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37-796: In 2000, construction began on the SBC Center, located next to the Freeman Coliseum , home of the Central Hockey League 's San Antonio Iguanas . Partnering with the Florida Panthers , the Spurs bought the dormant Adirondack Red Wings 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,

74-404: A Douglas B-23 Dragon bomber underneath a stylized wordmark. The original color scheme was forest green, navy blue, and a red accents on jerseys. The team was an immediate success, both on the ice and at the gate. The Aeros posted a winning record in their inaugural season and made the playoffs, while the team repeatedly sold out its home games at The Summit after not having professional hockey in

111-766: A professional ice hockey team in the International Hockey League (IHL) and the American Hockey League (AHL). The team played in Houston , Texas, at The Summit (renamed Compaq Center in 1998) from 1994 until 2003 and the Toyota Center from 2003 to 2013. In the IHL, the team operated as an independent minor league team from 1994 to 2001, though the team occasionally accepted players on loan from various National Hockey League (NHL) clubs for development. Upon joining

148-626: A 54–15–13 record for 121 points in the standings and the Fred A. Huber Trophy for the regular season championship. Despite their regular season, the Aeros struggled in the playoffs. While they earned a bye from the best-of-three preliminary round, it took Houston the full five games series to eliminate the Long Beach Ice Dogs in the second round. In the Western Conference Finals, Houston faced

185-751: A 77-foot (23 m) ceiling height. When used for trade shows, the arena features 31,250 square feet (2,903 m ) of space, plus 129,500 square feet (12,030 m ) of exhibit space in four adjacent exhibit halls—the 60,000-square-foot (6,000 m ) Morris Center, the 36,000-square-foot (3,300 m ) Exhibit Hall #1, the 20,000-square-foot (2,000 m ) Freeman Building and the 13,500-square-foot (1,250 m ) Exhibit Hall #2. 29°25′37″N 98°26′22″W  /  29.426899°N 98.439351°W  / 29.426899; -98.439351 See also: List of museums in Central Texas Houston Aeros (1994%E2%80%932013) The Houston Aeros were

222-507: A primary development affiliate. Due to Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport making travel for prospects easier, the Wild entered an agreement with the Aeros as their top development affiliate. Todd McLellan was installed as head coach by the Wild and the Aeros made the Western Conference Finals in their first AHL season before falling to their old IHL rivals, the Chicago Wolves. For

259-672: 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 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,

296-649: 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 . During

333-530: The Chicago Wolves , which took seven games for the Aeros to advance to their first Turner Cup Finals. The Aeros then faced the Orlando Solar Bears for the 1999 Turner Cup and again lasted seven games. In front of a sold-out home crowd of more than 16,000, the Aeros won their first championship with a 5–3 victory. Following the 1999 Turner Cup championship, Dave Tippett left to take an assistant job with

370-772: The International Hockey League San Antonio Dragons from 1996 to 1998. On February 26, 1983, the Freeman Coliseum hosted the rematch boxing contest between International Boxing Hall of Fame member Alexis Arguello and Vilomar Fernandez , won by Arguello by ten rounds unanimous decision. Freeman Coliseum was also host to the WWF 1994 Survivor Series starring Chuck Norris in the main event. Freeman Coliseum seats 9,500 for motor sports, rodeos and professional bull riding; 9,800 for basketball and up to 11,700 for concerts, boxing and wrestling. It contains

407-711: The Los Angeles Kings . Captain Mike Yeo signed an NHL contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins , who assigned him to their minor league affiliate in the AHL, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins . While Houston still posted winning seasons with playoff appearances the next two years, they were never able to get close to another Turner Cup. By 2001, the IHL was struggling financially. The league had rapidly expanded in

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444-474: The Minnesota Wild , with Watson retaining a 10% share, in order to pay for the increased costs. When the initial agreement between the Aeros and Rockets expired, Alexander's rent price skyrocketed. Negotiations were so stymied that Chuck Watson nearly relocated his hockey team in 2006. The AHL and NHL both entered the negotiations and the Aeros and Rockets agreed to a new seven-year agreement that ran through

481-701: The Texas Stars (located near Austin ) and, from 2002 to 2013, the Houston Aeros . The market was previously served by: 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 professional bull riding, basketball, hockey, boxing and wrestling. It

518-469: The 1980s and 1990s, included moving into already established NHL markets. As a result, the NHL actively encouraged its owners to reassign their development operations to clubs in the American Hockey League (AHL), the chief rival of the IHL. Without any support from the NHL and league costs increasing, the IHL declared bankruptcy and disbanded during the summer of 2001. With the AHL looking to increase its prestige as

555-678: The 2002–03 season, the Aeros were led by 31 goals from Jean-Guy Trudel and goaltending from Johan Holmqvist and Derek Gustafson . Houston swept the Milwaukee Admirals in the first round, defeated the Norfolk Admirals in six games, and then advanced through the Western Conference Finals with a game seven win over the Grand Rapids Griffins . Houston faced the Hamilton Bulldogs in the 2003 Calder Cup Finals, again going for

592-630: The 2012–13 season. Under the agreement though, the Aeros were paying one of the highest rents of any AHL franchise. By the 2012–13 season, Alexander had expressed he wanted to use the 38 Aeros' home dates to instead host concerts in order to generate more revenue. In the first negotiations between Alexander and MS&E, the Rockets' owner demanded a 550% increase in the team's rent if they wanted to stay. MS&E instead began exploring other options, settling on Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa , which last

629-712: The 2017 off-season, it was reported that the Avalanche would promote its ECHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles , to the AHL in 2018 while the Rampage would officially affiliate with the St. Louis Blues beginning with the 2018–19 AHL season. For the 2017–18 season, as the Blues did not have an official AHL affiliate after the Vegas Golden Knights partnered with their former affiliate, both the Avalanche and Blues would send AHL prospects to

666-490: The AHL for the 2001–02 season, they became the primary affiliate of the one-year-old NHL expansion team , the Minnesota Wild , a partnership they maintained until the franchise's relocation in 2013. While the team's only formal partnership with the Dallas Stars was a partial affiliation agreement during the 2004–05 season, Dallas occasionally sent some of their prospects to the Aeros on individual loans from 1993 to 2005, until

703-423: The Aeros colors were changed to match the Wild's forest green and iron range red with wheat accents. Prior to the 2006–07 season, the Aeros brought back the original bomber logo associated with their championship seasons with only minor color alterations; the navy blue elements of the original logo were replaced with forest green. On the ice, the Aeros remained competitive, qualifying for the playoffs eight times in

740-580: The City of Houston to build the Toyota Center . The lease agreements of both the Aeros and Rockets expired in the summer of 2003, and with the city set to sell Compaq Center to Lakewood Church , the Aeros were forced to move into the Toyota Center and pay rent to the Rockets on a three-year lease. Watson then sold the majority ownership to the Minnesota Sports and Entertainment (MS&E), the parent company of

777-633: The Phoenix Coyotes fired Greg Ireland. He was replaced by assistant coach Ray Edwards; 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

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814-514: 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 , 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

851-614: The Rampage. On February 6, 2020, the Vegas Golden Knights announced it had purchased the franchise from the Spurs with the intent to relocate it to the Las Vegas area . The purchase and relocation was approved by the league on February 28. The team initially played at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada , while the club's new 6,000-seat arena, named Dollar Loan Center , was constructed in downtown Henderson, Nevada . Their main rivals were

888-481: The Rockets lease on the building shortly after their 1995 title , Watson blocked the move, holding Alexander to his original agreement of expiration in 2003. While a new arena was needed to replace the aging facility, the two sides agreed to an arena deal in 1997 that would give the Rockets and Aeros equal control over a new building. However, the referendum for a new building was rejected by Harris County voters in 1999. In 2001, Alexander reached his own agreement with

925-468: The end of their careers. Some of these signings included Mark Freer , who set the Houston franchise record for career goals, eventual coach Mike Yeo , veteran NHL player Jim Paek , and goaltending duo Frederic Chabot and Manny Fernandez . In 1996, Watson hired former Hartford Whalers ' player Dave Tippett as his head coach. Houston won 44 games in 1996–97 and followed that with their first 50-win campaign

962-505: The establishment of the Iowa Stars gave Dallas its own primary farm team . As of November 2023, Cal Clutterbuck , Jared Spurgeon , Matt Dumba , Charlie Coyle , Darcy Kuemper , Jonas Brodin and Jason Zucker are the only players active in the NHL who had once spent time in Houston. The Houston Aeros started out as an expansion franchise in the International Hockey League (IHL) in 1994 with home games at The Summit . The team's name

999-609: The full seven games before the Aeros won the Calder Cup . Before the 2003–04 season, the team moved to the newly opened Toyota Center . As part of the transition, the majority ownership of the Aeros was sold to the Minnesota Wild who then replaced the original bomber logo to a new logo featuring a forward-facing modern fighter jet below a bold "AEROS", and switched to the WHA Aeros colors of light and dark blue for two seasons. As NHL teams began to build stronger ties with their farm clubs,

1036-685: The last ten seasons. They made it to the 2009 Western Conference Finals before being eliminated by the Manitoba Moose and made it back to the Calder Cup Finals in 2011, but lost in six games to the Binghamton Senators . The Aeros played its final game on May 4, 2013, in a 7–0 loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins in a game in the opening round of the 2013 Calder Cup playoffs . Despite the local popularity and high average attendance of

1073-515: The next year, losing in the 1998 Western Conference Finals to the Long Beach Ice Dogs . By the start of the 1998–99 season, the Aeros were led by the goalie tandem of Chabot and Fernandez posted a combined 2.35 goals against average, the best average in the league, minor league journeyman Jeff Christian scored a team-leading 45 goals and 109 points (including 88 assists) from former Michigan Wolverines ' player Brian Wiseman . Houston earned

1110-432: 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 , who had been with the Coyotes organization for 13 years. [1] On November 23, 2009,

1147-412: The region for nearly two decades. Despite missing the playoffs in their sophomore campaign, the Aeros spent the back half of the 1990s becoming one of the more dominant teams of the IHL. Independently owned and operated by Chuck Watson without a primary National Hockey League (NHL) affiliate, the franchise spent money on younger players still trying to make a name for themselves and former NHL players at

San Antonio Rampage - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-756: The rodeo are still held in the Coliseum. The 2021 Rodeo was held in the Freeman due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The WNBA 's San Antonio Stars played its home games at Freeman Coliseum during the 2015 season due to renovations at AT&T Center . The Coliseum was home to the San Antonio Rowels and its national team rodeo league competition, as well as two professional hockey teams: the Central Hockey League San Antonio Iguanas and later,

1221-557: 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, Spurs Sports & Entertainment 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

1258-477: The team, the team was having trouble off the ice where the Aeros and owner Chuck Watson were part of dispute with the Houston Rockets and owner Les Alexander over their shared arenas. Since the 1990s, Watson operated The Summit , which acted as the home arena for both teams, and had control over the lease agreement with the Rockets, which had been purchased by Alexander in 1993. When Alexander tried to break

1295-413: The top development league for the NHL, the AHL began discussions to absorb some of the IHL's clubs. The AHL and IHL eventually agreed for the AHL to absorb six franchises for the 2001–02 season: the Aeros, Chicago Wolves , Grand Rapids Griffins , Milwaukee Admirals , Manitoba Moose , and Utah Grizzlies . The Aeros joined the AHL one year after the NHL expanded with the Minnesota Wild and did not have

1332-693: Was a tribute to the original Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association in the 1970s, who won the Avco World Trophy twice with hockey legend Gordie Howe anchoring the team. The Aeros were the second IHL team to be named after a WHA franchise, the first being the Phoenix Roadrunners ; unlike the Roadrunners, who used the same logo as their WHA predecessor, the IHL Aeros used a new logo,

1369-557: Was the largest indoor arena in San Antonio until HemisFair Arena opened in 1968. Since then, many top recording artists have made their San Antonio concert debuts at the Coliseum. Freeman Coliseum was the home of the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo until the opening in 2003 of the adjacent AT&T Center , formerly known as SBC Center. Although the main rodeo event is now in Frost Bank Center , stock show and exhibit aspects of

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