Hoopeston Area senior athlete Tobi West signed her letter of intent on Wednesday to continue her education and athletic career with Keystone College in Pennsylvania. West helped lead the Cornjerkers to Regional Semifinal finishes each of the last two seasons. She earned All-Vermilion Valley Special Mention and All-Vermilion County First Team honors this season.

In a follow up to our story from Sunday, the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) was notified Thursday by Vermilion County Bobcats Owner Ellen Tully of her team's intentions to cease operations, effective immediately.

The league announced the story on their website along with changes in the schedule for this weekend's games. Additional changes will be announced at a later date. Tully said in a statement to the league via a press release, "Regretfully the Bobcats have ceased operations. It's a sad day for hockey fans in Danville, but I want to personally thank them for their loyalty to the Bobcats over the past 2 seasons." Information on ticket refunds for the fan base will be announced in the near future.

This past weekend started off with the SPHL on Friday announced that Peoria would be replacing the Bobcats as an opponent for Quad City for games on Friday and Saturday. It was announced at that time that the Bobcats would be Quad City’s opponent for a game at the David S. Palmer Arena for Sunday’s action. Quad City showed to the Palmer Arena on Sunday along with fans and workers, but the Bobcats team did not show to the ice for the game, leading to a forfeit win for the Storm.

The Bobcats end their second and final season with a record of 4-24-2.

It was not the weekend Vermilion County hockey fans were hopeful of, but one many had anticipated at some point in time, being stood up just before Valentine’s Day.

The weekend started off with the SPHL on Friday announced that Peoria would be replacing the Vermilion County Bobcats as an opponent for Quad City for games on Friday and Saturday. It was announced at that time that the Bobcats would be Quad City’s opponent for a game at the David S. Palmer Arena for Sunday’s action. Sunday came. Arena workers showed up. The Quad City Storm showed up. Fans showed up. SPHL officials Tony Hoyles, Andy Zawada, and Brandon Uzarek showed up. Not showing up were Vermilion County Bobcat players or coaches, at least not to the ice. The Bobcats were assessed a 2 minute bench delay of game, then a 10 minute bench refusing to start play game misconduct. This led to 1-0 Forfeit victory for Quad City, who utilized the time on their wasted trip to fraternize and entertain the fans in attendance.

The team as of Sunday evening have yet to release an official statement with their Facebook page also deactivating on the weekend, leading to more questions than answers surrounding the future of SPHL Hockey in Vermilion County.

Sunday evening was the latest footnote in the much maligned history of the Bobcats saga in Danville on and off the ice. It remains to be seen if this is the most damaging as the remainder of the season hangs in the balance while the team’s legal battle with the Palmer Arena officials looms over the ice maintenance and management concerns between the two sides. The team last took the ice for a game in 5-2 loss to Peoria on January 22 and their 30 games played are two fewer than the next lowest team total in the SPHL.

The story is developing and we will provide updates as they become available.