Alaska Gold Kings

The Alaska Gold Kings, or Fairbanks Gold Kings, were a historic team in Alaska whose start dates back to the 1970s. The Gold Kings were a senior men's team and played independently, outside of any league, for much of the 70s, 80s and into the 90s.

In the Lower 48, teams barnstormed or played independent schedules early in hockey history (1940s and prior), but after WWII most teams were attached to a league. Given the geographic challenges of that, the Gold Kings improvised and played whoever they could get to come up to Fairbanks. Many times that included international teams! In 1986 they played the Soviet Union in Alaska, and they also made trips to Norway and France in the 1990s to play those nations. Closer to home, the Gold Kings developed a heated rivalry with their in-state and also independent rivals, the Anchorage Wolverines. The Gold Kings were also a force in the U.S. senior men's circuit, as they won five national titles at that level.

In the 1990s, the Gold Kings did join a league, the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL). The WCHL was a successor to the Pacific Hockey League (PHL), which only lasted one year. The WCHL was on par with the likes of the WPHL or ECHL. At long last, the Gold Kings were in a formal league, although it was somewhat unstable with teams coming and going every year. The Gold Kings lasted two fairly unsuccessful seasons in the league from 1995-97, then sat out a year before ownership moved the team to Colorado Springs in 1998 and renamed them the Colorado Gold Kings. Unfortunately, the storied Gold Kings name was no more in Alaska. However, their place has been filled: the Fairbanks Ice Dogs have played junior hockey in the city since 1997.