Idaho Steelheads
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The Idaho Steelheads are a minor league ice hockey team in Boise, Idaho. They were originally part of the West Coast Hockey League, but when the WCHL was bought out by the East Coast Hockey League in 2003, the team joined the merged ECHL. For the 2005-06 season the Steelheads are affiliates of the NHL Dallas Stars and the AHL Iowa Stars.
The Steelheads were named for a species of seagoing rainbow trout native to Idaho streams and rivers and popular with local anglers. However, the Steelheads logo in not a fish. Instead, it consists of a hockey puck bouncing off of a steel hockey mask.
The Steelheads began play as a WCHL expansion team in 1997. Home games are played at the 5,000-seat Qwest Arena in downtown Boise.
The Steelheads play in the West Division of the ECHL's National Conference. The Steelheads won the 2004 Kelly Cup in their first season in the ECHL, defeating the Florida Everblades in the finals.