Season nine starts tonight in Quad City

Season Nine Starts Tonight in Quad City: Hard to believe that tonight marks the start of the ninth season of Toledo Walleye hockey dating back to October of 2009. The overall regular season record for the Walleye is 302-223-51.

Basking in the Sun: The last three seasons have been bright for the Walleye posting an ECHL best 148 wins to just 52 losses (with 16 OT/SO losses).

ECHL Coach of the Year Loads Them Up Again: After taking home the honor of being the ECHL's Coach of the Year in his first season as head coach of the Walleye, Dan Watson returns several familiar faces from the team that set a record with 51 wins last year. Forwards Shane Berschbach, Alden Hirschfeld, A.J. Jenks, Kyle Bonis, Zach Nastasiuk and Charlie O'Connor are all back from last year's team along with defensemen Simon Denis, Beau Schmitz and Parker Reno.

Historical Season Opening Games: The Walleye have a record of 3-4-1 all-time in games to open a season. Tonight marks the third straight season in which Toledo has opened on the road and fourth time in the last five years. The last time Toledo won a game to open up a season was 2013 when the team beat Fort Wayne 4-3 in a shootout.

Road Warriors: Since dropping a season worst 10 road contests in the 2013-14 season, the Walleye have been machines away from the Huntington Center with a record of 69-31-8 (64% winning percentage) on the road the last three years including a Toledo ECHL record 25 road victories last season.

Division Rivals and it Looks Like It: After being in the same division last year and only playing twice all season this year the two teams will meet seven times in 2017-2018 starting tonight. The Mallards will be Toledo's home opening opponent next Saturday night. The two teams have met three prior times in history with the Walleye holding a 2-1-0 record with the only loss coming in Quad City last year, 4-2 on November 11, 2016.

This Day in Toledo Hockey History: Today we celebrate the return of hockey to Toledo when the Toledo Walleye started play in the 2009-10 season after two years without hockey in Toledo. The Walleye opened up the Huntington Center with 8,000 fans in attendance that erupted when Maxime Tanguay scored the first goal in Walleye history on October 16, 2009. The Florida Everblades did win the game that night 2-1.

On this date in 1972, the Toledo Hornets opened their 1972-73 International Hockey League season with a 6-4 win over the Muskegon Mohawks at the LC Walker Arena, scoring five goals in the third period for the come-from-behind win. Toledo Hockey Hall of Famer Glenn Ramsay recorded the victory in goal for Toledo. That squad would go on to be the best in the four-year history of the Hornets, finishing just over .500.

The Toledo Storm opened their 1995-96 ECHL season with a wild 10-7 Friday the 13th win over the Huntington Blizzard at the Sports Arena. The Storm scored seven goals in the second period, tying a team record established in 1993 for most goals in a period.