The leaders of Winston-Salem’s new professional hockey team opted for a return to tradition Wednesday as they announced that the team will be called the Carolina Thunderbirds.

The team will use a name that was borne by several Winston-Salem hockey teams in the 1980s and 1990s and is inviting fans to help pick the team colors by choosing online from four designs.

Team owner Barry Soskin and president and general manager Scott Brand said that getting community involvement in hockey and ice activities in general will be a major part of their push to make hockey work here.

“We are fans ourselves — we are hockey nuts,” Soskin said during a press conference called Wednesday morning at the Annex on the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds. “We kind of think we know what you want. We are going to help you help us ... take the ball and roll with it. If it is successful, we will be here for a long time.”

The team will start play in the 2017-18 season and play a 56-game schedule with 28 home games at the Annex.

Winston-Salem’s last professional team was the Twin City Cyclones, which played here from 2007 to 2009.