The Idaho Jr. Steelheads, also called the Idaho IceCats, were a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

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 hock ...

team based in

McCall, Idaho McCall is a resort town on the western edge of Valley County, Idaho, United States. Named after its founder, Tom McCall, it is situated on the southern shore of Payette Lake, near the center of the Payette National Forest. The population was 2,991 ...

. The team played in the

Western States Hockey League The Western States Hockey League (WSHL) was a junior ice hockey league established in 1993. It was sanctioned by the United Hockey Union, the junior hockey branch of the Amateur Athletic Union. Previously, it was sanctioned by USA Hockey from 199 ...

(WSHL) and home games were held at Manchester Ice & Event Centre in McCall. The team previously played some home games at Idaho Ice World and

CenturyLink Arena Idaho Central Arena (originally Bank of America Centre, formerly Qwest Arena and CenturyLink Arena) is a multi-purpose arena in the western United States, located in Boise, Idaho. Its seating capacity is 5,002 for ice hockey, 5,300 for basketbal ...

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area's ...

, the latter being the home of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

Idaho Steelheads The Idaho Steelheads are an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Boise, Idaho, and a member of the ECHL. The Steelheads play in the Mountain Division of the ECHL's Western Conference since the 2016–17 season. In 1996, th ...

. The team had been one of the most successful in the WSHL, winning five Thorne Cup championships over six seasons and appeared in seven straight between 2010 and 2017."LOCAL ROUNDUP: Yotes' frosh Pfaff reaches NAIA final"
''

The Idaho Press-Tribune ''The Idaho Press'' of Nampa, Idaho is the second-oldest active newspaper in Idaho, first printed in December 1883. In its early years, the newspaper was often an instrument of political influence. One of the first owners and editors was Frank Ste ...

'', May 22, 2015. (accessed 5 June 2015)

History

The Idaho Junior Steelheads were founded by Idaho Hockey Foundation Inc. in 2009 as a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

non-profit entity. The Junior Steelheads, like their ECHL parent club the

, were named for a species of seagoing

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

native to Idaho streams and rivers and popular with local anglers. The team was coached by 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 ...

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

draft pick and former Idaho Steelheads' head coach

John Olver John Walter Olver (born September 3, 1936) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 1st congressional district from 1991 to 2013. Raised on a farm in Pennsylvania, Olver graduated from college at the age of ...

. In the team's first season, the 2009–10 WSHL season, the Junior Steelheads finished second in the Western Division and clinched their first Thorne Cup playoff spot against the experienced

Phoenix Polar Bears The Phoenix Polar Bears were a USA Hockey-sanctioned Junior A Tier III ice hockey team based out of Phoenix, Arizona. Their host facility was the Desert Schools Coyotes Center in Chandler, Arizona. The Polar Bears were a member of the Western Stat ...

. The Junior Steelheads won the first game of the three game series 5–3, but Phoenix rallied winning the second game 3-2 in OT and the third game 2-1. During the season, the team received a four-day ban from the city of Boise after an incident at a practice when players missed a shot, they had to take off an article of equipment. An assistant coach told the AP the team was emulating a similar stunt done by the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

. On April 9, 2013, the Junior Steelheads defeated the Bay Area Seals 5–1 to win the first ever

United Hockey Union The United Hockey Union (UHU), founded in 2012, is a group of ice hockey leagues in North America. The UHU is overseen and insured by the Amateur Athletic Union. Neither body is recognized by USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, or the International Ice Hoc ...

junior ice hockey championship in a six-team tournament in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. Olver would leave the Jr. Steelheads to coach in the ECHL again with the

Bakersfield Condors The Bakersfield Condors are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Bakersfield, California. The team is owned by and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. The Condors play their home g ...

for the 2013–14 season and assistant Kyle Grabowski took over as head coach. Olver returned to the Jr. Steelheads after one season. In 2017, the team changed its name to the Idaho IceCats after the ECHL Steelheads asked the organization to change their name to prevent confusion. The new logo is based on that of another previously Olver-coached team, the

Tacoma Sabercats The Tacoma Sabercats were an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Tacoma, Washington. The team began play in the West Coast Hockey League as of the 1997–98 season. Tacoma immediately emerged as a power in the WCHL, winning ...

. After the 2017–18 season, Olver stepped down again, leading to the IceCats ceasing operations.

Season-by-season records

United Hockey Union National Championship Tournament

AAU Sanctioned Junior A National Championship
In 2013 and 2014, the

Midwest Junior Hockey League The Midwest Junior Hockey League (MWJHL) was an American junior ice hockey league. The MWJHL were members of the United Hockey Union and sanctioned by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). On March 10, 2015, the league announced it would be joining ...

(MWJHL), Northern States Hockey League (NSHL), and the

(WSHL) advanced two teams each to the tournament.
There was no UHU tournament held after the 2015 season.

References

{{reflist

External links

Idaho IceCats official site

Official WSHL website
Steelheads Ice hockey teams in Idaho