PENACOLA, FL - In less than an hour hockey will return to Pensacola.

The city has been without a team for the last year and a half after the Pensacola Ice Pilots folded.

Now, there's a new team in town with a new owner and new name.

Channel Three's Dan Thomas is at the Civic Center with more. Dan?

The Ice Flyers are hoping for a big crowd tonight for the first hockey game.

It's the sound fans campaigned to hear again and tonight, they'll get it.

Corey Fogarty/Hopjacks Owner: "I think it will make a great difference, I think teams, sports teams are a valuable asset to any city."

Nearby restaurant owner Corey Fogarty believes his business, Hopjacks, is better off with the Flyers at the Civic Center versus going after random concerts.

Corey Fogarty/Hopjacks Owner: "It will generate a fan base and it will bring people on a regular basis to downtown that are relatively local or are near regional."

He's even sponsoring the team.

Corey Fogarty/Hopjacks Owner: "It's two sides, there's a passion for the city and passion to support something new. And then there's of course the business side. We're advertising." [cut to] "So I wanted to get our name out there and have people come down here and eat pizza and drink beer."

Dan Thomas/Reporter: "The Civic Center has just over $8,000 seats for hockey. Tonight they hope to bring in 4,000 fans. As of noon, they had sold about 2 thousand tickets but that's a number that's been changing by the minute."

By mid afternoon, they'd neared 3 thousand tickets sold.

Team owner Tim Kerr was on hand going through the details with a fine tooth comb.

Tim Kerr/Ice Flyer's Owner: "It's something for people in Pensacola to do and uh, we're very proud of the product we put on the ice and how we run our organization off the ice."

It's the way the last owner ran the organization, many people blame for the demise of the ice pilots...

It seems Kerr's reputation and business approach is earning support.

Corey Fogerty/Hopjacks Owner: "Everybody I've dealt with in the Ice Flyer's organization is a stand up person."

By last check, They had sold 3,800 tickets and they expect another thousand to be sold by people walking up at game time.Ice Flyers First Home Game