Hot Hockey
Want to break out of Houston's Loserville? Jump on the Aeros' winning playofftrain
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Be warned unprepared Houston sports fans. When you're watching the Aeros, youmay actually see a win.Photo by Morris Molina -
Calvin Murphy's Rockets championship ring from 1994-95. Yes, it's old enough tobe a relic. -
Think again on the Gary Kubiak headline. -
The Aeros on the other hand? They'll scrap and fight for it.Photo by Morris Molina -
Houston's winningest team? Yeah, it's the hockey squad. What are you laughing atSan Antonio?
Editor's note: With the Houston Aeros set to open the Calder Cup Playoffs Wednesday night at the Toyota Center, CultureMap examines the state of hockey in Houston with a multi-part series. First up: A team that actually wins?
You've entered Loserville's city limits.
As recently as 2001, that dubious sports nickname was shorthand for Philadelphia or Boston. In 2011, Houston is Loserville, and the way things are shaping up TxDOT might as well start changing the road signs.
Forget the Super Bowl. With the ink dry on his inexplicable contract extension, Gary “Teflon” Kubiak has officially become the Barney Frank of the NFL. What exactly does this guy have to do to get fired? Get ready for two more years of not watching the Texans in the playoffs.
Then we have what’s left of the once-mighty Astros, who lit the flame of hope with a second-half surge in 2010 only to spend the offseason in the fetal position while Uncle Drayton tried to find a sucker . . . er. . . buyer who somehow didn’t notice that Ed Wade traded Felipe Paulino for the zombified remains of Clint Barmes. With significant improvements to division rival Milwaukee and a loaded Cincinnati squad, not to mention a 3-8 start, don’t count on baseball in October.
Hey, at least the Cardinals are going to suck too.
The last time the Rockets won a championship was in 1995. You can watch the highlights on VHS.
But what about the Dynamo, you say? They play soccer. Stop asking.
No, Houston sports fans. There is no joy in Loserville. At least not where you’re probably looking for it.
Hockey Hair in Houston
It is here that we turn our lonely eyes, championship-starved eyes, to our denim-loving neighbors to the far north. Houston’s ties to Canada run deep thanks to fossil fuels, speaking really slowly and a shared love of shooting delicious animals. It makes sense, then, that Houston has its own professional ice hockey club.
In fact, Houston has had more than one in its history.
The original Houston Aeros of the much-lamented World Hockey Association (WHA) played at the Sam Houston Coliseum (built in 1937, demolished in 1998) near downtown from 1972-1975 and then at Lakewood Church (née the Houston Summit) from 1975-1978. The second incarnation of the Aeros joined the International Hockey League (IHL) in 1994, playing their home games at the Summit (renamed the Compaq Center in 1998) and then at the Toyota Center when it opened in 2003.
In both cases, the Aeros shared their facilities with the NBA’s Houston Rockets. For those of you who are curious, the ice is under the basketball court.
When the IHL folded in 2001 (the teams have traditionally been more successful than the leagues in which they played) the Aeros were one of six franchises invited to merge into the rival American Hockey League (AHL) — the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Although less well-known than their big league counterparts (Texans, Astros and Rockets), the Aeros have created a comfy niche in Houston and have won more championships (four) than the other three marquee franchises combined.
And unlike the Rockets, the Aeros have a championship shot again this spring. They open the Calder Cup playoffs at home Wednesday against the Peoria Rivermen. As the No. 2 seed in the West, they're favored in the matchup too.
Yes that’s right. Houston’s most successful pro sports franchise in terms of the most important metric — winning — is its hockey club. That sound you just heard is San Antonio laughing at us.
Not merely a flash in the pan, the IHL/AHL Aeros have appeared in the playoffs 13 times now since 1994, three times more than the Rockets over the same period. Hockey and basketball share similar division/conference structures and playoff appearance probabilities. The hometown club won a Turner Cup (the IHL’s championship trophy) in 1999 following a dominant 54-win regular season. Shortly after the AHL merger, they hoisted the Calder Cup (the AHL’s big prize) in 2003.
Yes, they’re called cups because you can drink beer out of them. Try that with a Lombardi Trophy.
“If you think about Houston, Texas with the Rockets, Astros and Texans, the high school and college sports; to have a minor league hockey team that’s still here and thriving is amazing,” says Tom Garrity, who served as Aeros president from 2003-2008. “It’s a fun sport. It’s a fast sport. It’s a tough sport.
"It fits into the culture of Houston. People enjoy hard working, tough guys. Texas has that great football mentality: tough and gritty. Fans relate to it. Our guys are lunch pail guys. That’s a way a lot of people in the city are. They’re hard working people and they can relate.”
Not too shabby for the Bayou City’s too oft-forgotten hockey team.
It's not too late to hop on playoff bus. It’s the only one leaving the terminal for a while.
In the next installment of this series, we’ll take a quick look at the history of hockey in Houston, and how one of the game’s top stars started a winning tradition.
