 20th Allen AmericansSaturday, Nov. 21st Missouri MavericksWednesday, Nov. 25th Indy FuelSaturday, Nov. 28th Tulsa Oilers

Sunday, Dec. 20th Cincinnati CyclonesSaturday, Dec. 26th Tulsa OilersSunday, Dec. 27th Allen AmericansWednesday, Dec. 30th Allen Americans

Friday, Jan. 8th Tulsa OilersFriday, Jan. 22nd Allen AmericansWednesday, Jan. 27th Evansville IceMenSunday, Jan. 31st Missouri Mavericks

Friday, Feb. 5th Colorado EaglesFriday, Feb. 12th South Carolina StingraysSaturday, Feb. 13th South Carolina StingraysTuesday, Feb. 16th Quad City MallardsSaturday, Feb. 20th Idaho SteelheadsSunday, Feb. 21st Idaho SteelheadsFriday, Feb. 26th Allen Americans

Tuesday, March 15th Alaska AcesWednesday, March 16th Alaska AcesSaturday, March 19th Missouri MavericksSunday, March 20th Missouri MavericksWed, March 23rd Allen AmericansSaturday, March 26th Quad City MallardsTuesday, March 29th Quad City Mallards

Wednesday, April 6th Tulsa OilersFriday, April 8th Tulsa Oilers

Home schedule, Day of the Week:Monday - 0 gamesTuesday - 3 gamesWednesday - 7 gamesThursday - 0 gamesFriday - 10 gamesSaturday - 10 gamesSunday - 6 games

Home schedule by opponent:Alaska Aces - 2 gamesAllen Americans - 6 gamesCincinnati Cyclones - 1 gameColorado Eagles - 3 gamesEvansville IceMen - 1 gameIdaho Steelheads - 2 gamesIndy Fuel - 1 gameMissouri Mavericks - 8 gamesQuad City Mallards - 4 gamesSouth Carolina Stingrays - 2 gamesTulsa Oilers - 6 games

Season tickets are on sale now. Don't delay! Call the Wichita Thunder office and visit with a season ticket rep today to learn more. Stay up-to-date on all the news during the off-season by visiting www.wichitathunder.com. About the ECHL

The ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 28 teams in 20 states and one Canadian province for its 27th season in 2014-15. There have been 541 players who have started their career in the ECHL have gone on to play in the National Hockey League, including 29 who made their NHL debuts in the 2013-14 season. The ECHL had affiliations with 26 of the 30 NHL teams in 2013-14, marking the 17th consecutive season that the league had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com, as well as on Twitter and Facebook.

-Thunder-