WPHL · Central Texas Stampede
1996-1997 Season
The First Stampede
Record
35-27-2
Points
72
Games
64
Goals For
243
Goals Against
229
From the archive
Professional hockey came to a football state, and Central Texas was supposed to spend its first winter learning the game. The Stampede had other plans.
On October 16, 1996, the Stampede beat the Waco Wizards 5-4 and scored the first goal in Western Professional Hockey League history. Running both the bench and the front office was Bob Bourne, a former NHL forward in his first job as a head coach.
The team Bourne built went 35-27-2, then kept going. Central Texas knocked off the New Mexico Scorpions 4-2 in the semifinals and skated into the first President's Cup Final the league ever held, where the El Paso Buzzards closed them out 4-1. In goal, former NHLer Daniel Berthiaume was named the WPHL's first Outstanding Goaltender.
A first-year team in cattle country had reached the championship round of a brand-new league. The Stampede were not a novelty act. They were a problem the rest of the WPHL was going to have to solve.
Honors & recognition
Team
- President's Cup FinalistDefeated the New Mexico Scorpions 4-2 in the semifinals; lost the inaugural WPHL President's Cup Final 4-1 to the El Paso Buzzards.
Players
- Daniel Berthiaume · WPHL Outstanding Goaltender
Roster
| Player | Pos | Age | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | Penalty mins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doug Smith | Left Wing | 26 | 63 | 31 | 40 | 71 | 105 |
| Troy Kennedy | Left Wing | 28 | 64 | 16 | 50 | 66 | 47 |
| Troy Frederick | Left Wing | 27 | 64 | 35 | 25 | 60 | 92 |
| Jason Taylor | Left Wing | 29 | 44 | 10 | 31 | 41 | 250 |
| Jason Collins | Center | 22 | 55 | 14 | 23 | 37 | 36 |
| Herb Raglan | Right Wing | 29 | 33 | 14 | 18 | 32 | 131 |
| Jim Peters | Defense | 27 | 37 | 13 | 18 | 31 | 75 |
| Darren Ritchie | Right Wing | 22 | 14 | 20 | 3 | 23 | 8 |
| Jay Neal | Right Wing | 26 | 25 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 20 |
| Jason Clarke | Right Wing | 23 | 31 | 7 | 13 | 20 | 226 |
| Rob Hrytsak | Center | 31 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 21 |
| Pat Meehan | Center | 23 | 39 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 26 |
| Patrick Lampron | Defense | 22 | 33 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 61 |
| Peter Zurba | Left Wing | 21 | 44 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 291 |
| Matt Brenner | Defense | 23 | 64 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 39 |
| Randy Toye | Left Wing | 21 | 25 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 22 |
| Layne Roland | Right Wing | 22 | 22 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 6 |
| Jacques Mailhot | Right Wing | 34 | 34 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 247 |
| Dean Kolstad | Defense | 28 | 17 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 44 |
| Don McGrath | Defense | 29 | 46 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 141 |
| Roy Mitchell | Defense | 27 | 20 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 12 |
| Brad Wingfield | Left Wing | 21 | 35 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 176 |
| Grant Chorney | Right Wing | 26 | 18 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 90 |
| Dwayne Gylywoychuk | Defense | 23 | 40 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 45 |
| Stephane Desjardins | Defense | 24 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 24 |
| Travis Hulse | Defense | 25 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 21 |
| Chris MacDonald | Right Wing | 25 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| Dave Gregory | Defense | 29 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 22 |
| Jeff Beaudin | Left Wing | 30 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 28 |
| Jeff Guay | Defense | 24 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Chad Antonishyn | Defense | 22 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Curtis Sayler | Right Wing | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aaron Dobrescu | Defense | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Greg Mulford | Left Wing | 25 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Goaltenders
| Player | Age | Games | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals against avg | Save % | Shutouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Berthiaume | 30 | 54 | 30 | 20 | 0 | 3.38 | 0.9 | 2 |
| Billy McLeod | 31 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.0 | 0.864 | 0 |
| Brent Convery | 24 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1.94 | 0.933 | 0 |
| Scott Galt | 22 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 4.11 | 0.864 | 0 |