'How did we get here?': A look into Rio Rancho, Avalanche hockey history following affiliation 

RIO RANCHO — It wasn’t the most likely or the most certain path, but it was one both the Colorado Avalanche and the city of Rio Rancho took to get here.

The City of Vision’s newest team, the New Mexico Goatheads, announced its affiliation and partnership with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, serving as their ECHL representative. 

This is the first time Rio Rancho has ever hosted pro-affiliated hockey, and it is the first year since 1974 that an affiliated team has played in New Mexico.

Professional hockey has been out of the city since 2009, after the New Mexico Scorpions closed up shop, 13 years after debuting in 1996. 

One season after the Colorado Avalanche debuted.

Here is everything that transpired since:

Late '90s: Hot starts

Making their debuts within a year of each other, the Avalanche and the New Mexico Scorpions would find quick success. New Mexico would win the Western Professional Hockey League regular-season title in 1996, playing out of Albuquerque’s Tingley Coliseum. 

Colorado would win the Stanley Cup just months later, becoming the first team to do so in its inaugural season since the 1910s.

Talent from all over came together to make up the Scorpions, such as those with different minor league hockey backgrounds and short NHL stints, including some run-ins with Avalanche history.

Sylvain Naud, the leading scorer for the Scorpions and the entire WPHL in 1996, also played with the Utah Grizzlies, who happened to be the ECHL affiliate for the Avalanche before the Goatheads.

While the Scorpions got rolling, another team came into town. A junior hockey team moved into Outpost Ice Arenas in Albuquerque (sound familiar?) toward the end of the decade and hung around for a few seasons, another sign of the hockey “boom” in the Land of Enchantment, while their neighbors to the north hoisted a Stanley Cup.

2000s: Peaks and valleys

A 2001 Stanley Cup win for Colorado and a league merger for the Scorpions to join the new Central Hockey League started the millennium off with a bang for the two franchises, hinting at another big decade.

But the momentum would not last long. New Mexico missed the playoffs three times from 2001-04, as Colorado failed to make it past the conference semifinals for the next couple of seasons after their second cup win.

In 2006, Rio Rancho hockey was born. The Scorpions moved to the Rio Rancho Events Center, then named Santa Ana Star Center, for the 2006-07 season.

Some new digs could have been a game-changer for the franchise, but it became the opposite. Average attendance went from the 4,000s to the 2,000s, and after just three seasons, the Scorpions ceased operations.

It may have been something in the Southwest air, or just a coincidence, but the Avalanche would also be down on their luck, missing the playoffs seven of the nine seasons following the Scorpions' disbandment.

From two blossoming franchises to now just one, in search of answers.

2010s: The rebuild

While Rio Rancho and New Mexico may have been without professional hockey, that did not deter them from hitting the ice.

Two junior hockey franchises called Rio home at the beginning of the 2010s: the New Mexico Mustangs and the New Mexico Renegades.

The Renegades would play out of the McDermott Athletic Center, formerly known as Blades Multiplex Arena, from 2009-14. Meanwhile, the Mustangs called the Star Center home from 2010-12, overlapping for two seasons.

The Mustangs played out of the North American Hockey League, which currently houses the New Mexico Ice Wolves of Outpost Ice Arena in Albuquerque.

Rio Rancho enjoyed its junior hockey moment in the limelight, but it wouldn’t last for long, similar to the Avalanche’s 2010 playoff runs, where they would not pass the second round in four different tries.

One city had a hockey franchise, the other didn’t, but they were both in the same boat: “How do we take the next step?”

2020s: The return

Just like back in the mid-'90s, Colorado and New Mexico love to make shockwaves at the same time.

The Avalanche returned to the NHL’s mountain top with a Stanley Cup victory in 2022, their third ever championship and their first in 21 years. In the same month, rumblings began of hockey returning to Rio Rancho with the ECHL.

Once again, it could be something in the air or voodoo magic, but either way, the wheels started turning on a return to Rio Rancho hockey after the Colorado title win. Plans took some time to materialize through different potential ownership groups and other details.

Fast forward to May 2025, and it became official. The ECHL announced it would be awarding a franchise to Rio Rancho and the state of New Mexico.

Feb. 21, 2026: It’s official

Fan speculation and potential Easter eggs were put to rest when the New Mexico Goatheads, who revealed their mascot for the franchise in September, announced their NHL affiliation with the Colorado Avalanche.

From loose links to full-on partners, New Mexico and Avalanche Hockey are now formally attached, and the state is ready for it.

"The interest has just been awesome. We've been blown away by the response from the community," Goatheads General Manager Jared Johnson said. "I know the ECHL had this market on their radar for a long time. When I was first offered this job a year ago, I had no idea what to expect. Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to start a team from scratch, and the state, the city has responded."

The franchise will hit the ice in October. After that, the path for a fourth Avalanche Stanley Cup will officially run through Rio Rancho.