The Tacoma Sabercats were an American professional minor league
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 ...
team based in
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...
. 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 the regular season Northern Division title and reaching the league finals in its first season. However the Sabercats were defeated by the defending champion
San Diego Gulls
The San Diego Gulls are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in San Diego, California, and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Anaheim Ducks, the Gulls play th ...
in the league's Taylor Cup finals.
The following season, 1998–99, Tacoma won its second WCHL Northern Division title and defeated the Gulls in the Taylor Cup finals, becoming the first team other than San Diego to win the WCHL title in the league's history. Although the Sabercats won the WCHL Northern Division a third time in 1999–2000, the team failed to win another league championship.
Despite a strong following in the Tacoma area with over 1,500 season ticket holders, the Sabercats were folded in May 2002 by owner Coach-Sports. They had been eliminated by the
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, t ...
in the 2002 WCHL playoffs immediately before ceasing operations.
Season-by-season record
''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL = Shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes''
Final records.[Hockeydb.com]
Tacoma Sabercats Statistics and History
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References
Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States
Sports in Tacoma, Washington
Ice hockey clubs established in 1997
Sports clubs disestablished in 2002
West Coast Hockey League teams
Ice hockey teams in Washington (state)
1997 establishments in Washington (state)
2002 disestablishments in Washington (state)
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