Ice hockey in Wyoming

==History==
As the least populous state and the second most sparsely populated, Wyoming has never been an attractive target by external sources in the sport. The few attempts from internal initiatives have seen mixed results and have been relegated to the fringes.
The first major attempt at adding ice hockey came from the flagship college, the University of Wyoming. The Cowboys played their first varsity season in 1948–49 but ran into some major problems. While the team had sought to capitalize on the westward expansion of ice hockey and play a combination of college teams and amateur clubs (similar to other schools at the time), Wyoming had a tough time scheduling opponents. The team was limited to approximately 30 games over three seasons, mostly due to travel costs to and from Laramie. With little chance of their situation improving, the team was shuttered in 1951 and had only resurfaced off and on as a club sport afterwards.
No further serious efforts were made to establish a team in Wyoming until the early-21st century when the Coeur d'Alene Colts, a junior team in the Northern Pacific Hockey League (NorPac) moved to Cody. The Yellowstone Quake were terrible in their first two seasons but then experienced a sharp swing in year 3. The newfound success allowed the team to establish itself in its new home and leave the NorPac when instability threatened the league. After founding the American West Hockey League with several other former members of the NorPac, the league merged with the NA3HL in 2014. The team was able to win three division titles before the end of the decade and remain a member of the league (as of 2023). Yellowstone was joined by the expansion Gillette Wild in 2011, and the relocated Sheridan Hawks in 2019.
While the NA3HL increased its footprint in Wyoming, the 2011 relocated of the Tulsa Rampage to Cheyenne was less successful. The Cheyenne Stampede were members of the WSHL, a Tier III Junior A league. The Stampede had some success in their first three seasons, however, after 2014 the club faltered and produced 5 consecutive losing seasons. In 2019, the team's financial situation changed due to a new initiative led by Cheyenne mayor, Marian Orr. Team owner Mark Lantz claimed that in the new lease offered in 2018, the team's area fees were increased by 52% and that they were prevented from advertising at the Cheyenne Ice and Events Center. Orr responded that the new lease was arranged so that the rinks would no be subsidized with taxpayer money. Lantz put the team up for sale while negotiations were underway but no buyer was found and when the deadline for extending the lease passed, the team ceased operations.
==Teams==
===College===
====Inactive====
Team	City 	Gender	Division 	League 	Years active
 	Laramie	Men's 	None (pre classification)	Independent	1948–1951
===Junior===
====Active====
Team	City 	League	Arena 	Founded
 	Cody 	NA3HL 	Victor Riley Arena 	2006 †
 	Gillette	NA3HL 	Spirit Hall Ice Arena 	2011
 	Sheridan	NA3HL 	Sheridan Ice M&M's Center	2019 †
====Inactive====
Team	City 	League	Years Active	Fate
 	Cheyenne	WSHL 	2011–2019 † 	Defunct
† relocated from elsewhere.
===Timeline===
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
ImageSize = width:1500 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:01/01/1945 till:07/01/2028
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors =
 id:act value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.5) legend:active
 id:out value:rgb(0.8,0.5,0.5) legend:out
 id:inact value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.8) legend:inactive
 id:line value:black
 id:bg value:white
PlotData=
 width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
 bar:1 color:act from:07/01/1948 till:06/01/1951 text:[[Wyoming Cowboys|Wyoming Cowboys men's]] (1948–1951)
 bar:2 color:out from:07/01/2001 till:06/01/2006 text:
 bar:2 color:act from:07/01/2006 till:end text:[[Yellowstone Quake]] (2006–Present)
 bar:3 color:out from:07/01/2004 till:06/01/2011 text:
 bar:3 color:act from:07/01/2011 till:06/01/2019 text:[[Cheyenne Stampede]] (2011–2019)
 bar:4 color:act from:07/01/2011 till:end text:[[Gillette Wild]] (2011–Present)
 bar:5 color:out from:07/01/2004 till:06/01/2019 text:
 bar:5 color:act from:07/01/2019 till:end text:[[Sheridan Hawks]] (2019–Present)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:10 start:01/01/1950
 
==Players==
While the state does have a decent level of engagement with the sport (0.379% of the population registered with USA Hockey in 2023), the overall low population and long stretches without an established team have left Wyoming without any ice hockey players of note.
==References==
Wyoming