Buffalo Thunder

The Buffalo Thunder are a junior ice hockey team from Buffalo, New York.

The team played out of the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion in Niagara Falls, New York for the 2018-19 season. The team shares the same ownership as the Niagara Falls PowerHawks of the North American 3 Hockey League, who have since merged and became the Thunder. However, the team was sold in 2020 and bought by the owner of the Columbus Mavericks, also of the USPHL, and would become the Buffalo Stampede in the 2021-22 Season.



The team would relocate to the SNI Cataraugus Community Center in Irving, New York for the 2019-20 season. That season saw the Thunder make it to round one of the playoffs, only to be knocked out by the Utica Comets. The next season, which was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, saw the Thunder relocate once again to Riverside Ice Arena. This would serve as their practice facility for the 2020-21 season. Only one game would be played out of 41 game season here due to strict restrictions to prevent the Novel Coronavirus from spreading. The team was successful on making a playoff entrance once again but was knocked out by the Elmira Jr. Enforcers in the Quarterfinal. Despite having the least points out of all three seasons, the 2020-21 team was the most talented and complete team in the organization's history.