Colorado Gold Kings | |
---|---|
City | Colorado Springs, Colorado Fairbanks, Alaska (1975–1997) |
Operated | 1975–2002 |
Home arena |
Colorado Springs World Arena Big Dipper Ice Arena (1975–1997) |
Colors | Navy blue, gold, white |
Franchise history | |
1975–1977 | Alaska Teamsters |
1977–1997 | Alaska Gold Kings |
1998–2002 | Colorado Gold Kings |
Championships | |
Regular season titles | 0 |
Division Championships | 0 |
Taylor Cups | 0 |
The Colorado Gold Kings, previously known as the Alaska Gold Kings, were an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Fairbanks, Alaska, and later Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Gold Kings were members of the West Coast Hockey League.
The Gold Kings were founded in 1975 as an amateur senior ice hockey team in Fairbanks as the Alaska Teamsters and renamed two years later. In the team's early years the Gold Kings won several national championships at the senior men's level.
From the 1980s until 1994 the Gold Kings played primarily as members of the semi-professional Pacific Southwest Hockey League (PSHL). While in Fairbanks the Gold Kings once hosted their own international tournament, the Alaska Cup, facing the likes of Team Japan and Team Austria. They also were the American representatives in the 1990 Tournoi du Mont-Blanc, a traditional tournament played around Christmas in several French Alps resorts. During the 1994–95 season the Gold Kings played in the short-lived Pacific Hockey League, winning the league's only championship.
In 1995, the Gold Kings along with two other former PHL teams, the Fresno Falcons and Anchorage Aces (now Alaska Aces) became members of the newly formed professional West Coast Hockey League. The Alaska Gold Kings made their only WCHL playoff appearance during the inaugural 1995–96 season, losing in the first round to the eventual champion San Diego Gulls. The team suspended operations after a last place finish in 1996–97 and did not play in the 1997–98 season.