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 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, 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 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 Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), founded in 1921, was a major professional ice hockey league originally based in the prairies of Canada. It was renamed the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1925 and disbanded in 1926.
The Fresno Falcons were a minor league hockey team. They were charter members of several long standing leagues in the western United States including the Pacific Southwest Hockey League and the West Coast Hockey League. In their final years, they were members of the ECHL. They were located in Fresno, California.
The Las Vegas Wranglers were a professional ice hockey team based in Las Vegas Valley. The Wranglers were members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the ECHL. The Wranglers were founded as an expansion franchise in 2003 following the ECHL's takeover of the West Coast Hockey League.
The Alaska Aces, known as the Anchorage Aces until 2003, was a professional ice hockey team in Anchorage, Alaska. Home games were played at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. The Aces won three Kelly Cup championships, with their last championship following the 2013–14 ECHL season.
The 2003–04 ECHL season was the 16th season of the ECHL. This was the first season that the league would be known as only the ECHL instead of East Coast Hockey League after the absorption of the former West Coast Hockey League teams. The Brabham Cup regular season champions were the San Diego Gulls and the Kelly Cup playoff champions were the Idaho Steelheads.
The 1925 Stanley Cup Finals saw the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) champion Victoria Cougars defeat the National Hockey League (NHL) champion Montreal Canadiens three games to one in a best-of-five game series. The Canadiens were substitute NHL representatives, as the final series to decide the NHL champion was not played.
Hockey Club Amur, commonly referred to as the Amur Khabarovsk, is a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Khabarovsk. They are members of the Chernyshev Division of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Located in the Russian Far East, the team takes its name from the Amur River, and plays its home games at the Platinum Arena.
Christopher Jon Marinucci is an American former professional ice hockey player who played briefly in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Islanders. He also played with the Denver Grizzlies, Utah Grizzlies, Phoenix Roadrunners, Chicago Wolves, Kokudo Tokyo, Eisbären Berlin, Idaho Steelheads, IF Björklöven and Storhamar Dragons.
David Richard Langevin is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 216 games for the Edmonton Oilers in the World Hockey Association (WHA) as well as 513 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Minnesota North Stars and Los Angeles Kings between 1977 and 1987. He is a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Phoenix Mustangs were a professional minor league ice hockey team in the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL). The Mustangs played at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the grounds of the Arizona State Fair, from the 1997–98 season through the 2000–01 season. The Mustangs came into existence after the demise of the International Hockey League's Phoenix Roadrunners who lost funding from a local Indian community and ceased operations after the 1996–97 season. Their arrival rekindled a decades long rivalry between Phoenix and San Diego based teams in several minor leagues.
The El Paso Rhinos are a junior ice hockey organization based in El Paso, Texas. Their home games are played at the County Events Center located within the El Paso County Coliseum complex. The Rhinos are members of the South Division of the Tier II junior North American Hockey League (NAHL). The organization was originally a member of the Amateur Athletic Union-sanctioned Western States Hockey League from 2006 to 2020. They also played in the NA3HL From 2020 to 2021 before joining the NAHL South Division.
Gavin Morgan is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward. He played six games in the National Hockey League for the Dallas Stars during the 2003–04 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1999 to 2010, was mainly spent in the minor American Hockey League. After his playing career Morgan worked as an assistant coach with the University of Alabama-Huntsville for several years.
The San Diego Gulls were a professional ice hockey team in the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL) and later in the ECHL. The team, the third to use the Gulls nickname, was founded in 1995 immediately upon the departure of the IHL team of the same name. The Gulls played at the San Diego Sports Arena.
The Tacoma Sabercats were an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Tacoma, Washington. The team began play in the West Coast Hockey League as of the 1997–98 season.
John Olver is a Canadian ice hockey player and coach known for his league championship teams in the West Coast Hockey League and ECHL.
The Reno Renegades were a short-lived American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Reno, Nevada. The team was a founding member of the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL).
Bart Hull is a former running back in the Canadian Football League. He is the son of famed Canadian hockey legend Bobby Hull, nephew of Dennis Hull and younger brother of Brett Hull. Hull had a prolific high school athletic career at Vancouver College High School in Vancouver, B.C. before attending Boise State on an athletic scholarship.
Craig Lyons is a Canadian former professional ice hockey and inline hockey player.