This past week, the American Hockey League took the extraordinary step in canceling the remainder of the 2019-20 season as a result of #COVID19.
The action froze the season and left all records as official with the 12 March 2020 suspension.
The Rockford Ice Hogs play the San Antonio Rampage during the first period of an AHL hockey game, Sunday, Mar. 1st, 2020, in San Antonio. (Domingo Muñoz Jr/AHL)
“The American Hockey League today announced that the remainder of the 2019-20 AHL regular season and the 2020 Calder Cup Playoffs have been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis.” the AHL said in its statement on the decision. “The decision was made after a vote by the AHL Board of Governors.”
Along with the season, the San Antonio Rampage were cancelled after 18 seasons.
The Rampage released a statement saying, “We understand and are sympathetic to the frustrations you might be feeling during these unique times. Spurs Sports & Entertainment, along with the AHL, hoped for a better outcome; but, the safety and well-being of our fans, players, coaching staff, and employees is the top priority.”
The franchise is being relocated to Nevada and will be the AHL affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL. On 6 February of this year, the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association, sold the Rampage franchise.
The Texas Stars play the San Antonio Rampage during the second period of an AHL hockey game, Friday, Nov. 23, 2018, at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. (Darren Abate/AHL)
“We are grateful to every fan, partner, player, coach and staff member who contributed to the success of the Rampage in San Antonio,” said Frank Miceli, Spurs Sports & Entertainment Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Operations. “Over 18 seasons we witnessed some great hockey and, together, created a lot of wonderful memories. It breaks my heart that we can’t say thank you and goodbye to our fans in person at the AT&T Center.”
The Rampage finish the 2019-20 season with a 24-25-7-5 record.
The Rampage were averaging a reported 6,048 fans a night as AHL affiliate for the St Louis Blues.
Rumors started immediately about the Blues’ plans for their future AHL affiliate and the possible relocation to the under-utilized Kansas City arena. Those same rumors have also had the Blues buying the Kansas City Mavericks of the ECHL and leaving the team in their home in Independence, Missouri as their AHL club.
That would leave the ECHL to find a new location for the Mavs.
The dominoes are set up and the pivot pieces just need to be placed to start the cascade.
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