June 23, 2008. On April 4, 2009, the SPHL announced discussions between potential investors, key government officials, local fans and business leaders in Pensacola, Florida relative to the award of a franchise for the 2009-10 SPHL season. However, the press release stopped short of explicitly stating that this expansion team would not be the Ice Pilots franchise owned by Mario Forgione. Instead the league formed a new team, the Pensacola Ice Flyers, owned by former NHL player Tim Kerr. Hockey returns to Nashville in 1998 Once the Nashville Knights had moved to their new location in 1996, Nashville was left with no ice hockey team to follow. However, this was changed in 1998 when the Knights' successors, the National Hockey League's Nashville Predators were founded in the 1998 NHL expansion. The Predators have stayed in Nashville since their inaugural season in 1998, spending 24 seasons in the city and league with their 25th season currently in progress. Despite being their successors, the Predators do not actually have any kind of affiliation or tribute to the Knights. The Predators have yet to win a Stanley Cup title. They did, however, make an appearance in the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, but ultimately lost to their opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins in the span of six games. Despite having almost always first round exits since then, the Predators have had great consistency with making the playoffs, clinching eight times in a row as of the 2022-23 season. Out of their 24 seasons, 15 of them ended with playoff appearances. Former Ice Pilots who have gone on to represent their country internationally Evgeny Artyukhin () - Artyukhin represented Russia on the U17, U18, and U20 teams but has only played sparingly for the Russian National Team due to his size and style of play not fitting the typical European style of hockey. Gregor Baumgartner () - Baumgartner returned to his native Austria and went on to be a star in the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga as well as make appearances for the Austrian National Team in World Championships and various tournaments. Greg Chambers (/) - Canadian-born Chambers first played in the United Kingdom during the 2005–2006 season after spending 2004–2005 in Italy. He has played there ever since and acquired British citizenship and is now a member of the British National Team. John Hecimovic (/) - Hecimovic is Canadian by birth but his family still