Dubuque Fighting Saints | |
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City | Dubuque, Iowa |
League | USHL |
Conference | East |
Founded | 2010 |
Home arena | Mystique Community Ice Center |
Colors |
Red & White |
Owner(s) | Northern Lights Hockey, LLC (Brad Kwong, managing partner) |
General manager | Jason Lammers (2015-16) |
Head coach | Jason Lammers (2015-16) |
Media | Telegraph Herald, KIYX, KCRG-TV, KWWL, KGAN |
Franchise history | |
2010–present | Dubuque Fighting Saints |
Championships | |
Regular season titles |
Anderson Cup 1 (2012–13) |
Conference Championships |
3 (2010–11, 2012–13, 2015–16) |
Playoff championships |
Clark Cup 2 (2010–11, 2012–13) |
"Saints For Life" | |
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Red & White
The Dubuque Fighting Saints are a Tier I junior ice hockey team playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL) and are based in the city of Dubuque, Iowa on the banks of the Mississippi River at the border intersects of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. Home games are played at the Mystique Community Ice Center (capacity: 3,079). Home and away games are broadcast live on KIYX, with Jordan Kuhns handling play-by-play with select games televised locally each season on KCRG-TV channel 9.2.
The original Dubuque Fighting Saints played at the multi-purpose Dubuque Five Flags Center arena situated in downtown Dubuque from 1980 to 2001. In the early years of the franchise the Saints enjoyed much success with a number of championship seasons. In later years, the team struggled on the ice and crowds in the stands decreased putting the team into some financial trouble. During the 2000–01 season, team owner/GM/coach Brain Gallagher announced plans to relocate the team following the season to Tulsa, Oklahoma to play as the Tulsa Crude. In their first and only season in Tulsa, Gallagher's team would finish last in the league (12-43-6) and failed to generate the necessary fan support, and the franchise ceased operations.
To replace the hockey void in Dubuque, the Fighting Saints were replaced in the 2001–02 season by the Dubuque Thunderbirds in the Tier III Minnesota Junior Hockey League and later the Central States Hockey League. The Thunderbirds would prove to be a success and would win league championships in 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2009 while setting league attendance records along the way.
In the fall of 2009, construction began on the new Mystique Community Ice Center. Around that same time several former hockey teammates from Harvard formed Northern Lights Hockey, LLC. which included former team captain, Brad Kwong; Philip Falcone (part owner of NHL's Minnesota Wild); Peter Chiarelli (past GM of the NHL's Boston Bruins/current GM of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers); and former University of Denver player Mark Falcone (board member of the NHL's Minnesota Wild). The purpose of their group was to assemble and develop plans to obtain ownership of an USHL expansion team, announcing in late 2009 their intentions to bring USHL hockey back to Dubuque. The new team replaced the successful Dubuque Thunderbirds in 2010. After completion of voting from local hockey fans, it was revealed that the "Fighting Saints" moniker would once again represent Dubuque in the USHL.