Sears Centre hockey team name down to 4 choices

Only one of the four names selected as finalists for the new minor league hockey team starting play next year at the Sears Centre has a Hoffman Estates reference.

More than 1,000 names were submitted and 10,000 votes were cast online in the contest, which started last month. Fans were asked to pick a name for the team, and team officials used Internet-based social media to increase interest. The four finalists were unveiled Thursday morning.

The four are: The Chicago Blizzard, Chicago Knights, Chicago Express and the Hoffman Estates Hammers. Voters can log on to nameyourhockeyteam.com and pick a name until Aug. 6. After that, a final name will be announced.

Team owner Craig Drecktrah said the team has started to work on logos for the names. He's impressed with the fan response to the contest and said it bodes well for attendance.

"People like hockey, and I think they're excited about what's coming to the Sears Centre," Drecktrah said.

He said one of the sillier names he received was "The O'Hare Jets."

"I just don't see that being a name for a hockey team," he said.

The expansion team is part of the ECHL, which is a feeder league to the American Hockey League and NHL.

The fan who came up with the winning team name will get four season tickets and an unannounced prized to be unveiled when the team plays its first home game in 2011.

The team would play at least 38 games at the Sears Centre, off I-90 and Rte. 59. The scheduled dates are a boon for the arena, as it gives the operator the opportunity to sell concessions and fill parking lots. The arena holds 11,000 fans, but an average of 3,000 to 4,200 are expected to attend games.

That projected attendance is up from the average of 2,200 fans that attended Chicago Hounds games in 2007 at the Sears Centre. That United Hockey League team folded, but the ECHL is perceived as having a higher level of play.