| SPRINGFIELD Mediacom Ice Park will soon be home to the Springfield Express Junior A hockey team, bringing a new level of hockey to southwest Missouri.
The Springfield Express is part of the Western States Hockey League (WSHL), an amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Tier III Junior Hockey League covering states west of the Mississippi. The league includes players ages 16-20 and serves to prepare players for collegiate and pro hockey.
The team starts practice in Springfield in August, with the 2014-15 season running September through March.
The Springfield Express brings a powerful, hard-hitting level of hockey to our area, said Jeff Cumley, manager of Jordan Valley Park, where Mediacom Ice Park is located. Itll be great for hockey fans and itll be especially great to have these guys around as role models for our youth hockey players.
Springfield Express co-owner Joe Mac MacConnell signed Springfield native Phillip Solari to the team Thursday. Solari, 18, transfers to Springfield from the Portland (Maine) Jr. Pirates in the Eastern Hockey League. Solari started playing ice hockey in Springfield at age 7 and has played for youth teams in Kansas City and St. Louis.
The Springfield Express relocates from Rio Rancho, where the team was formerly known as the New Mexico Renegades. This is Springfields first Junior A team presence since the Springfield Spirit played at the ice park in the early 2000s.
The Park Board is so proud that Mediacom Ice Park is, once again, home to a Junior A team, said Cumley. With Springfield native Gracie Gold in the Winter Olympics and the Missouri State Ice Bears making to Nationals, Springfield is now on the map for ice sports.
Mediacom Ice Park is located at 635 E. Trafficway in downtown Springfield. For more information, call (417) 866-7444 or go here. Go Back | 
