The Lubbock Cotton Kings were a 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 hock ...

team formerly based in

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

as members of 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 ...

and 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 ...

. The team played home games at

City Bank Coliseum Lubbock Municipal Coliseum (formerly City Bank Coliseum) was an 8,344-seat multi-purpose arena in Lubbock, Texas. Although the arena was located on the campus of Texas Tech University, it was owned and operated by the City of Lubbock until 2018. ...

History

The Lubbock Cotton Kings played their first game in Lubbock Municipal Coliseum (later City Bank Coliseum) in October 1999. During the inaugural season, the Cotton Kings went 42–24–4 and lost in the second round of the

(WPHL) playoffs. In the 2000–01 season, the Cotton Kings advanced to the WPHL Championship where they lost to the

Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs The Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs were a professional ice hockey team which played in the Bossier City- Shreveport metropolitan area of Louisiana. From 1997 to 2001, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs were members of the Western Professional Hockey Le ...

. After the WPHL merged with the Central Hockey League, the team only made one playoff appearance in the 2004–05 season.

Suspended operations

In June 2007, after the Cotton Kings failed to reach an agreement with the city of Lubbock for use of City Bank Coliseum, the Central Hockey League announced that the Cotton Kings must take a year off, suspending operations for the 2007–08 season. The team attempted to return to Lubbock or move to

San Angelo, Texas San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Plai ...

, however, this never happened and the CHL folded seven years later.

References

External links

Lubbock Cotton KingsTeam Stats in WPHLTeam Stats in CHL
Defunct Central Hockey League teams Cotton Kings Defunct ice hockey teams in Texas Ice hockey teams in Texas Ice hockey clubs established in 1999 Sports clubs disestablished in 2007 1999 establishments in Texas 2007 disestablishments in Texas {{Texas-sport-team-stub