Quebec Rafales
Encyclopedia
Minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...
professional ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team in the International Hockey League from 1992 to 1996. The Knights were based in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, and played at the Omni Coliseum
Omni Coliseum
The Omni Coliseum, usually called The Omni, from the Latin for "all," or "every," was an indoor arena, located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Completed in 1972, the arena seated 16,378, for basketball and 15,278, for ice hockey...
. The team became the Quebec Rafales from 1996 to 1998.
History
The Atlanta Knights were an IHL expansion team in 1992 as the top farm team of the NHL's Tampa Bay LightningTampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in 2003–04. They are often referred to as the...
. They won the Turner Cup
Turner Cup
The Turner Cup is the championship trophy of the International Hockey League. The Cup is named for Joe Turner, a goaltender from Windsor, Ontario. Turner became professional with the Detroit Red Wings organization, and played one season with the Indianapolis Capitals in the American Hockey League...
in the 1993–94 season. The Knights featured the first professional African-American
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
head coach in John Paris Jr.
John Paris Jr.
John Paris, Jr. is the first Black person to coach a pro hockey team, when he coached the Atlanta Knights of the International Hockey League. His team won the Turner Cup championship in 1994....
. The Knights were also one of the first professional teams to play a female goalie, Manon Rheaume
Manon Rhéaume
Manon Rhéaume is a Canadian ice hockey goaltender. An Olympic silver medalist, she achieved a number of historic firsts during her career, including becoming the first and only woman ever to play in a National Hockey League exhibition game.In 1992 Rhéaume signed a contract with the Tampa Bay...
, in a regular-season game.
Record in Atlanta
>Turner Cup
The Turner Cup is the championship trophy of the International Hockey League. The Cup is named for Joe Turner, a goaltender from Windsor, Ontario. Turner became professional with the Detroit Red Wings organization, and played one season with the Indianapolis Capitals in the American Hockey League...
For the 1996–97 season, the Knights relocated due to the Omni's impending demolition to make way for Philips Arena
Philips Arena
Philips Arena is an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia.Completed in 1999 to replace The Omni, at a cost of $213.5 million, it is home to the Atlanta Hawks, of the National Basketball Association, and the Atlanta Dream, of the Women's National Basketball Association...
, home to Atlanta's new NHL team, the Atlanta Thrashers
Atlanta Thrashers
The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League on June 25, 1997, and became the league's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 NHL season...
. During their years in Atlanta, Rick Morgan was their full-time national anthem singer and encouraged the crowd to shout "KNIGHTS!" during the line, "Gave proof through the "KNIGHTS" that our flag was still there."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc3Jvf_lRqk It was customary to hear an emphasized, shouted "KNIGHTS!" during the national anthem
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
at Atlanta Thrashers games at Philips Arena
Philips Arena
Philips Arena is an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia.Completed in 1999 to replace The Omni, at a cost of $213.5 million, it is home to the Atlanta Hawks, of the National Basketball Association, and the Atlanta Dream, of the Women's National Basketball Association...
by spectators in honor of the team.]
Quebec Rafales
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, and took residence at the Quebec Coliseum
Colisée Pepsi
Colisée Pepsi , formerly the Colisée de Québec , is a multi-purpose arena in Quebec City, Quebec.It was the home of the WHA and NHL Quebec Nordiques from 1972–1995, and is currently the home of the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League...
. The team drew well in 1996–97 one year after the NHL Quebec Nordiques
Quebec Nordiques
The Quebec Nordiques were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League...
departed Quebec City for Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
. The next year, after trading some of their best players, such as goaltender Stephane Beauregard
Stephane Beauregard
Stephane Beauregard is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender.-Playing career:Winnipeg Jets 3rd choice, 52nd overall, in 1988 Entry Draft. Traded to Buffalo Sabres for Christian Ruuttu and future considerations, June 15, 1992...
, the team didn't reach the postseason. The owners did not realize the expected profit and folded the team after only two seasons in Quebec.
Record in Quebec
>External links
- AtlantaKnights.com
- Atlanta Knights statistics
- Quebec Rafales statistics