From 1997 to 2000, Shreveport, Louisiana was home to a professional hockey team in the
Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) named the
Shreveport Mudbugs. In 2000, the Mudbugs relocated to nearby
Bossier City to play out of
CenturyTel Center and changed their name to the
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. The Mudbugs then joined the
Central Hockey League in 2001 when the WPHL merged with the CHL. The professional Mudbugs would eventually fold in 2011 citing low attendance and financial issues even though the team had just won the league championship. In October 2015, it was announced that a new Mudbugs team would return for the 2016–17 season after signing a 12-year lease agreement with the Louisiana State Fairgrounds and returning to Hirsch Coliseum but as a member of the
Tier II junior North American Hockey League. On April 8, 2016, the
Shreveport Mudbugs were officially announced as an expansion team in the NAHL. Former
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs player,
Karlis Zirnis, was named the team's first head coach. In their second season, the Mudbugs finished first in the South Division at the end of the regular season and played their way through the
Robertson Cup playoffs to take the NAHL championship in 2018. Following the season, head coach Zirnis left the team to take an assistant coaching position with the
University of Alaska-Fairbanks hockey team. ==Longest playoff game in NAHL history==