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It was the spring of 1996 in Vancouver, Canada, IceRay Associate General Manager Jay Johnson first read about a new professional hockey league starting in the Southwestern United States. "There was a story in a Vancouver newspaper about a group of local businessmen who were starting a league and would be selling franchises," said Johnson, "I called right away." Jay was put in touch with WPHL Vice President Brad Treliving, and league President Rick Kozuback. " When I first talked to them they had only one team announced and were working on the other five, their goal was to have a six team league for year one." As the league came together and six teams were set to play in the first season a group headed by Johnson acquired the rights to a WPHL franchise in Corpus Christi. League officials had traveled to Corpus Christi and believed the city would be a great place for a team despite it's small arena. "There is definitely a desire to make a new arena a reality, it may take some time but we believe it will happen eventually, and we are here in Corpus for the long run", added Johnson. In October 1996 the WPHL began its inaugural season with great success. " We saw what was happening in other WPHL cities and decided that we definitely wanted to pursue a franchise, we first came to Corpus in November 1996 and began asking everyone what they thought about having a pro hockey team here." The response was tremendous the majority of people surveyed were enthusiastic about the prospects of having a team. In the spring of 1997 Johnson, along with partners Roy Robertson and Bill Davidson began working with the Corpus Christi Business Alliance to bring the team to the city. The Business Alliance saw how professional hockey would benefit the city and they were with team management every step of the way as they worked with city officials to make hockey in Corpus Christi a reality. On July 16, 1997 it was officially announced that a deal had been reached and Corpus Christi would become the 13th franchise of the WPHL. It was also announced that Taylor Hall, who played in the National Hockey League for Vancouver and Boston, and who coached the New Mexico Scorpions to first place overall in the WPHL inaugural season, was coming to Corpus Christi as Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations. In August a name the team contest was launched with the Caller-Times and radio stations K99, C101, and KMXR, and on October 4, 1997 the team unveiled it's logo and announced that it would be known as the Corpus Christi IceRays. |