Henderson Silver Knights


The Henderson Silver Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in Henderson, Nevada that will begin play in the 2020–21 American Hockey League season. The team will be an owned-and-operated affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights.

History

The franchise began in 1971 as the Tidewater/Virginia Wings in the Norfolk, Virginia of the greater Hampton Roads area. The team played in Virginia as an owned and operated affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings until 1975 where after a two year suspension they moved to Glens Falls, New York as the Adirondack Red Wings. In 1999, The Red Wings suspended operations of the team. The franchise remained dormant until 2002, when it was purchased by the ownership of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs and resurrected as the San Antonio Rampage. The team then spent the next eighteen years in San Antonio.
On February 6, 2020, the Vegas Golden Knights announced it had purchased the franchise from the Spurs with the intent to relocate it to the Las Vegas area. The purchase and relocation was approved by the league on February 28. The team will initially play at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada, while the club's new 6,000-seat arena is constructed at the site of the Henderson Pavilion in Henderson, Nevada.
On May 28, 2020, the Vegas Golden Knights announced that the team will be called the Henderson Silver Knights. The team is named for Nevada’s nickname “The Silver State” and adopted the slogan “Home Means Henderson,” inspired by the Nevada state song “Home Means Nevada.”