Exciting hockey action has returned to the Quad Cities with the arrival of the Quad City Storm, playing out of Moline, Illinois, while also representing Bettendorf and Waterloo, Iowa, as well as Rock Island and East Moline, Illinois. The Storm are one of 10 teams in the Southern Professional Hockey League, replacing the Quad City Mallards of the ECHL in the region. The franchise's origins date back to 2009, when the SPHL's Louisiana IceGators began play in Lafayette, Louisiana. The team suspended operations in 2016 in anticipation of renovations to Lafayette's Cajundome, but eventually lay dormant until the team was purchased and moved to the Quad Cities for the 2018-19 season.

The Storm play out of the TaxSlayer Center, in Moline, Illinois, which seats 9,200 for hockey, and is also home to the Quad City Steamwheelers of the Indoor Football League. The TaxSlayer Center opened in 1993 as The MARK of the Quad Cities, and from 2005 to 2017 was known as the iWireless Center. The TaxSlayer Center has continuously been home to professional hockey since 1995, hosting two iterations of the Quad City Mallards (from 1995 to 2007 in the United Hockey League and from 2009 to 2018 in the East Coast Hockey League), and the Quad City Flames of the American Hockey League from 2007 to 2009.

The Quad City Storm are ready to take on the rest of the Southern Professional Hockey League, battling their regional rivals the Evansville Thunderbolts and Peoria Rivermen. The Storm's rivalry against the Rivermen, dubbed "Cold War On 74," is named after U.S. Interstate 74, which begins in Davenport, Iowa, and connects the Quad Cities to Peoria. In addition, the Storm face such teams as the Birmingham Bulls, Fayetteville Marksmen, Huntsville Havoc, Knoxville Ice Bears, Macon Mayhem, Pensacola Ice Flyers, and Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs. You can follow the Quad City Storm all season on Twitter @QuadCityStorm.