Kansas City Scouts (NAHL)

Kansas City Scouts
City:	Shawnee, Kansas
League:	NAHL
Division:	South
Founded:	2004
Home Arena:	Kansas City Ice Center
Colors:	Red, Gold, Black
General Manager:	Simon Watson
Head Coach:	Simon Watson
Franchise history
2003 to 2004:	Lone Star Cavalry
2004 to 2007:	Santa Fe Roadrunners
2007-2018:	Topeka Roadrunners
2018-2020:	Topeka Pilots
2020-present:	Kansas City Scouts

The Kansas City Scouts is a Tier II Junior A ice hockey team in the North American Hockey League's Southern Division. The team's home arena Kansas City Ice Center in Shawnee, Kansas.

History

Lone Star Calvary logo

Lone Star Cavalry

The Lone Star Cavalry were granted an expansion franchise in the America West Hockey League in March 2003. They stayed in the league when it merged with the North American Hockey League for the 2003-2004 season. The Cavalry played out of the Blue Line Ice Complex in North Richland Hills, Texas and served the immediate "Mid-Cities" area of Metro Dallas-Fort Worth. The Cavalry were part of the “new” NAHL’s South Division along with the Central Texas Blackhawks, Fairbanks Ice Dogs, Springfield (MO) Spirit, Texas Tornado, Texarkana Bandits and Wichita Falls Rustlers.

Santa Fe Roadrunners

Santa Fe Roadrunners

After financial difficulties caused the Cavalry’s home rink, the Blue Line Ice Complex, to close, the Cavalry were left without a home, due to this and other factors the Cavalry ended up being sold and relocated to Santa Fe. The team was granted membership on September 20th,2004 and began play on September 25th,2004 under their new identity as the Santa Fe Roadrunners. The Santa Fe Roadrunners played out of the Genoveva Chavez Community Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In their inaugural season in New Mexico, the Roadrunners played in the South Division, against the Central Texas Marshals, Springfield (IL) Junior Blues, Springfield (MO) Spirit, Texarkana Bandits, Texas Tornado and the Wichita Falls Wildcats, finishing with a 33-15-8 record, good for 3rd place in the division. The following season they finished dead last in the South Division behind the Texas Tornado, Texarkana Bandits, Springfield (IL) Junior Blues, and the Wichita Falls Wildcats. The third and final season in Santa Fe saw the Roadrunners finishing with a 41-17-4 record for 2nd place in a South Division which consisted of the St. Louis Bandits, Texas Tornado, Fairbanks Ice Dogs, Wichita Falls Wildcats, and the Alaska Avalanche.

Topeka Roadrunners

On 26 February 2007, the team announced their move to Topeka from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Poor attendance was said to be the reason for the move to Topeka. Santa Fe ranked 17th out of 18 teams in attendance. The move to Topeka was initiated by a grass roots effort, led by hockey fans from Topeka. In 2005 Topeka Hockey 07' set a goal to obtain an interested owner to believe in the vision they had and be playing in Topeka in 2007 giving the franchise enough time to build a relationship with the city and its business community. Topeka Hockey '07 was founded by two guys with a passion for the game, Mike Cline and Jason "The Bucketman" Simonsen with the interest of finding an owner that could make money in Topeka. Topeka Hockey '07, had built a business model and sent out packets to teams in markets all across the country looking for one of them to either relocate or expand and buy a second franchise to play in the NAHL in Topeka, KS. In their first season in Topeka, 2007-2008, they were third in league attendance. That season the team won the NAHL South Division and South Division Playoffs. They finished in third place at the Robertson Cup competition. The 2008-2009 season saw the Roadrunners finishing fourth in league attendance and 2nd in the South Division. The team lost in the second round of the South Division playoffs. In 2009-2010 The Roadrunners finished first in the South Division, and they were second in attendance.

A July 9, 2015 article in the Topeka-Capital Journal announced the RoadRunners had a new three year lease approved by the Shawnee County Commission to be able to stay in Wichita.  This had followed four months of contentious lease negotiations that stalled on more than one occasion; leaving the future of the team in Topeka in doubt. which included reports that the team was relocating to the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

Topeka Pilots

On April 18, 2018 the NAHL announced that the team was sold by Don Stone who had owned the team since 2009, to Lamar Hunt, Jr. and his Loretto Sports Ventures Group, which also owns the Kansas City Mavericks of the ECHL. The ownership group reaffirmed its commitment to the city of Topeka. As part of the announcement Simon Watson was named new GM and head coach.  The team was renamed on June 5, 2018 to the Topeka Pilots.

Kansas City Scouts

On February 28, 2020, Lamar Hunt Jr. announced he was moving the team to the Kansas City metropolitan area for the 2020–21 season. The team was renamed after the former NHL team, the Kansas City Scouts, and were to play at least the 2020–21 season at the Kansas City Ice Center in the suburb of Shawnee, Kansas. However, the team instead went dormant for the 2020–21 season due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic with plans to return for the 2021–22 season. The Scouts also received dormancy status for the 2021–22 season on March 4, 2021.

Season-by-season records

Season	GP	W	L	OL	SL	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
Lone Star Calvary
2003–04	56	28	22	6	-	62	158	171	1,504	5th, South	Did not qualify
Santa Fe Roadrunners
2004–05	56	33	18	5	-	71	201	163	1,602	3rd of 7, South	Lost in 1st Round
2005–06	58	24	28	6	-	54	182	205	1,418	5th of 5, South	Did not qualify
2006–07	62	41	17	4	-	86	221	154	1,240	2nd of 6, South	Lost in 1st Round
Topeka RoadRunners
2007–08	58	39	11	8	-	86	242	137	1,509	1st of 6, South	Lost in Robertson Cup Semifinal
2008–09	58	42	11	5	-	89	204	138	1,545	2nd of 4, South	Lost in 2nd Round
2009–10	58	44	9	5	-	93	254	147	1,500	1st of 5, South	Lost in 2nd Round
2010–11	58	43	12	3	-	89	237	146	1,706	1st of 6, South	Lost in Div. Finals
2011–12	60	38	18	4	-	80	197	152	1,247	2nd of 7, South	Lost in Div. Finals
2012–13	60	39	14	7	-	85	190	146	1343	2nd of 6, South	Lost in Div. Semifinals
2013–14	60	39	15	6	-	84	180	122	1090	2nd of 7, South	Lost in Robertson Cup Semifinals
2014–15	60	39	15	6	-	84	199	140	837	2nd of 8, South	Lost in Robertson Cup Quarterfinals
2015–16	60	34	24	2	-	70	190	154	1044	3rd of 6, South	Lost in Div. Finals
2016–17	60	21	34	4	1	47	176	228	1322	7th of 7, South	Did not qualify
2017-18	60	17	39	2	2	38	128	233	1217	6th of 6, South	Did not qualify
2018-19	60	23	29	3	5	54	158	210	-	5th of 6, South	Did not qualify
2019-20	52	33	14	3	2	71	151	129	-	3rd of 7, South	playoffs cancelled
2020-21	Sat out season as part of re-organization

Playoffs

• 2005

First Round – Texarkana Bandits defeated Santa Fe Roadrunners, 3-games-to-1

• 2007

First Round – Texas Tornado defeated Santa Fe Roadrunners, 3-games-to-2

• 2008

Division Semifinals – Topeka RoadRunners defeated Texas Tornado, 3-games-to-0

Division Final – Topeka RoadRunners defeated Fairbanks Ice Dogs, 3-games-to-2

Robertson Cup Round Robin – Topeka RoadRunners (2-1) - Advance to Semifinal, (W, 3-2 vs. Phantoms; W, 4-2 vs. Blizzard; L, 2-5 vs. Bandits)

Robertson Cup Semifinal Game – Mahoning Valley Phantoms defeated Topeka RoadRunners, 5-2

• 2009

Division Semifinals – Topeka RoadRunners defeated Wichita Falls Wildcats, 3-games-to-2

Division Finals – St. Louis Bandits defeated Topeka RoadRunners, 3-games-to-1

• 2010

Division Semifinals – Topeka RoadRunners defeated Springfield Jr. Blues, 3-games-to-1

Division Finals – St. Louis Bandits defeated Topeka RoadRunners, 3-games-to-2

• 2011

Division Semifinals – Topeka RoadRunners defeated Wichita Falls Wildcats, 3-games-to-2

Division Finals – Amarillo Bulls defeated Topeka RoadRunners, 3-games-to-2

• 2012

Division Semifinals – Topeka RoadRunners defeated Texas Tornado, 3-games-to-0

Division Finals – Amarillo Bulls defeated Topeka RoadRunners, 3-games-to-1

• 2013

Division Semifinals – Texas Tornado defeated Topeka RoadRunners, 3-games-to-0

• 2014

Division Semifinals – Topeka RoadRunners defeated Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, 3-games-to-0

Division Finals – Topeka RoadRunners defeated Amarillo Bulls, 3-games-to-2

Robertson Cup Semifinals – Austin Bruins defeated Topeka RoadRunners, 2-games-to-1

• 2015

First Round – Topeka RoadRunners defeated Wichita Falls Wildcats, 3-games-to-1

Robertson Cup Quarterfinals – Lone Star Brahmas defeated Topeka RoadRunners, 3-games-to-1

• 2016

Division Semifinals – Topeka RoadRunners defeated Lone Star Brahmas, 3-games-to-1

Division Finals – Wichita Falls Wildcats defeated Topeka RoadRunners, 3-games-to-1

• 2017

Did not qualify

• 2018

Did not qualify

• 2019

Did not qualify

• 2020

Playoffs cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

Players

Team captains

• Eric Trax: 2003-2004 Lone Star Cavalry
• Andrew Johnson: 2004-2005 Santa Fe RoadRunners
• Brandon Vossberg: 2005-2006 Santa Fe RoadRunners
• John Stoddard: 2006-2007 Santa Fe RoadRunners, 2007–2008 Topeka RoadRunners
• Matt Hartmann: 2008-2009 Topeka RoadRunners
• Kurtis Anton: 2009-2010 Topeka RoadRunners
• Michael Hill/Jordan Davis: 2010-2011 Topeka RoadRunners
• Chris Bond: 2011-2012 Topeka RoadRunners
• Drew Kariofiles: 2012-2013 Topeka RoadRunners
• Jared Tafoya: 2013-2014 Topeka RoadRunners
• Mike Gornall: 2014-2015 Topeka RoadRunners
• Cam Strong / Dominic Lutz: 2015-16 Topeka RoadRunners

Honored members

Retired numbers: The Topeka RoadRunners have officially retired two numbers in their franchise history, the 11 of forward and team captain John Stoddard, and the 21 of Peter Halash.

On January 6, 2014, Topeka Roadrunner Peter Halash died in a car wreck. The Roadrunners team had a jersey retirement ceremony before a game against the Springfield Jr. Blues on March 23, 2014 where all of his family and friends came to remember the life of Peter Halash.

Alumni

The RoadRunners have had a number of alumni move on to NCAA Division I, NCAA Division III, ACHA Division I and II, higher levels of junior ice hockey, and professional ice hockey, including:

• Cody Chupp (2003–04, Lone Star Cavalry) – Played for the Texas Stars and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL and the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL.
• Eriah Hayes (2007-08, Topeka RoadRunners) - Plays for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. Previously played for the San Jose Sharks of the NHL
• Cole Schneider (2009–10, Topeka RoadRunners) – Plays for the Rochester Americans of the AHL. He also played for the Binghamton Senators of the AHL.

External links

• Official Site
• Topeka Hockey Fan Discussion Board
• Capital-Journal Story
• NAHL website
• Booster Club Site