The San Antonio Rampage and their fans aren’t use to seeing their team compete in for a championship. However, after their best season in franchise history – the silver and black won’t be watching other teams compete for a title. They’ll be playing for the chance to bring home their first Calder Cup in team history.
After a season that saw the silver and black win a franchise record 45 games and 98 points, the team is ready to continue its historic run. The team had a record nine-game winning streak and had the eighth best power play in the league at 18.9 percent. Connor Brickley was sixth in AHL rookies in goal scoring. Brickley tallied 22 goals, 25 assists and 45 points in his first professional season.
San Antonio clinched their fourth playoff berth in 13 years with a 5-4 win over the Adirondack Flames on April 2, something head coach Tom Rowe expected to do at the start of the season. Bobby Butler was the team’s leading goal scorer and Brickley surprised many with his breakout season.
“It’s important because it’s a goal we set for ourselves at the beginning of the season,” Rowe said of making the playoffs. “And we said there’s nothing acceptable but making the playoffs.”
After years of mediocre and non-playoff hockey, this team has fans excited about hockey once again. Saturday’s home finale had a crowd of over 10,000 watch the game. And with a weekend playoff schedule, it is expected to pick up.
Now the silver and black will try to bring a championship home to the Alamo City. Their first opponent will be the Oklahoma City Barons, who they faced 12 times during the season.
For all Rampage fans new and old, Thursday can’t come soon enough.
