Las Vegas Thunder

The Las Vegas Thunder were an independent professional ice hockey team competing in the International Hockey League. The team's home rink was at the Thomas & Mack Center. They began play in the 1993–1994 season, folding on April 18, 1999. 
The Thunder's best season was in 1995–1996 when it finished in 1st (Wins 57 Losses 17 Ties 8), but lost in the conference finals.
Throughout the team's history they garnered player development deals with the Phoenix Coyotes of the NHL, the ECHL's Knoxville Cherokees and Mississippi Sea Wolves and Russian side Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
The Thunder's main rivals included the Denver/Utah Grizzlies, Los Angeles/Long Beach Ice Dogs, San Diego Gulls, and Phoenix Roadrunners. These rivalries have seen a rebirth in the ECHL.
The team's mascot was "Boom-Boom", a polar bear.
:The Franchise was replaced by: Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL (2003-present)
==Notable Alumni==
* Radek Bonk
* Pavol Demitra
* / Paul DiPietro
* Bryan Fogarty 
* Brent Gretzky
* Peter Ing
* Curtis Joseph
* / Patrice Lefebvre
* Clint Malarchuk
* / Petr Nedvěd
* Ruslan Salei
* Paxton Schulte
* / Alexei Yashin
* Sergei Zholtok
==Season-by-season record==
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Turner Cup Champions	Huber Trophy Champions	Division Champions
{|class="wikitable" border="1" Style="color: black"
|- align="center" bgcolor="#dddddd"
!rowspan="2"|Season
!rowspan="2"|Team
!rowspan="2"|Conference
!rowspan="2"|Division
!colspan="9"|Regular Season
!colspan="6"|Post Season
|-
!Finish
!GP
!W
!L
!T
!Pts
!GF
!GA
!GP
!W
!L
!GF
!GA
!Result
|-
!1993-94
|1993-94
|Western
|style="background: #ddffdd;"|Pacific
|style="background: #ddffdd;"|1st
|81
|52
|18
|11
|style="background: #FFCCCC;"|115
|319
|282
|5
|1
|4
|14
|20
|align="left"|Lost in Quarterfinals, 1-4 (San Diego)
|-
!1994-95
|1994-95
|Western
|Southwest
|2nd
|81
|46
|30
|5
|97
|328
|278
|10
|4
|6
|27
|35
|align="left"|Won in Conference Quarterfinals, 3-2 (Atlants) Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1-4 (Milwaukee)
|-
!1995-96
|1995-96
|Western
|style="background: #ddffdd;"|Southwest
|style="background: #ddffdd;"|1st
|82
|57
|17
|8
|style="background: #FFCCCC;"|122
|380
|249
|15
|9
|6
|59
|53
|align="left"| Won in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–1 (Phoenix)Won in Conference Semifinals, 4–1 (Chicago)Lost in Conference Finals, 2-4 (Utah)
|-
!1996-97
|1996-97
|Western
|Southwest
|4th
|82
|41
|34
|7
|89
|287
|299
|3
|0
|3
|4
|9
|align="left"| Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0-3 (Houston)
|-
!1997-98
|1997-98
|Western
|Southwest
|4th
|82
|33
|39
|10
|76
|260
|305
|4
|1
|3
|9
|16
|align="left"| Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-3 (Long Beach)
|-
!1998-99
|1998-99
|Western
|Southwest
|4th
|82
|35
|39
|8
|78
|247
|307
| colspan="6" align="center" | Did not qualify
|--
|-
!colspan="4"|Totals
|490
|264
|177
|49
|.589%
|1821
|1720
|37
|15
|22
|113
|133
|—
==Head Coaches==
* Butch Goring 1993–94
* Chris McSorley 1995–98
* Clint Malarchuk 1998–99
==Honors==
:Division Titles : 2 – 1994, 1996
:Turner Cups : 0
:Regular Season Titls : 2 – 1994, 1996
== External links ==
* Las Vegas Thunder Fan site
* Las Vegas Thunder
* Records and Rewards
Category:International Hockey League (1945-2001) team
Category:International Hockey League (1945-2001) teams