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34-620: In 1996, the Steelheads were announced as a 1997–98 expansion team by Diamond Sports Management, headed by Cord Pereira, as a member of the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL). The Steelheads and the rest of the WCHL joined the ECHL in 2003. As of the 2022-23 season, the Steelheads are the westernmost ECHL team. During the 2003–04 season and since the 2005–06 season the Steelheads have been an affiliate of

68-527: A 15–7–6 record with a 2.34 GAA and 2 shutouts. Idaho would finish 15th overall in attendance with an average of 4198 fans per game. As of the end of the 2018–19 season, the Steelheads have never missed the playoffs in either the WCHL or the ECHL. When the Detroit Red Wings became eliminated from the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs , the Steelheads then had the longest active playoff streak in professional hockey at twenty seasons in 2016–17. This streak ended when

102-514: A puck bouncing off a hockey mask and the state of Idaho respectively. When the team underwent a rebrand in the 2006–07 season, a trout was included in Idaho's alternate. After the departure of the Victoria Salmon Kings in 2011, the Steelheads made the trout logo their new primary one. The Steelheads began play as part of a four-team expansion in the West Coast Hockey League in 1997, along with

136-573: A suitable home arena in the Reno area. However, since 2003 former WCHL teams have accounted for five Kelly Cup championships in the ECHL, Idaho in 2004 and 2007, and Alaska in 2006, 2011 and 2014. The ECHL's Bruce Taylor Trophy, presented to the Western Conference playoff champion, is named in recognition of the WCHL's founding father. The WCHL's championship trophy was known as the Taylor Cup. It

170-500: The 2023–24 ECHL season . [REDACTED] Media related to Idaho Steelheads at Wikimedia Commons West Coast Hockey League The West Coast Hockey League was a professional minor ice hockey league active in the western United States from 1995 to 2003. The number of teams ranged from six to nine. The teams were located in Alaska , Arizona , California , Colorado , Idaho , Nevada and Washington . The surviving teams of

204-582: The East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) as an expansion franchise prior to the start of the 1989–90 season and surrendered the franchise back to the league when the Monarchs ownership obtained an expansion franchise in the American Hockey League (AHL) at the conclusion of the 1994–95 ECHL season. The Monarchs played in the ECHL from 1989 until 1995, reaching the playoffs in every season. They won

238-830: The Las Vegas Wranglers . The Anchorage Aces renamed themselves the Alaska Aces before joining the ECHL. With the 2015 move of the Bakersfield Condors to Norfolk, Virginia , to become the Norfolk Admirals and the Alaska Aces folding in 2017, only one former WCHL team, the Idaho Steelheads, remain active in the ECHL in their original market. Efforts to resurrect the Reno Renegades/Rage organization as an ECHL team have been repeatedly delayed by problems in finding

272-649: The Long Beach Ice Dogs of the International Hockey League joined the WCHL. The league began to contract in 2001–02 after the Phoenix Mustangs folded before the season. Before the 2002–03 season, the WCHL's last as an independent league, the Tacoma Sabercats and Colorado Gold Kings folded. The WCHL played as a single-table league in 2002–03 as it had its first two seasons. In 2003, the WCHL

306-554: The National Hockey League 's Dallas Stars . The Austin-based Texas Stars have been the Dallas Stars AHL affiliate since the 2009–10 season . Home games are played at the 5,002-seat Idaho Central Arena in downtown Boise. The Steelheads are named for a species of seagoing rainbow trout native to Idaho streams and rivers and popular with local anglers. Despite this, the original primary and alternate logos consisted of

340-672: The Riley Cup league championship in their inaugural season, beating the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds four games to one. Goalie Wade Flaherty was named playoff MVP. The Monarchs also reached the Riley Cup Finals in 1991 and 1995. With some of the owners voting to enter the higher level American Hockey League, the franchise was canceled by the ECHL. The ownership renamed the new franchise the Carolina Monarchs and played in

374-631: The Stockton Thunder in six games to win the National Conference championship to advance to their third Kelly Cup finals since joining the league in 2003. They met the Cincinnati Cyclones in the finals, but lost the series 4–1, with each game being decided by one goal. Laxdal left the team after the 2009–10 season to accept the head coaching position with the major junior Edmonton Oil Kings . Although his replacement, Hardy Sauter , led

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408-587: The Tacoma Sabercats , Phoenix Mustangs and Tucson Gila Monsters , which have all since ceased operations. Former New York Islanders defenseman Dave Langevin became Idaho's first head coach. During its inaugural season, in addition to its WCHL schedule the Steelheads played two exhibition games in Boise against the Russian Super League team CKA-Amur (now Amur Khabarovsk ). The Steelheads finished third in

442-825: The AHL for the 1995–96 season before their lease was revoked by the Greensboro Coliseum when the Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League (NHL) moved temporarily to Greensboro and became the Carolina Hurricanes . The Hurricanes then moved into their new arena and permanent home in Raleigh, North Carolina . 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 . This American ice hockey team-related article

476-694: The ECHL since 2003, winning the league's Kelly Cup championship in 2004 and 2007. They are one of only five active ECHL teams to win multiple league championships, alongside the South Carolina Stingrays with three championships, and the Allen Americans , Florida Everblades and Toledo Walleye (which was then known as the Storm prior to suspending operations in 2007 to build their new arena) with two each. The defunct Alaska Aces and Hampton Roads Admirals also won three ECHL championships each. In 2003,

510-605: The Kelly Cup finals. The Steelheads were the first team to win the ECHL championship in its first year in the league since the Greensboro Monarchs won the title in the league's second season of operation ( 1989–90 ). In 2004–05 the Steelheads were eliminated in the first round of the ECHL playoffs by the Long Beach Ice Dogs. Olver was succeeded as head coach by Derek Laxdal after the season. In 2005–06 Laxdal guided

544-619: The Steelheads failed to make the playoffs at the end of the 2021-22 season. In early 2019, it was confirmed that the Steelheads had been approached by the upcoming Seattle Kraken with an interest in the Steelheads becoming their American Hockey League affiliate, although the Kraken later filed for an AHL expansion team in Palm Springs, California , which came to be the Coachella Valley Firebirds . In July 2019, head coach Neil Graham

578-450: The Steelheads to a playoff series victory against Las Vegas in 2010–11 , he was let go after the 2011–12 season after the Steelheads failed to crack the 75-point plateau for the first time since the team's WCHL tenure. In June 2012, the Steelheads named SPHL Augusta RiverHawks head coach Brad Ralph as Sauter's replacement. In Ralph's first season in Idaho the Steelheads advanced to the Western Conference finals, but were defeated by

612-862: The Steelheads were under the same ownership until Citadel Broadcasting 's 2002 purchase of the station. SparkLight cable carries live video on channel 72. Collin Schuck is the voice of the Steelheads for all home and away games since joining the organization in 2018. In 2021 streaming video coverage was added with the ECHL partnership with FloSports . Collin Schuck's radio play by play is blended with in house CCTV video during away games, and additional production features (such as stream only instant replay on separate feed from CCTV) for home games. 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 Records as of end of

646-577: The Stockton Thunder in five games. In the first round of the 2013–14 playoffs, the Steelheads defeated the Colorado Eagles in six games, culminating in a quadruple overtime victory which set a record as the longest game in ECHL history. They were eliminated in the second round by the eventual champion Alaska Aces. In 2014–15 the Steelheads won the regular season Pacific Division title with their first 100-point season since 2009–10, but were upset in

680-510: The Tacoma Sabercats to the WCHL championship in 1998–99. The Steelheads reached the WCHL finals in 2000–01 and 2001–02, but were defeated by the San Diego Gulls and Fresno Falcons , respectively. Although the Steelheads finished with the best record in the WCHL's final season in 2002–03, the Falcons eliminated them in the first round of the playoffs. The Idaho Steelheads have been a member of

714-616: The WCHL North Division in 1997–98, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Anchorage Aces (later known as the Alaska Aces ). Langevin left the team in 1998 and was replaced as head coach by former NHL goaltender Clint Malarchuk . Under Malarchuk the Steelheads were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 1998–99 and 1999–00. In 2000, Malarchuk was succeeded as head coach by John Olver , who had coached

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748-465: The WCHL was absorbed by the ECHL and folded. The Steelheads, along with several other WCHL-affiliated teams – namely the Alaska Aces , Bakersfield Condors , Fresno Falcons, Las Vegas Wranglers , Long Beach Ice Dogs and San Diego Gulls – became ECHL members beginning with the 2003–04 season. Idaho won the 2004 Kelly Cup in its first season in the ECHL , defeating the Florida Everblades in

782-638: The West Coast Hockey League are part of the ECHL . The WCHL was a successor organization of the semi-professional Pacific Hockey League . Three former PHL teams, the Alaska Gold Kings ( Fairbanks, Alaska ), Anchorage Aces ( Anchorage, Alaska ), and Fresno Falcons ( Fresno, California ) were joined by the Bakersfield Fog ( Bakersfield , California), Reno Renegades ( Reno, Nevada ) and San Diego Gulls ( San Diego, California ) to become

816-405: The Western Conference for the 2016 Kelly Cup playoffs and were defeated in the conference quarterfinals by the defending champion Allen Americans , 4-games-to-3. Jefferson Dahl and Emil Molin would tie for the team lead in goals during the regular season with 22 goals. Rob Linsmayer led the team with 57 points. Philippe Desrosiers appeared in a team high 31 games in goal for the Steelheads with

850-561: The expansion Idaho Steelheads ( Boise, Idaho ), Phoenix Mustangs ( Phoenix, Arizona ), Tacoma Sabercats ( Tacoma, Washington ) and Tucson Gila Monsters ( Tucson, Arizona ). The larger league was then split into Northern and Southern Divisions. The teams in Reno and Fresno changed their names to the Reno Rage and Fresno's Fighting Falcons respectively. The following season the Gold Kings relocated to Colorado Springs, Colorado , and rejoined

884-692: The first round of the playoffs by the Utah Grizzlies . Ralph left the Steelheads in August 2015 to take the head coaching position with the WHL Kelowna Rockets . Assistant coach and former player Neil Graham was promoted to the head coaching position several days later. Idaho finished the 2015–16 season in second place in the West Division, although tied in points with the first place Colorado Eagles due to them having more wins. They were seeded fifth in

918-535: The founding member teams of the WCHL, with British Columbia businessman Bruce Taylor recognized as the league's founding father. The league retained these teams in a single division for its first two seasons, and played regular season games against a "Red Army" team from Russia (CKA-Amur, now Amur Khabarovsk ) for the 1995–96 and 1996–97 seasons. In the league's third season in 1997–98 the Alaska Gold Kings suspended operations. The remaining teams were joined by

952-593: The league as the Colorado Gold Kings. The Fresno team reverted to its original name and the Bakersfield Fog renamed themselves the Bakersfield Condors. However, the Reno Rage ceased operations before the 1998–99 season while the Tucson Gila Monsters folded 21 games into the season. The WCHL then remained stable as an eight-team league after Tucson's departure and through the 1999–2000 season. In 2000–01,

986-512: The new Norfolk Admirals in 2015, and the Alaska franchise folded in 2017 before it was sold to become the Maine Mariners . Until their 2014 suspension of operations, the Steelheads also had a rivalry with the Las Vegas Wranglers due to their frequent playoff meetings. All Steelheads games are broadcast on AM 1350 KTIK in Boise and have been since the 1997 inception of the franchise. KTIK and

1020-575: The team back to the playoffs, but they were eliminated in the second round by the Las Vegas Wranglers. The Steelheads hosted the 2007 ECHL All-Star Game in Boise . Later that year the Steelheads won their second Kelly Cup by defeating the Stockton Thunder , Las Vegas Wranglers and Alaska Aces in the playoffs, and ultimately the Dayton Bombers in the league finals. In the 2007–08 playoffs, Idaho

1054-615: Was absorbed by the East Coast Hockey League . In a change reflective of the nationwide presence of the ECHL, the East Coast Hockey League changed its name to "ECHL" on May 19, 2003, as a direct result of the absorption. The six remaining WCHL teams (Alaska, Bakersfield, Fresno, Idaho, Long Beach and San Diego) joined the West and Pacific Divisions of the ECHL's National Conference, as did a planned WCHL team in Las Vegas , Nevada, which became

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1088-637: Was hired as an assistant coach of the AHL affiliate Texas Stars and was replaced by Steelheads' assistant Everett Sheen. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the Steelheads voluntarily suspended operations for the 2020–21 ECHL season . The Steelheads' most notable rival are the Utah Grizzlies due to proximity. The team's former rivals include the refugees of the old WCHL: the Alaska Aces , Fresno Falcons , and Bakersfield Condors . In their original markets, their common history stretched back nearly twenty years. Fresno then folded in 2008, Bakersfield relocated to become

1122-499: Was named after the founder of the league, Bruce Taylor, who also originally owned three of the six founding teams (Bakersfield, Fresno and Reno). The San Diego Gulls were by far the most successful postseason team in WCHL history, winning five of the eight Taylor Cup championships awarded. Greensboro Monarchs The Greensboro Monarchs were a professional ice hockey team based in Greensboro , North Carolina . The Monarchs joined

1156-434: Was swept in the first round by eventual champions the Alaska Aces , and in the 2008–09 playoffs lost to Victoria Salmon Kings in the first round. In 2009–10 , the Steelheads clinched their first Brabham Cup (ECHL regular season title) with one week remaining in the season. They received a bye in the first round of the 2010 Kelly Cup Playoffs before sweeping the Utah Grizzlies in the conference semifinals and beating

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