Pro Hockey Stays in Baton Rouge for 2026-27 Season

(BATON ROUGE, La) - Good news for hockey fans in Baton Rouge. After weeks of uncertainty about whether the sport would survive downtown, officials made it official this week. Professional hockey is staying in the city, and it is getting a fresh start under a championship owner. As a fan of hockey having worked with the Louisiana IceGators organization, I feel this is a promising step in the future of hockey in Louisiana.

Who's Leading the New Team?

Officials with the Raising Cane's River Center and the City of Baton Rouge announced on Wednesday that Andreas Johansson is stepping in to lead pro hockey operations. If you follow the minor league game, that name should get your attention. Johansson owns the Binghamton Black Bears, the first team in Federal Prospects Hockey League history to win three straight championships, and his teams have led the league in attendance every season he has owned them. He was also majority owner of the Watertown Wolves, another franchise that brought home three league titles. Those are some impressive stats to bring to Baton Rouge.

Get our free mobile app

Johansson said his main job was to bring in a strong group to carry the team forward. That group is led by Matt Pace, who will run the day to day operations starting with the 2026-27 season, pending the usual league and arena approvals. Pace did not waste time letting fans know who the team really belongs to, calling it "Baton Rouge's team."

What Happened to the Zydeco

If you are wondering how we got here, the last few months were rocky. The Baton Rouge Zydeco, the FPHL team that brought hockey back to the River Center in 2023, ran into ownership and communication problems and folded this past April after three seasons according to WAFB. For a while it looked like the sport might leave town all over again. The River Center and the new ownership worked to keep that from happening, and the new team will hold on to the Zydeco roster, though players will go through a draft.

To his credit, Johansson saluted the previous owners for keeping hockey alive in the city for three seasons, and said he hopes to build on what they started.

You can watch the announcement here:

A Quick Look Back at Baton Rouge Hockey

This is not Baton Rouge's first rodeo on the ice, and folks around Acadiana remember it well. Back in 1996, the Baton Rouge Kingfish brought ECHL hockey to what was then the Riverside Centroplex, the same building we now call the Raising Cane's River Center. The team took its name from Huey P. Long's old nickname, and it landed in town after relocating from Erie, Pennsylvania.

For us over here in Lafayette, the best part of the Kingfish era was the rivalry. The Kingfish and the Louisiana IceGators were less than an hour away from each other, and the two teams went at it so hard that fans slapped "the Cold War" on their bumper stickers. Those were some loud nights at the rink.

The Kingfish made the ECHL playoffs three times and reached the quarterfinals in 1999. But the crowds thinned out over the years, sliding from around 6,000 a game in that first season down to under 1,800 by the end. The team played its final game in March of 2003, then packed up and moved to Victoria, British Columbia. Hockey went quiet in Baton Rouge for about 20 years after that, right up until the Zydeco dropped the puck again in 2023.

What Comes Next

There is still plenty left to announce. The new team does not have a name yet, though there has been some chatter that the old Kingfish name could make a comeback. Officials say the name, the schedule, and ticket information are all coming in the next few weeks. The team will play in the FPHL, which sits a step below the ECHL in the minor league pecking order, and the new season is set to drop the puck this fall at the River Center. We will keep you posted as the details roll in.