Colorado Gold Kings

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.

Colorado Gold Kings
CityColorado Springs, Colorado
Fairbanks, Alaska (1975–1997)
Operated1975–2002
Home arenaColorado Springs World Arena
Big Dipper Ice Arena (1995–1997)
ColorsNavy blue, gold, white
Franchise history
1975–1977Alaska Teamsters
1977–1997Alaska Gold Kings
1998–2002Colorado Gold Kings
Championships
Regular season titles0
Division Championships0
Taylor Cups0

History

Amateur and semi-professional days (1975–1995)
Alaska Gold Kings logo, 1995

The Gold Kings were founded in 1975 as an amateur senior ice hockey team in Fairbanks as the Alaska Teamsters. The Teamsters hockey team were the brainchild of Gary Atwood, father of hockey playing sons, and then head of the Fairbanks Teamsters Local 959. Wanting a higher level of ice hockey for local youth to aspire to, and to provide Fairbanks with a sports institution that could compete with Anchorage, Atwood helped form the team in 1975. In 1977, the stockholders met and formed the Fairbanks Gold Kings. The name was created by Joe Jackovich of Jackovich Tractors and Equipment Co. in homage to the gold mining history of Fairbanks, the Alaska Goldpanners baseball team, and his favorite NHL team the Los Angeles Kings. The team's name was again later changed to the Alaska Gold Kings.[1][2] Between 1983 and 1995 the Gold Kings won five national championships at the senior men's level, and routinely played the powerhouse teams from the Lower 48 and Canada.[1]

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.[3]

WCHL Alaska Gold Kings (1995–1997)

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.

Colorado Gold Kings (1998–2002)

In 1998, the Gold Kings relocated to Colorado Springs and became the Colorado Gold Kings. In its four seasons in Colorado the team fared better than it did in Alaska by qualifying for the postseason every year, but still failed to move past the second round of the playoffs. The Colorado Gold Kings folded after the 2001–02 season.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL = Shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Final records.[4][5]

SeasonLeagueGPWLOTLSOLPtsGFGAPIMFinishCoachPlayoffs
1995–96WCHL582325-105625630710204th, WCHLWayne SawchukLost in round 1, 2-3 (San Diego)
1996–97WCHL641347-43023042317226th, WCHLBrad McCaugheyMissed playoffs
1997–98WCHLdid not play
1998–99WCHL713233-67027028822333rd, NorthKirk TomlinsonLost in round 1, 1-2 (Anchorage)
1999–00WCHL723731-47826427619262nd, NorthKirk TomlinsonLost in round 2, 0-3 (Tacoma)
2000–01WCHL724221-49331125019342nd, NorthKirk TomlinsonLost in round 2, 0-3 (Idaho)
2001–02WCHL723926-78525322118632nd, NorthAllen PedersenLost in round 1, 2-3 (Tacoma)

References
  1. Zarnke, Randy. "Alaska Gold Kings named to Fairbanks Hockey Hall of Fame", Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, February 12, 2011. (accessed 14 June 2015)
  2. Scott, Jon C. (2006). Hockey Night in Dixie: Minor Pro Hockey in the American South. Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd. p. 154. ISBN 1-894974-21-2.
  3. Pacific Hockey League (1994-1995) history and statistics, hockeyDB.com. (accessed 11 June 2015)
  4. Hockeydb.com, Alaska Gold Kings Statistics and History
  5. Hockeydb.com, Colorado Gold Kings Statistics and History
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