In 2000, construction began on the SBC Center, located next to the Freeman Coliseum, home of the Central Hockey League's San Antonio Iguanas. Partnering with the Florida Panthers, the Spurs bought the dormant Adirondack Red Wings franchise and moved it to San Antonio.[1] Following the acquisition of an AHL franchise, local investment for the Iguanas quickly dissipated, and the CHL franchise folded. Originally, the team was to be named the San Antonio Stampede. However, when a local semipro football team objected, the name was changed to the Rampage.[2]
On June 30, 2005, Spurs Sports & Entertainment purchased the Panthers' interest in the franchise, assuming sole ownership of the AHL club. They also entered a multi-year affiliation agreement with the Phoenix Coyotes.[3] On September 7, 2006, the Rampage unveiled their new uniforms with the official colors now being black, white and silver (the same motif used by the Spurs, as well as other Spurs-owned teams). While the primary and secondary logos remain the same, the crest of the jerseys now displayed just the bull's head.
On April 11, 2007, the Coyotes announced that they had fired Rampage general manager Laurence Gilman, who had been with the Coyotes organization for 13 years. [1][permanent dead link] On November 23, 2009, the Phoenix Coyotes fired Greg Ireland. He was replaced by assistant coach Ray Edwards; Mike Pelino was named assistant coach. Ray Edwards was officially named head coach of the San Antonio Rampage prior to the 2010–11 season.
After the 2010–11 AHL season, the Coyotes came to an agreement with the Portland Pirates to be their new AHL affiliate,[4] and San Antonio became Florida's top affiliate for a second time.[5]
In the 2011–12 season, the Rampage finished with a record of 41–30–3–2, good for 87 points to qualify for the sixth playoff seed in the Western Conference. They faced the third-seeded Chicago Wolves in the first round, taking Game 1 and Game 2 at home to take a 2–0 series lead in the best-of-five series. They then lost to the Wolves in Games 3 and 4 in Chicago, leading to a Game 5. In Game 5, the Rampage took a 2–0 lead, but the Wolves rallied to tie the game, sending it into overtime. After 25 minutes of overtime, San Antonio winger Bill Thomas passed to center Jon Matsumoto, feeding defenceman Roman Derlyuk to score the series winning goal on his belly to secure the first series win in franchise history for the Rampage. The goal is known to many fans as the Goal Heard Round the Alamo, and is considered the most important in Rampage history.[citation needed]
On March 18, 2015, the Florida Panthers announced they had entered into an affiliation agreement with the Portland Pirates to begin in the 2015–16 season, thus ending the Panthers' second term as San Antonio's NHL affiliate.[6] On April 17, 2015, it was announced that the Rampage had come to a five-year affiliation agreement with the Colorado Avalanche.[7]
During the 2017 off-season, it was reported that the Avalanche would promote its ECHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, to the AHL in 2018 while the Rampage would officially affiliate with the St. Louis Blues beginning with the 2018–19 AHL season.[8][9] For the 2017–18 season, as the Blues did not have an official AHL affiliate after the Vegas Golden Knights partnered with their former affiliate, both the Avalanche and Blues would send AHL prospects to the Rampage.[10]
