For longtime Stockton hockey fans, Thursday’s announcement confirmed what many had hoped since the city’s new team was introduced: The Thunder is coming back to town.
Team President and General Manager Scott Brand unveiled the name during an outdoor gathering at University Plaza in downtown Stockton, reviving the identity used by the city’s original professional hockey team from 2005 to 2015.
“We’re going to be the Stockton Thunder,” Brand said before revealing the team’s new logo and uniforms.
The announcement ended a fan-driven naming contest and marked another step toward the return of professional hockey to Adventist Health Arena this fall after a four-year absence.
Mayor Christina Fugazi and Councilmember Michael Blower attended the event alongside team officials and fans, some of whom have followed Stockton hockey since the original Thunder first took to the ice more than 20 years ago. Fugazi led the crowd in a chant of “Thunder” and said the familiar name gives longtime supporters a reason to pull their old jerseys, hats and T-shirts out of storage.
“The colors will change a little, the logo will change a little, but guess what? The bottom line is, it’s still the Thunder,” Fugazi said. “When you chant ‘Thunder,’ there’s nothing like it.”
The Thunder name emerged from a contest that drew more than 8,500 initial responses before organizers narrowed the field to four finalists: Stockton Thunder, Stockton Spears, Stockton Steam and Port City Pirates.
The other options attempted to capture pieces of Stockton’s identity, with Spears referring to the region’s asparagus-growing history, Steam invoking its railroad roots and Port City Pirates nodding to the Port of Stockton.
But Thunder carried a decade of memories and an existing connection to the arena. Team executive Parker Moskal said more than 20,000 votes were cast during the final round of voting.
“Everyone ended up wanting Thunder,” Moskal said. “I couldn’t be happier to be able to secure the name.”
Although the identity is familiar, the new Thunder are not the same franchise that left Stockton in 2015. The returning team is a new organization competing in a different league, with different ownership, management and players.
The original Stockton Thunder played in the ECHL, a professional developmental league below the American Hockey League and NHL, while the new team will play in the Federal Prospects Hockey League, an independent Single-A minor professional league commonly called “The Fed.”
Brand acknowledged that adopting the old name also means inheriting expectations created by its predecessor.
“We’re honoring the history of the first pro hockey team that was here,” Brand said. “We don’t take that lightly. We know that the Thunder were tremendous community partners, and so we’ve got something to live up to.”
A new look for a familiar name
The organization unveiled a modernized version of the original Thunder logo while retaining the familiar black-and-yellow color scheme.
The team displayed three uniforms Thursday: a black home jersey featuring the primary logo, a white road jersey with a secondary head logo and a yellow alternate with “Thunder” written diagonally across the front. A fourth blackout jersey, designed to glow in the dark when the arena lights go down, will be revealed in the coming weeks.
The team is also developing a mascot, and Brand said fans may once again be asked to help choose its name.
The team also began reviving another part of Stockton hockey culture Thursday: its rivalry with the Fresno Falcons.
Fresno is among the new teams joining the FPHL as the league expands west, along with Stockton and Oceanside in San Diego County. When Brand brought up Stockton’s incoming rival, he referred to Fresno as “that F word,” drawing laughs from the crowd.
The first pieces of the roster
The Thunder name may come from Stockton’s past, but the team taking the ice will be brand new.
Stockton selected seven players in the FPHL expansion draft Tuesday, acquiring the rights to four defensemen and three forwards with experience around the league. The team also received a first-round selection in an upcoming dispersal draft.
Stockton’s first selection was 6-foot-4, 215-pound defenseman Rasmus Asp of the Monroe Moccasins.
The Thunder then selected defensemen Matthew Garcia of the Twin City Thunderbirds and Don Carter Jr. of the Baton Rouge Zydeco, followed by Twin City forward Chris Mott.
Stockton rounded out its player selections with Monroe defenseman Sam Turner, Port Huron Prowlers forward Jamie Bucell and Watertown Wolves forward Chase DiBari.
The selections are the first pieces of a roster that remains under construction. Under current FPHL rules, teams may carry up to 19 active players, with 18 — 16 skaters and two goaltenders — dressing for each game. The Thunder have not announced a head coach or a completed opening-night lineup.
The FPHL plays a 56-game regular-season schedule, including 28 home games for each club. The league will enter its 17th season in 2026-27 and has traditionally operated in the eastern United States, the South and the Midwest.
Its expansion into Stockton, Fresno and Oceanside represents a significant expansion into California.
“The league continues to push the boundaries of growth as it works toward its long-term vision of becoming a 30+ team Single-A minor professional league,” the FPHL said in a press release last month.
The Stockton franchise is scheduled to begin playing in October at Adventist Health Arena. Arena officials said when the team was introduced in May that an agreement was still being finalized but was expected to keep the franchise in Stockton for at least five years.
Two decades of Stockton hockey
Professional hockey became part of Stockton’s sports identity in 2005, when the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies relocated from New Jersey and became the Stockton Thunder. Their arrival coincided with the opening of the downtown arena, then known simply as the Stockton Arena.
The Thunder quickly became one of the ECHL’s strongest draws, leading the league in attendance during each of their first two seasons. The team reached the playoffs eight times during its 10-year run and advanced to the Kelly Cup Finals in 2013, losing the championship series to the Reading Royals.
The NHL’s Calgary Flames purchased the franchise in 2014. After the 2014-15 season, it moved to Glens Falls, New York, and became the Adirondack Thunder.
The move did not initially leave Stockton without hockey.
The Calgary organization replaced the ECHL team with the Stockton Heat, its top minor league affiliate in the American Hockey League. The Heat began playing in Stockton in 2015 and remained through the 2021-22 season, although the team spent the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign in Calgary.
The Heat reached the AHL’s Western Conference finals during their final season in Stockton before relocating permanently to Calgary and becoming the Wranglers.
Their departure ended a run in which Stockton had hosted professional hockey for most of the previous 17 years.
For Robert Coulson, a longtime Thunder season ticket holder, the old name remained tied to the sport even while the arena sat without a hockey team.
“There was such an affiliation with Stockton and the name of Thunder that it was just a natural for the team,” Coulson said.
Coulson said he expected Thunder to win the contest, but Thursday’s announcement still offered relief after four years without games.
“I miss not having hockey here, so the fact that it’s coming back is wonderful,” he said.
Jacob Emerson, another a long time fan, also expected the old name to return. He said he would have supported Port City Pirates as an alternative, but believes Thunder gives the franchise its best opportunity to reconnect with former supporters.
“The city of Stockton really loves the name, and I think it’ll bring a lot of fans back to the arena,” Emerson said.
Building beyond the ice
Team officials said recreating the Thunder experience will require more than a familiar logo.
Moskal said players will be expected to visit schools, volunteer and become visible members of the Stockton community. He pointed to his own experience as a player, when appearances at schools and soup kitchens helped him understand how a team could make an impact away from the rink.
“We expect our players to do the same — go out there, make an impact and leave the community better than when they found it,” Moskal said.
Brand also announced that the organization is opening an office Tuesday at Huddle Cowork, 110 N. San Joaquin St., in downtown Stockton.
Richard Rodriguez will work with ticket buyers as the ticket representative for the team, while Jake Sanders will serve as the corporate partnership representative, Brand said.
There is still work to complete before October. The Thunder needs a coach, more players, a mascot and a complete schedule. But for the fans who gathered Thursday, the most important decision had already been made.
“It should have never left,” Emerson said. “It’s good to have them back.”