The Texas Wildcatters, who took their name from Texas wildcatters, were a professional minor league

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

team in 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). Th ...

based in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the seat of government of Jefferson County, within the Beaumont– Port Arthur metropolitan statistical area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston ( ...

. They played their home games at the Ford Arena. The franchise previously played in Huntington, West Virginia, from 1993 to 2000 as the Huntington Blizzard playing at the

Huntington Civic Arena The Mountain Health Arena, originally known as the Huntington Civic Center, later as the Huntington Civic Arena and later, for sponsorship reasons as the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, is a municipal complex located in the downtown area of Hunting ...

. The Wildcatters relocated to

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County in the U.S. state of California, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan are ...

, and were renamed

Ontario Reign The Ontario Reign are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in Ontario, California, and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings, the team plays ...

. The franchise's last game as the Wildcatters was a 1–4 loss to the Columbia Inferno on April 25, 2008, at Ford Arena.

History

During the 2004–05 season, they were affiliated 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 in the Eastern Conference, and initially played their home game ...

and the

San Antonio Rampage The San Antonio Rampage were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League based in San Antonio, Texas. The Rampage was primarily owned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment throughout the team's existence. In 2020, the franchise was sol ...

. On October 7, 2005, the

Jefferson County, Texas Jefferson County is a county in the Coastal Plain or Gulf Prairie region of Southeast Texas. The Neches River forms its northeast boundary. As of the 2020 census, the population was 256,526. The county seat is Beaumont. Jefferson County has ...

, Commissioners announced that the team would not be allowed to use Ford Arena for the 2005–06 season because the site was being used for

Hurricane Rita Hurricane Rita was the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico and the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Part of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which included three of the top ten ...

relief. There was no suitable temporary facility in the area, forcing the Wildcatters to cancel the season. They resumed play in 2006–07 as affiliates of the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confe ...

of the

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 ...

and the AHL's Houston Aeros. After the 2007–08 season, the team moved to

as the

and affiliated with the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

. According to a Beaumont TV report, there was a local group attempting to secure a

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) franchise for Beaumont in time for the 2008–09 season. After the Austin Ice Bats suspended operations, there was an attempt to move that franchise to Ford Arena for 2008–09. However, there was insufficient time to do this before the CHL needed a commitment to play.

Season records

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

Texas Wildcatters official site
{{ECHLdefunct Defunct ECHL teams Houston Aeros (1994–2013) Anaheim Ducks minor league affiliates Minnesota Wild minor league affiliates Ice hockey teams in Texas Florida Panthers minor league affiliates Sports in Beaumont, Texas Defunct ice hockey teams in Texas Ice hockey clubs established in 2003 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2008 2003 establishments in Texas 2008 disestablishments in Texas