Rapid City Rush
Rapid City Rush | |
---|---|
City | Rapid City, South Dakota |
League | ECHL |
Conference | Western |
Division | Mountain |
Founded | 2008 (In the CHL) |
Home arena | The Monument |
Colors | Red, black, white |
Owner(s) | Spire Hockey |
Head coach | Scott Burt |
Media | KFXS "100.3 The Fox" |
Affiliates | Calgary Flames (NHL) Calgary Wranglers (AHL) |
Website | rapidcityrush.com |
Franchise history | |
2008–present | Rapid City Rush |
Championships | |
Division titles | 1 (2010–11) |
Conference titles | 1 (2009–10) |
Ray Miron President's Cup | 1 (2009–10) |
Current season |
The Rapid City Rush are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL based in Rapid City, South Dakota, and play their home games at The Monument. The Rush are currently a minor affiliate of the Calgary Flames NHL franchise.
History
On June 2, 2007, the Central Hockey League announced an expansion team for Rapid City, which began play in the 2008–09 season.[1] Two months later, the team named Joe Ferras as their head coach and director of hockey operations, and Jason Rent as general manager.[2] Rent resigned from the organization, and Tim Hill was named general manager in the spring of 2009. In September 2007, the Rush unveiled their name, colors, and logo. The team is owned in majority by Scott Mueller. Mueller was previously involved in ownership with the Colorado Eagles, also of the Central Hockey League. Barry Petersen and Donald Ward are minority owners.
In their second
During the 2010–11 season, the Rush were the host to the 2011 Central Hockey League All-Star Game. The Rush ended up losing to the All-Stars 11–6. Also, the Rush made the playoffs for the second straight season. In the first round, the Rush swept the Dayton Gems. During the second round against the Fort Wayne Komets, the Rush's leading scorer, Ryan Menei, was blindsided in Game 2 on a dirty hit by the Komets' Sean O'Connor. O'Connor was suspended the rest of the series, and the Rush went on to win the series in seven games. Next, the Rush faced their arch rivals, the Colorado Eagles. The series lasted seven games but the Eagles came away with the series win.
The 2012–13 season brought new changes to the Rush organization. Assistant coach and former team captain
For the 2014–15 season, Rapid City announced that former assistant coach and team captain Mark DeSantis would return as an associate coach. DeSantis had a successful 2013–14 season as the head coach of the expansion Brampton Beast. In addition, several roster changes were made. Goaltender Tim Boron was released, and former CHL Rookie of the Year Danny Battochio was signed to replace him. Also, longtime team captain Scott Wray and Konrad Reeder both announced their retirements.
On October 7, 2014, soon before the 2014–15 CHL season was set to begin, it was announced that the CHL had ceased operations and the Rush, along with the
On August 11, 2015, the Rush announced that they had signed a one-year affiliation agreement with the National Hockey League's Arizona Coyotes and the American Hockey League's Springfield Falcons. This marks the first time the Rush has ever been affiliated with an NHL team.[6] On February 18, 2016, head coach and general manager, Joe Ferras, announced he was stepping down from his coaching position and promoting Mark DeSantis to head coach.[7] On July 14, 2016, the Rush and the Coyotes organization renewed their affiliation along with the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL.[8]
After one-and-a-half seasons, DeSantis was fired.[9] He was replaced by former Rush captain Daniel Tetrault for the 2017–18 season as head coach.[10] The Rush also changed their affiliations to the Minnesota Wild (NHL) and the Iowa Wild (AHL)[11] but ended it after one season.[12] The Rush entered the 2018–19 season independent of an affiliate after three seasons of affiliations and missed playoffs.[13]
On January 11, 2019, the Rush announced an ownership change with Barry Peterson departing and Jeff Dickerson and T.J. Puchyr of Spire Sports + Entertainment joining. Scott Mueller remained the majority owner.[14] On July 24, 2019, the Rush began a two-year affiliation agreement with the Arizona Coyotes and the Tucson Roadrunners.[15] By October 2019, Federal Authorities had launched a criminal investigation into possible embezzlement by the team business manager.[16] Spire, as Spire Hockey, became the sole owners of the team in May 2020, and the former business manager was indicted and later pled to embezzlement charges.[17] The former finance manager of the team was found to have stolen nearly $700,000 from the team between 2010 and 2018, eventually being sentenced to three years in prison and $1 million in restitutions.[18]
Following the 2020–21 season, head coach Tetrault and the Rush agreed to end his contract. Over four seasons, Tetrault had led the Rush to a 116–134–25 record and never made a playoff appearance.[19] He was replaced by Scott Burt in July 2021.[20]
On August 25, 2022, the Rush reached an affiliate agreement with the
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 = Penalty infraction minutes
Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | Pts | GF | GA | PIM | Standing | Year | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | Finals |
2008–09 | 64 | 22 | 33 | 2 | 7 | 53 | 183 | 231 | 1376 | 3rd, Northwest Division | 2009 | did not qualify | |||
2009–10 | 64 | 43 | 14 | 1 | 6 | 93 | 253 | 197 | 1334 | 1st, Northern Conference | 2010 | — | W, 4–0, MO |
W, 4–3, B-S | W, 4–2, ALN |
2010–11 | 66 | 40 | 22 | 1 | 3 | 84 | 210 | 200 | 1285 | 1st, Turner Conference | 2011 | W, 3–0, DAY | W, 3–2, FW | L, 3–4, COL | — |
2011–12 | 66 | 38 | 22 | 1 | 5 | 82 | 226 | 176 | 1142 | 4th, Turner Conference | 2012 | — | L, 2–4, FW | — | — |
2012–13 | 66 | 35 | 24 | 2 | 5 | 77 | 177 | 179 | 1118 | 4th, CHL | 2013 | — | L, 2–4, MO |
— | — |
2013–14 | 66 | 39 | 23 | 1 | 3 | 82 | 220 | 189 | 1088 | 4th, CHL | 2014 | — | L, 3–4, QC | — | — |
2014–15 | 72 | 37 | 28 | 2 | 5 | 81 | 218 | 206 | 1229 | 3rd, Central Division | 2015 | W, 4–3, QC | L, 2–4, ALN | — | — |
2015–16 | 72 | 30 | 35 | 3 | 4 | 67 | 177 | 210 | 974 | 4th, West Division | 2016 | did not qualify | |||
2016–17 | 72 | 26 | 38 | 8 | 0 | 60 | 215 | 256 | 917 | 7th, Mountain Division | 2017 | did not qualify | |||
2017–18 | 72 | 25 | 41 | 3 | 3 | 56 | 203 | 268 | 1161 | 7th, Mountain Division | 2018 | did not qualify | |||
2018–19 | 72 | 30 | 33 | 5 | 4 | 69 | 168 | 225 | 1541 | 6th, Mountain Division | 2019 | did not qualify | |||
2019–20 | 60 | 29 | 25 | 5 | 1 | 64 | 181 | 200 | 974 | 5th, Mountain Division | 2020 | Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |||
2020–21 | 71 | 32 | 35 | 3 | 1 | 68 | 197 | 232 | 847 | 7th, Western Conference | 2021 | did not qualify | |||
2021–22 | 72 | 36 | 25 | 6 | 5 | 83 | 241 | 232 | 888 | 2nd, Mountain Division | 2022 | W, 4–1, ALN | L, 2–4, UTA | — | — |
2022–23 | 72 | 33 | 34 | 5 | 0 | 71 | 242 | 272 | 973 | 6th, Mountain Division | 2022 | did not qualify |
Players
Current roster
References
- ^ "Rapid City, SD to join Central Hockey League in 2008-09". National Hockey League. June 2, 2008. Retrieved March 14, 2012. [dead link]
- ^ "Rapid City Names GM & Head Coach". Central Hockey League. August 2, 2007. Archived from the original on November 11, 2007. Retrieved September 2, 2009.
- ^ "Rush Win Ray Miron President's Cup With Double OT Win". OurSports Central. May 5, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ "CHL Clubs Join ECHL for 2014-15 Season". Central Hockey League. October 7, 2014. Archived from the original on October 7, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
- ^ "ECHL Accepts Seven Members". ECHL. October 7, 2014. Archived from the original on October 9, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
- ^ "Coyotes Announce New Affiliation Agreement with Rapid City of ECHL". Arizona Coyotes. August 11, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
- ^ "Ferras Steps Down". OurSportsCentral. February 18, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
- ^ "Rush Re-Affiliate with Coyotes". OurSports Central. July 14, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
- ^ "DESANTIS RELIEVED OF COACHING DUTIES". Rapid City Rush. April 21, 2017. Archived from the original on July 9, 2017. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
- ^ "TETRAULT NAMED RUSH HEAD COACH". ECHL. June 9, 2017. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
- ^ "RUSH JOIN FORCES WITH MINNESOTA, IOWA". ECHL. June 19, 2017. Archived from the original on June 19, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
- ^ "Rush and Wild Part Ways". OurSports Central. June 29, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
- ^ Preston, Geoffrey (October 1, 2018). "Rush hit the track to start training camp". Rapid City Journal. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
- ^ "RUSH ANNOUNCE CHANGE IN TEAM OWNERSHIP". Rapid City Rush. January 11, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
- ^ "RUSH TO BE PROUD AFFILIATE OF NHL'S ARIZONA COYOTES". Rapid City Rush. July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
- ^ Thompson, Nathan (October 4, 2019). "Rapid City Rush ownership seeks investigation into team's finances". Rapid City Journal. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
- ^ Long, Steve (May 16, 2020). "Spire Hockey purchases majority interest in Rush: Committed to Rapid City". KOTA-TV. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
- ^ Zionts, Arielle (October 19, 2020). "Former finance manager gets 3 years in prison for stealing $700K from Rapid City Rush". Rapid City Journal. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
- ^ "Tetrault and Rush Mutually Agree to Part Ways". OurSports Central. June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
- ^ "Scott Burt Named Rapid City Rush Head Coach". OurSports Central. July 7, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- ^ "Flames name Rapid City Rush as ECHL affiliate". Calgary Sun. August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
- ^ "Rapid City Rush Elite Prospects". EliteProspects. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
- ^ "Rapid City Rush roster". Rapid City Rush. February 19, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2024.