Las Vegas Thunder

Remembering The First True Pro Hockey Team In Las Vegas

The Henderson Silver Knights' alternate jerseys have got me going down a hockey rabbit hole again. Today's topic: The Las Vegas Thunder the most…

Published

2 years ago

January 15, 2023

Owen Krepps

The Henderson Silver Knights' alternate jerseys have got me going down a hockey rabbit hole again. Today's topic: The Las Vegas Thunder the most successful professional hockey team in Las Vegas until Bill Foley and the Vegas Golden Knights came around.

The Thunder were an International Hockey League (IHL) team that played from 1993-1999. They played their home games at Thomas and Mack Center and were an expansion team for the 1993-94 IHL season. They folded in 1999 after six seasons in Las Vegas and a 264-177-16 record.

The IHL was a minor league affiliate team to the NHL, similar to how the Savanah Ghost Pirates are current ECHL affiliate to the Golden Knights nowadays. In the Thunders age, they were the IHL affiliate for the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes.

Despite playing only six seasons, the Thunder had some good teams and won both the Regular Season and Pacific Division titles in 1994 and 1996. They put together four winning seasons and five-straight playoff appearances.

Thunder Season-By-Season

1993-94 Season- Record: 52-18-11, 115 points Result: Lost in the first round to San Diego.
1994-95 Season- Record: 46-30-5, 97 points Result: Lost in Conference Finals to Denver.
1995-96 Season- Record: 57-17-8, 122 points Result: Lost in Conference Finals to Utah.
1996-97 Season- Record: 41-34-7, 89 points Result: Lost in the first round to Houston.
1997-98 Season- Record: 33-39-10, 76 points Result: Lost in the first round to Long Beach
1998-99 Season- Record: 35-39-8, 78 points Result: Missed Playoffs.

In terms of personnel, the Thunder had four-time Stanley Cup Champion Butch Goring as their head coach and several players who either had played in the National Hockey League or would go onto thereafter. Among the highlights are Curtis Joseph, Daniel Briere, Radek Bonk, Pavol Demitria, Petr Nedved, Ruslan Salei, Alexi Yashin, and Sergei Zholotok

Ken Quinney, father of current Silver Knights Gage Quinney, the only Nevada-born player in NHL history, also played for the Thunder.

spot the difference 🧐 pic.twitter.com/kKPrqRi3NG

— Henderson Silver Knights (@HSKnights) January 14, 2023

The Thunder even had Gretzky! That is, Wayne's brother Brent.

Patrice Lefebvre is the all-time leader in points for the Thunder, with 553 points in 429 career games. He was the only player to play in every season with the Thunder. Quinney comes in second with 413 career points and 376 games played and is the all-time goal leader for the franchise with 189 goals.

Attendance for the Thunder averaged nearly 8,000 fans for the first three seasons before dropping to around 6,500 and then 5,000 in their last season.