The San Antonio Rampage 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 in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

based in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. The Rampage was primarily owned by

Spurs Sports & Entertainment Spurs Sports & Entertainment L.L.C. (SS&E) is an American sports & entertainment organization, based in San Antonio, Texas. The company owns and operates several sporting franchises including the National Basketball Association (NBA) San Antonio ...

throughout the team's existence. In 2020, the franchise was sold to the

Vegas Golden Knights The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Founded in 2017 as an expan ...

and relocated as the

Henderson Silver Knights The Henderson Silver Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in Henderson, Nevada, that began play in the 2020–21 American Hockey League (AHL) season. The team plays its home games at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada. The tea ...

History

In 2000, construction began on the SBC Center, located next to the

Freeman Coliseum Freeman Coliseum is a sports and concert venue located in San Antonio, Texas. It has been host to thousands of events including the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, concerts, trade shows, motor sports, circus, professional sports including profes ...

, home of 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 ...

San Antonio Iguanas The San Antonio Iguanas were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in San Antonio, Texas. The first expansion team in the Central Hockey League, they were active for seven seasons from 1994–1997 and 1998–2002. Their home arena wa ...

. Partnering with the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

, the Spurs bought the dormant

Adirondack Red Wings The Adirondack Red Wings were a minor professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Glens Falls, New York, United States at the Glens Falls Civic Center. The team was affiliated with the Detroit Red Wings of the Nation ...

franchise and moved it to San Antonio. Following the acquisition of an AHL franchise, local investment for the Iguanas quickly dissipated, and the CHL franchise folded. Originally, the team was to be named the San Antonio Stampede. However, when a local semipro football team objected, the name was changed to the Rampage. On June 30, 2005,

purchased the Panthers' interest in the franchise, assuming sole ownership of the AHL club. They also entered a multi-year affiliation agreement with the Phoenix Coyotes. On September 7, 2006, the Rampage unveiled their new uniforms with the official colors now being black, white and silver (the same motif used by the Spurs, as well as other Spurs-owned teams). While the primary and secondary logos remain the same, the crest of the jerseys now displayed just the bull's head. On April 11, 2007, the Coyotes announced that they had fired Rampage general manager

Laurence Gilman Laurence Gilman (born January 6, 1965, in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian ice hockey executive for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Currently, he serves as an assistant general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the National Hockey League and is the ...

, who had been with the Coyotes organization for 13 years

On November 23, 2009, the Phoenix Coyotes fired Greg Ireland. He was replaced by assistant coach Ray Edwards; Mike Pelino (ice hockey), Mike Pelino was named assistant coach. Ray Edwards was officially named head coach of the San Antonio Rampage prior to the 2010–11 season. After the 2010–11 AHL season, the Coyotes came to an agreement with the Portland Pirates to be their new AHL affiliate, and San Antonio became Florida's top affiliate for a second time. In the 2011–12 season, the Rampage finished with a record of 41–30–3–2, good for 87 points to qualify for the sixth playoff seed in the Western Conference. They faced the third-seeded

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

in the first round, taking Game 1 and Game 2 at home to take a 2–0 series lead in the best-of-five series. They then lost to the Wolves in Games 3 and 4 in Chicago, leading to a Game 5. In Game 5, the Rampage took a 2–0 lead, but the Wolves rallied to tie the game, sending it into overtime. After 25 minutes of overtime, San Antonio winger Bill Thomas passed to center

Jon Matsumoto Jonathan Richard Matsumoto (born October 13, 1986) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is currently playing for Kölner Haie of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Playing career Matsumoto began playing collegiate hockey for the Bow ...

, feeding defenceman Roman Derlyuk to score the series winning goal on his belly to secure the first series win in franchise history for the Rampage. The goal is known to many fans as the Goal Heard Round the Alamo, and is considered the most important in Rampage history. On March 18, 2015, the Florida Panthers announced they had entered into an affiliation agreement with the Portland Pirates to begin in the 2015–16 season, thus ending the Panthers' second term as San Antonio's NHL affiliate. On April 17, 2015, it was announced that the Rampage had come to a five-year affiliation agreement with the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

. During the 2017 off-season, it was reported that the Avalanche would promote its

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 ...

affiliate, the

Colorado Eagles The Colorado Eagles are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Loveland, Colorado. The Eagles play in the Pacific Division of the American Hockey League. The Eagles were founded as an expansion franchise in 2003 in the Central Hoc ...

, to the AHL in 2018 while the Rampage would officially affiliate with the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

beginning with the 2018–19 AHL season. For the 2017–18 season, as the Blues did not have an official AHL affiliate after the

partnered with their former affiliate, both the Avalanche and Blues would send AHL prospects to the Rampage. On February 6, 2020, the

announced it had purchased the franchise from the Spurs with the intent to relocate it to the

Las Vegas area The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area is ...

. The purchase and relocation was approved by the league on February 28. The team initially played at the

Orleans Arena Orleans Arena is a 9,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Paradise, Nevada, in the Las Vegas Valley. It is located at the Orleans Hotel and Casino and is operated by Coast Casinos, a subsidiary of Boyd Gaming Corporation. The arena is the home to ...

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the fif ...

, while the club's new 6,000-seat arena, named

Dollar Loan Center The Dollar Loan Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Henderson, Nevada. Built on the site of the former Henderson Pavilion, it is the home of the Henderson Silver Knights of the American Hockey League, the Vegas Knight Hawks of the Indo ...

, was constructed in downtown

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the second largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with an estimated population of 320,189 in 2019. The city is part of the Las Vegas Vall ...

. Their main rivals were the

Texas Stars The Texas Stars are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Cedar Park, Texas, near Austin, with home games at the H-E-B Center. They are owned by the National Hockey League's (NHL) Dallas Stars and are the ...

(located near Austin) and, from 2002 to 2013, the Houston Aeros. The market was previously served by: *

of the CHL (1994–1997, 1998–2002) *

San Antonio Dragons The San Antonio Dragons were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the International Hockey League (IHL) for two seasons in 1996–97 and 1997–98. The Dragons were based in San Antonio, Texas, and played at the Freeman Coliseum and oc ...

of the IHL (1996–1998)

Season-by-season results

Players

Captains

* Lee Goren, 2003–2004 * Paul Healey, 2004–2005 * Bryan Helmer, 2006–2008 * Steven Goertzen, 2008–2009 * Jeff Hoggan, 2009–2010 * Nolan Yonkman, 2010–2013 *

Greg Rallo Greg Rallo (born August 26, 1981) is an American former professional ice hockey player who predominantly played in the American Hockey League (AHL). He appeared in 11 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Florida Panthers. Playing ca ...

, 2013–2014 *

Greg Zanon Gregory M. Zanon (born June 5, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenseman who played almost 500 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career Greg Zanon was drafted in the fifth round, 156th overall, in the 2000 NHL ...

, 2014–2015 *

Ben Street Ben Street is an American jazz double bassist. Street has performed and recorded with many renowned artists, including John Scofield, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Ben Monder, Michael Eckroth, Sam Rivers, Billy Hart, Danilo Perez, Aaron ...

, 2015–2016 * Joe Whitney, 2016–2017 * Chris Butler, 2017–2019 *

Jordan Nolan Jordan Nolan (born June 23, 1989) is a Canadian actor and former professional ice hockey forward. He was selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the seventh round (186th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Nolan won the Stanley Cup twice with ...

, 2019–2020

Team records

Single season

* Goals:

Don MacLean Don Maclean (born 1942/1943) MBE KSS is an English actor and comedian, who appeared on the BBC television series '' Crackerjack'' with Michael Aspel, Peter Glaze and Jan Hunt in the 1970s. Born in Birmingham, he attended Clifton Road S ...

, 33 (2006–07) * Assists:

Yanick Lehoux Yanick Lehoux (born April 8, 1982) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for Malmö Redhawks of the Swedish HockeyAllsvenskan. Lehoux was born in Montreal, Quebec. As ...

, 42 (2006–07) * Points: Yanick Lehoux, 73 (2006–07) * Points (Defenceman): Colby Robak, 39 (2011–12) * Penalty minutes: Pete Vandermeer, 332 (2007–08) * GAA:

Jacob Markstrom Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ja ...

, 2.32 (2011–12) * SV%: Travis Scott, .931 (2004–05)

Career

* Career goals:

Brett MacLean Brett MacLean (born December 24, 1988) is a former Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for the Phoenix Coyotes and Winnipeg Jets in the National Hockey League. He was drafted 32nd overall by the Coyotes in the 2007 NHL ...

, 74 * Career assists: Brett MacLean, 81 * Career points: Brett MacLean, 155 * Career penalty minutes:

Francis Lessard Francis Lessard (born May 30, 1979) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. He last played with the Trois-Rivières Blizzard of Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey (LNAH). He has played for the Atlanta Thrashers and Ottawa Senator ...

, 613 * Career goaltending wins:

Josh Tordjman Joshua Tordjman (born January 11, 1985) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played two games in the National Hockey League with the Phoenix Coyotes during the 2008–09 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from 20 ...

, 82 * Career shutouts: Josh Tordjman,

Ville Husso Ville Husso (born 6 February 1995) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also played for the St. Louis Blues. Playing career Husso started his career in the youth s ...

, 9 * Career games: Sean Sullivan, 212

References

External links

San Antonio Rampage
Official website
The Internet Hockey Database
San Antonio Rampage {{Spurs Sports & Entertainment Arizona Coyotes minor league affiliates Colorado Avalanche minor league affiliates Florida Panthers minor league affiliates St. Louis Blues minor league affiliates Sports teams in San Antonio Ice hockey teams in Texas Ice hockey clubs established in 2002 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2020 Spurs Sports & Entertainment 2002 establishments in Texas 2020 disestablishments in Texas