The San Antonio Rampage was an ice hockey team based in San Antonio, Texas, and played in the American Hockey League. The team was owned by Spurs Sports and Entertainment before selling their franchise to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2020. That is why the franchise was relocated to the Las Vegas Valley Area and became the Henderson Silver Knights. In this article, we are going to know more about the San Antonio Rampage.
History
The San Antonio Rampage was initially named as the San Antonio Stampede. However, a local semipro football team objected to the name, that is why the team’s name was changed to the Rampage.
The Spurs Sports & Entertainment decided to purchase the Panthers’ interest in the franchise in 2005, which enabled them to assume the sole ownership of the AHL club. Aside from that, they also decided to enter a multi-year affiliation agreement with the Phoenix Coyotes.
The Rampage revealed their new uniforms, which their official colors; white, black, and silver in September 2006. They have the same motif as the Spurs and other Spurs-owned teams. The team’s primary and secondary logos remain the same, where the crest of the jerseys displayed just the bull’s head, which gave it a sleeker look. In April 2007, the Coyotes revealed that they fired Rampage general manager Laurence Gilman, who happened to be with the Coyotes organization for over 13 years.
In November 2009, the Phoenix Coyotes fired Greg Ireland. After a while, he was replaced by assistant coach Ray Edwards then Mike Pelino became the team’s assistant coach. Before the 2010-2011 season, Ray Edwards officially became the head coach of the SanAntonio Rampage.
After the 2010–11 America Hockey League season, the Coyotes agreed that the Portland Pirates will be their new AHL affiliate, which left San Antonio without an affiliate. In June 2011, San Antonio officially became Florida’s top affiliate and during the 2011–2012 season, the
Rampage finished the season with a record of 41–30–3–2, which was good for the sixth playoff seed in the Western Conference. The Rampage played against the Chicago Wolves during the first round, and they played Game 1 and Game 2 at home then took a 2–0 series lead in the best-of-five series. However, they lost to the Wolves during Games 3 and 4 in Chicago, which led to a Game 5. During the fifth game, the Rampage managed to have a 2–0 lead; however, the Wolves sent it into a tie game, which led to overtime. The overtime lasted for 25 minutes, and the San Antonio winger Bill Thomas passed to center Jon Matsumoto. Fed defenceman Roman Derlyuk to score the series-winning goal on his belly, which bagged the first series win for the San Antonio Rampage. To the team’s fans, the purpose has been known as the Goal Heard Round the Alamo. It is considered to be the most important in the history of the San Antonio Rampage.
The Florida Panthers announced they decided to enter an affiliation agreement with the Portland Pirates in March 2015. It began in the 2015–16 season, which ended the Panthers’ second time as San Antonio’s NHL affiliate. In April that same year, the San Antonio Rampage announced that they have come to a five-year affiliation agreement with the Colorado Avalanche.
During the off-season in 2017, The Avalanche reportedly promote its ECHL affiliate, which was the Colorado Eagles, to the AHL in 2018. While the Rampage officially became affiliated with the St. Louis Blues at the start of the 2018–19 AHL season. During the 2017–18 season, the Blues did not have an official AHL affiliate because the Vegas
Golden Knights decided to partner with their former member. That is why both the Avalanche and Blues sent AHL prospects to the Rampage.
In February 2020, the Vegas Golden Knights announced that they have decided to purchase the San Antonio Rampage franchise from the Spurs. The Vegas Golden Knights also said that they have intentions to relocate the team to Las Vegas. The purchase and relocation were approved by the American Hockey League that same month. That is why the team will initially play at the Orleans Arena situated in Paradise, Nevada. They also have a new home which is a 6,000-seat arena, named Lifeguard Arena, and it is constructed in downtown Henderson, Nevada.
