Las Vegas Thunder

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Las Vegas Thunder

Founded	1993
Home Ice	Thomas & Mack Center
Based in	Las Vegas, NV
Colors	black, teal, and white
League	IHL
Turner Cups	0
Regular Season Titles	2
Division Titles	2

The Las Vegas Thunder were an independent professional ice hockey team competing in the International Hockey League. The team, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, began play in the 1993-1994 season, but folded on April 18, 1999 when Thomas & Mack Center officials decided they could make more money by hosting concerts and other events rather than hockey.

The Thunder's best season was in 1995-1996 when it finished in 1st (Wins 57 Losses 17 Ties 8), but lost in the conference finals.

Throughout the team's history they garnered player development deals with the Phoenix Coyotes of the NHL, the ECHL's Knoxville Cherokees and Mississippi Sea Wolves and Russian side Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

The Thunder's main rivals included the Denver/Utah Grizzlies, Los Angeles/Long Beach Ice Dogs, San Diego Gulls, and Phoenix Roadrunners. These rivalries have seen a rebirth in the ECHL.

The team's mascot was "Boom-Boom", a polar bear.

1 Notable Alumni
2 Season-by-season record
3 Head Coaches
4 Honors
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Notable Alumni

[edit] Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
1993-94	81	52	18	11	115	319	282	2511	1st, Pacific	Lost in Conference Semis
1994-95	81	46	30	5	97	328	278	2517	2nd, Southwest	Lost in Conference Semis
1995-96	82	57	17	8	122	380	249	2590	1st, Southwest	Lost in Conference Finals
1996-97	82	41	34	7	89	287	299	2296	4th, Southwest	Lost in Conference Quarters
1997-98	82	33	39	10	76	260	305	2210	4th, Southwest	Lost in Conference Quarters
1998-99	82	35	39	8	78	247	307	2597	4th, Southwest	Did Not Qualify