The Teams

The 1990s brought two new teams to the north-central Alberta hockey scene as members of the junior Western Hockey League.

The Edmonton Ice and the Red Deer Rebels are a contrast of organizations. The Ice lasted only two seasons playing at the Northlands Agricom, the site of the old Edmonton Gardens where the Oil Kings played three decades previously. Unlike the Oil Kings, the Ice never caught on with Edmontonians and moved to British Columbia where the Kootenay Ice would win the Memorial Cup soon after.

The story of the Red Deer Rebels is markedly different. In the late ‘90s, under the ownership of Brent Sutter, the team established itself as one of the elite programs in Canadian junior hockey.  Often, the Enmax Centrium was jammed over capacity on many nights that the Rebels played at home.

Both teams as well as the University of Alberta Golden Bears are profiled in this section.

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