Fans' voices heard — Storm to keep original name, colors

The Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League announced Monday that the proposed name and color change will not go into effect for the 2008-09 season.

On May 2, the Tri-City Storm announced plans to become the Nebraska Storm. Along with a name change, the organization revealed a new look replacing purple, black and silver with purple, red and gold.

In the days following the announced changes, the Storm front office received numerous counts of feedback from its fans asking to keep the name Tri-City and keep the traditional colors.

"The fans have spoken loudly, and we listened," said vice president of operations Kyle Means. "We have some of the most passionate fans in all of sports and their reaction to the proposed changes shows how connected people are to this team."

Team ownership and management initially wanted to change the name to Nebraska Storm to include a wider fan base of people who support the team from outside the tri-city area.

Additionally, they hoped the color changes would enhance a brand that had already been in place for eight years.

"After listening to the people of this community who support this team night in and night out, we decided that the best thing for this organization was to leave everything as it is," said team owner Joel Wiens. "Storm hockey is very important to central Nebraska and central Nebraska is very important to the FirsTier Event Center. When all was said and done, I couldn't see changing something that means so much to many people, and if that's what the fans want, that's what we will give them!"

Season ticket holders and fans alike responded in great numbers to the announced changes. In addition to the newspaper columns and TV coverage against the proposal, Means received numerous e-mails and many phone calls over the course of a week.

All inquiries were passed on to the corporate office, Storm and FirsTier Event Center management, and a collective decision was made to honor the fans' request and not finalize any of the proposed changes.