Hudson Valley Bears

The Hudson Valley Bears were an ice hockey team in the Eastern Professional Hockey League. They split their home games between the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York and the Ice Time Sports Complex in Newburgh, New York.

2008-2009
The Hudson Valley Bears were founded in 2008 as an Eastern Professional Hockey League expansion team. The Bears were the savior of the league. The Bears were founded to be the 4th team in the league and save the EPHL season after Copper City Chiefs and New Hampshire Freeze folded. The Bears had little success during their first season, as they finished their inaugural regular season at 3-45-1-1, finished dead last and missing the playoffs by 54 pts. They also finished last in attendance with average attendance 235.

In October 2008, weeks before the first games were scheduled, two franchises pulled out, leaving three teams. Rather than postpone the season, a replacement was cobbled together: the Hudson Valley Bears, who played their home games in Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York and the Ice Time Sports Complex in Newburgh, New York.

The Bears’ roster was drawn from a pool of nearly 100 “local guys with part-time jobs,” as Jim Riggs, the league commissioner, put it.