Central Texas Stampede

The Central Texas Stampede played in Belton, Texas, which was a smaller hockey town even for a Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) as it had a population of around 20,000. But - it is part of the Centroplex metro area of around 500,000. 

The Stampede were one of the original WPHL teams and played out of the Bell County Expo Center. Their first head coach was Bob Bourne, who won the Stanley Cup with the Islanders in the 1980s and had previously played in Texas for the Fort Worth Texans. Despite winning 35 games under Bourne, the Stampede had a revolving door of coaches each season. They did manage 40 and 50 win seasons, so the differing coaches didn't directly impact the on-ice product. 

WPHL teams came and went fairly quickly and by those standards, the four-and-a-half years the Stampede lasted was decent. The team would fold midway through their fifth season and the WPHL itself would merge with another league not too long after.