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Wichita Falls Wildcats
Wildcatslogo
City: Wichita Falls, Texas
League: NAHL
Division: South
Founded: 1993 (In the AFHL)
Home Arena: Kay Yeager Coliseum
Colors: Black, Red, and White
Owner(s): Alex Shnayderman, Roy Davoult
General Manager: Paul Baxter
Head Coach: Tony Curtale (2016-17)
Media: KOLI 94.9 FM, B2 Networks
Franchise history
1993-1996: Vail Avalanche (AFHL)
1996-2002: Butte Irish (AFHL and AWHL)
2002-2004: Wichita Falls Rustlers (AWHL and NAHL)
2004-2017: Wichita Falls Wildcats (NAHL)

The Wichita Falls Wildcats were a Tier II junior ice hockey team in the North American Hockey League's South Division. The Wildcats played out of the 7,380-seat Kay Yeager Coliseum in Wichita Falls, Texas. The head coach of the team for the 2015–16 season was John LaFontaine, his second season with the team.

History[]

Previously known as the Wichita Falls Rustlers (and before this, the Butte Irish of Butte, Montana and the Vail Avalanche of Vail, Colorado), the franchise was a part of the American Frontier/America West Hockey League prior to 2003, and became an NAHL team after the two leagues merged for the 2003–04 season. The Irish, Rustlers, and Wildcats are technically three separate franchises, but with a major overlap of players and coaches between the organizations, they are often listed together as one.

Uncertain Future[]

A report on thejuniorhockeynews.com website indicated that the team's future is in doubt as the team's lease is up at the end of the 2016-17 season and the rink ownership is looking for a new owner for the team.  The team has reportedly been losing large amounts of money under the present circumstances.  The team has had attendance issues (reportedly just over 1,000 average for 2016-17, coming of a championship round appearance in 2015-16) during their stay in the city and new ownership under those circumstances are unlikely. Rumored location possibilities include Anchorage, Alaska (though only mentioned as Alaska in the report; and the Alaska Aces of the ECHL recently folded) and the northeastern United States (which the NAHL has been trying to strengthen it's footprint in the area).  The team owner requested a leave of absence for the 2017-18 season due to ownership and rink issues.  Apparently, the team folded shortly after requesting the leave of absence


Season-by-season records[]

Season GP W L OL SL PTS GF GA PIM Finish Playoffs Avg Attend
Vail Avalanche (AFHL)
1993–94 Statistics unavailable
1994–95 Statistics unavailable League Champions
1995–96 Statistics unavailable
Butte Irish (AFHL)
1996–97 60 38 17 5 - 81 264 181 N/A 2nd Lost in Finals
1997–98 60 25 33 2 - 52 229 264 N/A 6th Did not qualify
Butte Irish (AWHL)
1998–99 60 32 23 5 - 69 224 238 N/A 3rd Lost in Semifinals
1999–00 58 23 32 3 - 49 205 263 1283 6th Lost in 1st Round
2000–01 60 6 51 3 - 15 166 345 1969 8th Lost in 1st Round
2001–02 56 21 28 7 - 49 214 240 N/A 8th Lost in 1st Round
Wichita Falls Rustlers (AWHL)
2002–03 56 43 11 2 - 88 215 115 1255 1st, South Lost in Semifinals
Wichita Falls Rustlers (NAHL)
2003–04 56 29 20 7 - 65 200 172 1039 3rd, South N/A
Wichita Falls Wildcats (NAHL)
2004–05 56 28 21 7 - 63 206 218 1163 4th, South Lost 1st Round, 0-3 vs. Texas Tornado 1,948
2005–06 58 26 28 4 - 56 171 189 1045 4th, South Lost 1st Round, 2-3 vs. Texas Tornado 1,987
2006–07 62 22 34 6 - 50 175 227 1126 5th, South Did not qualify 1,872
2007–08 58 38 18 2 - 78 221 181 1715 3rd, South Lost 1st Round, 1-3 vs. Fairbanks Ice Dogs 1,890
2008–09 58 24 25 9 - 57 163 203 1695 3rd, South Lost 1st Round, 2-3 vs. Topeka RoadRunners 1,826
2009–10 58 18 34 6 - 42 175 251 1530 5th, South Did not qualify 1,907
2010–11 58 26 27 5 - 57 189 190 1527 4th, South Lost Div. Semifinals, 2-3 vs. Topeka RoadRunners 1,894
2011–12 60 20 35 5 - 45 149 204 1134 6th, South Did not qualify 2,038
2012–13 60 26 30 4 - 56 183 200 955 5th, South Did not qualify 1,895
2013–14 60 31 25 4 - 66 170 157 1170 4th, South Lost Div. Semifinals, 0-3 vs. Amarillo 1,506
2014–15 60 39 16 5 - 83 242 182 858 3rd, South Won Play-in series, 2-0 vs. Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees
Lost 1st Round, 1-3 vs. Topeka RoadRunners
1,593
2015–16 60 44 11 5 - 93 224 141 1093 1st, South Won Div. Semifinals, 3-0 vs. Odessa Jackalopes
Won Div. Finals, 3-0 vs. Topeka RoadRunners
Won Robertson Cup Semifinals, 2-0 vs. Bismarck Bobcats
Lost Robertson Cup Championship Game, 0–2 vs. Fairbanks Ice Dogs
1,659
2016–17 60 29 24 6 2 65 187 203 1672 4th, South Lost Div. Semifinals, 1-3 vs. Lone Star Brahmas -

Notable alumni[]

References[]

External links[]

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Wichita Falls Wildcats. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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