The Central Texas Stampede are a defunct minor league professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team which was located in

Belton, Texas Belton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas on the Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and Waco. Belton is the county seat of Bell County and is the fifth largest city in the Killeen-Temple metropolitan area. In 2020, the population of Belton ...

. They played in the

Western Professional Hockey League The Western Professional Hockey League (abbreviated WPHL) is a defunct minor professional ice hockey league. The WPHL operated from 1996 to 2001 with teams based in the southern United States, primarily Texas and Louisiana. The league started with ...

for five seasons, from 1996 to 2001. The team folded during the fifth season of its operation. The team played its home games at the Bell County Expo Center.

History

The Central Texas Stampede were one of the "original six" teams of the now defunct Western Professional Hockey League. On October 15, 1996 the Stampede defeated the Waco Wizards 5-4 in the first ever WPHL contest. The Stampede had four head coaches during its five year run in the WPHL. The team's first coach was former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

player

Bob Bourne Robert Glen Bourne (born June 21, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played for the New York Islanders and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1974 and 1988. He was inducted into the New ...

, who led the team to a 35-27-2 record for 72 points in the 1996-97 season. For the 1997-98 season the team was coached by former NHLer Lee Norwood, who led the team to a 40-23-6 record for 86 points. The 1998-99 season was coached by Glen Williamson (who was previously an NHL assistant coach with the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

. He coached the team to season record of 33-24-12 for 78 points. The team's final two seasons were coached by Todd Lalonde. Although Lalonde has no NHL experience, in his first year as head coach he was able to lead the team to their best ever record of 50-17-3. Their 103 points put the team at the top the league's standings at the end of the 1999-2000 regular season. Despite the relative success of the team, the location of the Expo center and a small population base caused the team to struggle throughout their history to maintain a solid attendance figure. On one night during the last season, the paid attendance was less than 900 with less than 300 people in actual attendance. The management struggled and fell far behind on paying their expenses. On January 6, 2001, the Central Texas Stampede played its last game. The team had played only 38 games before folding midway through the 2000-01 season. The WPHL merged with the Central Hockey League after the 2000-01 season and its surviving teams continued playing in the

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 ...

until 2013 when a group of team owners bought the league itself.

Post-WPHL history

The market was subsequently home to: * Central Texas Blackhawks (2002–2003) AWHL * Central Texas Blackhawks (2003–2004)

NAHL Nahl or NAHL may refer to: * Nahl (surname) * National Accident Helpline, a British personal injury lawyer service * North American Hockey League, an American junior hockey league * North American Hockey League (1973–1977), an American professio ...

* Central Texas Marshals (2004–2005) NAHL

References

External links

Team History at HockeyDB.com
Defunct ice hockey teams in Texas Ice hockey teams in Texas {{US-icehockey-team-stub