UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF PAGE- MOST '02-03 PICTURES AVAILABLE!
The Eugene Thunder was a charter member of the Northern Pacific Hockey League back in 2000-01. The Thunder struggled their first year both at the gate, where the team averaged a paltry 99 fans per game, and on the ice where the team made the playoffs despite finishing 15-27-0.

Year Two saw an ownership change from Dean Gorman to Mike Ankney. The 2001-02 season proved to be quite different from year one. Coach Kelly Hubbard directed the team to a league best 35-7-2 record but faltered against a motivated Portland Pioneer team dropping their first round playoff match two games to one. Attendance increased significantly although a large part of that was due to free tickets, but still, overall ticket sales were dramatically better. Towards the end of the season several crowds over 1000 were reported.

Year Three saw the departure of Kelly Hubbard as coach. Jason Quinn was hired during the off season but resigned before camp even started to take an assistant position with Tupelo of the Junior A ranks. All-time Thunder scoring leader Kyle Gustafson was named head coach and led the team to the second best record during the regular season. During the 2002-03 playoffs the team overcame an 0-1 deficit to the Spokane Flyers in the first round winning games 2 and 3 in Spokane to advance. The team would remain hot in the Cascade Cup Championship, sweeping the Tri-City Titans 3 games to none, winning the Cup at home in Eugene.

The Thunder advanced to the USA Hockey Silver Cup Tournament, which is the National Tournament, and lost their first two games before winning their final game at Nationals to finish 1-2. The win at Nationals would be the last game for this team as mismanagement and arena issues led to the team being dissolved following the 2002-03 season.

This page is very much under construction. I am going to develope a "where are they now?" page. I encourage ex-Thunder players to please contact me and pass on your info. It can be kept private if desired but my hope is to create a directory for ex-players to access over the internet. I can be contacted at webmaster at eugenethunder.com!

My hope is to have every game recap and all the photos I posted as team photographer and webmaster. This is a daunting task and I may never accomplish it but I am sure going to try. For now I have pictures from the 2001-02 season re-posted (see below). I still working on posting Chaos' game write ups from the 01-02 season( her game write ups from 00-01 ARE up and linked too on the 00-01 page) then will work on the pictures and game write ups from 2002-03. I am now in the process of creating the picture pages. Pictures from regular season of the 2002-03 season are available now, please visit the 2002-03 page.
- at Portland Pioneers September 18, 2002
- vs Portland Pioneers September 27, 2002
- vs Puget Sound Kings October 4, 2002
- vs Puget Sound Kings October 5 , 2002
- vs Kootenai Colts October 25, 2002
- vs Spokane Flyers November 8, 2002
- vs Spokane Flyers November 9, 2002
- vs Tri-City Titans November 22, 2002
- vs Tri-City Titans November 23, 2002
- vs Portland Pioneers November 27, 2002
- at Puget Sound Kings November 30, 2002
- at Portland Pioneers December 6, 2002
- at Portland Pioneers December 7, 2002
- vs Kootenai Colts December 13, 2002
- vs Kootenai Colts December 14, 2002
- vs Tri City Titans January 3, 2003
- vs Tri City Titans January 4, 2003
- vs Portland Pioneers January 24, 2003
- vs Portland Pioneers January 25, 2003
- vs Spokane Flyers January 31, 2003
- vs Spokane Flyers February 1, 2003
- vs Puget Sound Kings February 14, 2003
- vs Puget Sound Kings February 15, 2003
- at Portland Pioneers February 28, 2003
- vs Portland Pioneers March 1, 2003

This page was last updated 2-23-09.