By Zane Miller

On April 24^th, 2025, the Evansville Thunderbolts grabbed their first-ever Southern Professional Hockey League championship after eight seasons in the league, defying expectations after a 24-32 showing in the regular season to become the first team in SPHL history to win the title with a losing record. On May 9^th, 2026, Evansville held off the Peoria Rivermen in a decisive game five to earn their second consecutive Presidents Cup, capping off a reverse sweep and an improved 31-27 regular season. With the official start of the 2026-27 campaign drawing near, it’s time to take a closer look at this season’s iteration of the Thunderbolts.

With the Bolts set to open up the regular season against the team they defeated for the 2025 Presidents Cup, that being the Knoxville Ice Bears, they will unfortunately be down a couple key players from their 2026 run. Most notably, leading scorer Scott Kirton will not be on the 2026-27 squad as he makes the jump to the ECHL with the Wheeling Nailers. Also absent are former captain Matthew Hobbs, forward Myles Abbate and starting goalie Kristian Stead, among others. Obviously these are major roles that need to be filled, but the Thunderbolts started strong by bringing forward Logan Vande Meeraker back during the offseason.

Vande Meeraker was a major contributor to the team’s success in 2024-25, tying for the team lead in both goals and assists despite being a defenseman. This would carry over into the postseason, leading the Thunderbolts in total points there as well. Last season, the New Brunswick took his talents over to the United Kingdom, playing in the National Ice Hockey League for the Swindon Wildcats and picking up a team-leading 84 points in 49 games. His return to North America marks Evansville’s biggest acquisition of the offseason, though the team also brought in several new players such as forwards Killian Rowlee (who played briefly for Evansville towards the end of last season), Brady Estabrook and Dustin Hutton, each of whom have experience at the junior hockey levels.

In goal, longtime SPHL veteran Cody Karpinski will likely take the reins for the Thunderbolts this time around as he served as the team’s backup last season. Despite playing in just 13 games for Evansville in 2025-26, Karpinski did quite well in his opportunities with a .936 save percentage and a goals against average of 1.81, even posting a pair of shutouts in the process. Not only that, Karpinski already has experience with winning championships, leading the Federal Hockey League’s Watertown Wolves to a Commissioner’s Cup title back in 2018, thus making him a natural fit for the starting role in Evansville’s pursuit of a three-peat.

Roster shake-ups aside, there are indeed plenty of returning players from the last season, with top forwards Evan Miller and Derek Contessa along with leading defenseman Cameron MacPhee all confirmed to come back in 2026-27. While winning three consecutive titles is always a tall task, it does appear that the pieces are in place for the Thunderbolts to make a run at it in 2027 and make history as the first SPHL team to do so.

Photo Credit: WMBD 1470