The Amarillo Gorillas were a minor league hockey team based in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

. The team was most recently affiliated with the now defunct

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

(CHL) from 2001–10. The Gorillas began play in 1996 as the Amarillo Rattlers in the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) until the WPHL was bought by the CHL in 2001. They would continue to use the Rattlers name until an ownership change in 2002, composed of local businessmen Bill Tolliver, Gary Thach, Joe Gammesfelter, Daryl Felsberg, Kevin Moon, Jay Hedrick, and Shaughn Ogrady. As the Rattlers, the team frequently finished at the bottom of the WPHL and CHL divisions, but made the playoffs four straight years after becoming the Gorillas until the 2006–2007 season. The Gorillas played in the Amarillo Civic Center. The team's most recent head coach was Brian Pellerin. On May 19, 2010, the Gorillas announced they had ceased operations. However, hockey would remain in Amarillo, as the

North American Hockey League The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 48th season of operation in 2022–23. It is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternati ...

, a Junior A league affiliated with USA Hockey, named the

Amarillo Bulls The Amarillo Bulls were a Tier II junior ice hockey team based in Amarillo, Texas. They were a member of the North American Hockey League's South Division and played home games in the Amarillo Civic Center. History The franchise joined the NAHL ...

started play in the 2010–2011 season.

Season records

Western Professional Hockey League

Central Hockey League

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , website=Amarillo Gorillas , title=Amarillo Gorillas Cease Operations for the 2010–2011 Season , url=http://www.amarillogorillas.com/media/news.php?id=369 , date=May 19, 2010 , access-date=May 21, 2010 {{Dead link, date=October 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes {{cite news , first=Dave , last=Henry , work= Amarillo Globe-News , title=No more Gorillas in our midst: Home team on outs; Developmental squad replacing it , url=http://www.amarillo.com/stories/051910/new_news1.shtml , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516013101/http://amarillo.com/stories/051910/new_news1.shtml , url-status=dead , archive-date=May 16, 2012 , date=May 19, 2010 , access-date=May 21, 2010 {{cite web , website=

, title=NAHL approves Amarillo, Texas membership , url=http://www.nahl.com/news/story.cfm?id=1616 , date=May 20, 2010 , access-date=May 21, 2010, archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100526204838/http://nahl.com/news/story.cfm?id=1616, archive-date= 26 May 2010 , url-status= live {{cite web , website=Bush League Factor , title=Amarillo Gorillas , url=http://www.bushleaguefactor.com/hockey/teams/!ht.asp?team=ama , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708104940/http://www.bushleaguefactor.com/hockey/teams/!ht.asp?team=ama , url-status=dead , archive-date=July 8, 2011 , date=February 25, 2003 , access-date=May 21, 2010 1996 establishments in Texas 2010 disestablishments in Texas Defunct Central Hockey League teams Defunct ice hockey teams in Texas Ice hockey clubs established in 1996 Ice hockey teams in Texas Sports clubs disestablished in 2010 Sports in Amarillo, Texas