Hockey fans in Roanoke have been starved for the sport to return to the Valley for the better part of the last decade.
With the exception of the Roanoke Valley Vipers lone season in 2005-2006, the area hasn't had minor league hockey since the Roanoke Express wrapped up its successful 9 year run in 2001.
But that could be changing soon.
Jamey Greenway was a season ticket holder during the heyday of the Roanoke Express in the middle to late 1990's, when crowds regularly packed the Roanoke Civic Center.
Greenway is now right in the middle of a movement to bring the sport back, even starting a facebook page to try to generate enough interest to lure the fledgling Northern Professional Hockey League to town.
"I thought it would be great to have hocky back here again and we can hopefully get a new team here. In the early years of the Express we averaged five or six thousand fans a game, especially on big nights when we played teams like Hampton and Richmond which were big rivalries," said Greenway.
The NPHL released 8 cities on its website this week that are being considered for its inaugural season, including Roanoke, Richmond, and Greensboro, North Carolina.
But an owner must be found, and building leases negotiated before anything can be finalized.
"Four team divisions and I think it could work pretty good. It seems like some of the older teams from the ECHL days, and I think it'll work pretty good," said Greenway.
News 7 tried to reach NPHL Commissioner Chuck Harrison today in Michgian but he was unavailable for comment.
