Professional hockey is returning to the Albuquerque area. Are the old Scorpions returning? USPTO trademarks may hold the clues to an old WPHL/CHL name returning.
By Delorean Fleetwood
Albuquerque, NM: On Friday, May 2nd, the ECHL (formerly East Coast Hockey League) Board of Governors approved an expansion application from REV entertainment to bring professional hockey back to the Albuquerque metro area in nearby Rio Rancho. The yet-to-be-named team will drop the puck beginning in the 2026-27 ECHL season. The team will play their home games at the Rio Rancho Events Center, 17 miles northwest of downtown.
The Runners, Isotopes, and United give Albuquerque area fans enough professional sports team options throughout the calendar year.
This is incredible news for a city like Albuquerque, which doesn’t have very many professional teams that fans can cheer for. The city currently has three (soon to be four, potentially) professional teams that call the Duke City home. Two of them play downtown at Isotopes Park. The Pacific Coast League’s Albuquerque Isotopes (AAA baseball) and Second Division (USSF) USL Championship’s New Mexico United (United have plans to build a new 10,000 seat soccer-specific stadium near Ballon Fiesta Park, though nearby residents are currently appealing those plans, $30 million in public bonding was approved back in early February) The city also has a professional arena soccer team that plays in Major Arena Soccer League 2, which is second on the US Arena Soccer pyramid. They are known as the New Mexico Runners. They play their home games at the Rio Rancho Events Center. The potential fourth? The Indoor Football League’s Duke City Gladiators (who recently announced they were returning from hiatus, a rarity in the sport of indoor football, in 2026, also implied they would be undergoing a rebrand upon returning as well). The Gladiators, like the Runners, also play their home games at the Events Center in Rio Rancho, 17 miles northwest of the city.
The Gladiators announced Saturday via Facebook they were returning in 2026.
Lone Wolves no more: The Ice Wolves have new hockey neighbors in the desert.
As for hockey? They won’t be the only team playing in area. The North American Hockey League’s (NAHL) New Mexico Ice Wolves play at the Outpost Ice Arenas off highway 556 in the northeast corner of town. The NAHL is a tier-II (USA Hockey) junior ice hockey league with teams ranging from Alaska in the north to Maine in the east and Texas to the south. The Ice Wolves have been mostly successful since joining the NAHL in 2019-20. While their inaugural season was canceled, in the five seasons that followed, they made the Robertson Cup Playoffs in three of those five seasons, making the semi-finals in 22-23, so this is a solid organization on and off the ice. That same year, they added a tier III team in the NA3HL. The Tier III Ice Wolves made the semi-finals of the Fraser Cup Playoffs in 24-25. The local support is there. The recipe for success is built in. Is Albuquerque ready for professional hockey again? All signs point to “yes” being the answer. The ECHL seems to agree. Albuquerque is back on in 2026-27.
One of the biggest excitements with a new team (along with the thrill of getting to support a new favorite team), is the same thing everyone will likely be asking for the next umpteen weeks: “What’s the team going to be called?” The ECHL may have, in fact, already provided the most telling signs as to where that process could be heading. But, before we get into that, let us step back and recall previous hockey teams that have called the Albuquerque area home.
The Six-Guns folded after their inaugural season, through no fault of their own.
The Land of Enchantment’s first professional hockey team that came to the area was none other than the old Albuquerque Six-Guns. They would last only one season in the Central Hockey League (this incarnation of the CHL lasted from 1963-84 and was owned and operated by the NHL). They were set up to be a farm team for the Kansas City Scouts (they have long since relocated, twice, and are now known as the New Jersey Devils). However, as the team had to look elsewhere to other NHL squads for their talent production, it wasn’t surprising that the team did poorly in their only season in the league, going 16-40-16, good for dead last in the league and out of the Adams Cup Playoffs. The team played at Tingley Coliseum for their home games. While this certainly was a bad way to introduce hockey into the American Southwest, the circumstances were out of the Six-Guns control. The city of Albuquerque wouldn’t have to wait long for their next crack at another team, though this one wouldn’t last very long either.
The South West Hockey League’s Chaparrals didn’t even last two seasons.
The South West Hockey League would bring ice hockey back to the Albuquerque area in 1975. The Chaparrals proved to be much better than the Six-Guns were in their inaugural season, finishing second out of six teams in the league in 1975-76. In 1976-77 however, disaster struck once again, as the team was in dead last midway through the season. Even worse? The SWHL folded midway through the season, along with all six teams in the league at that time, including the Chaparrals. A flash in the pan one might say. Hockey in the state seemed to have no better luck than Wile E Coyote’s attempts at capturing the Roadrunner. The next time professional hockey came calling to the Land of Enchantment wouldn’t be until the most recent incarnation of the CHL (1992-2014) would give arguably the best version of professional hockey to date in the Albuquerque metro area.
The Scorpions are still remembered fondly by hockey fans in New Mexico.
In 1996 the Western Professional Hockey League would expand to Albuquerque, marking nearly 20 years since the puck dropped in The Land of Enchantment. The Scorpions, as they were known, provided not only immediate on ice success in their inaugural season, but longevity for the franchise that had only seen a combined two and a half seasons of professional hockey in the area, in total through no fault of their own on either occasion. The “Sizzlin Scorpions” led the way in the WPHL for the 1996-97 season, going 42-20-2 and winning the Governors Cup as the regular season champions. Sadly, their inaugural run ended sooner than expected as they were upended in the semi-finals by the Central Texas Stampede 4 games to 2. While this wouldn’t be the only time the Scorpions would make the playoffs during their franchise history, the team’s longevity and roots in the community would continue to have an impact long after their tenure in the Albuquerque area. The Scorpions best chance at winning the President’s Cup would come in the 1999-00 season, making it all the way to the Finals where they would lose to the Shreveport Mudbugs 4 games to 2.
In 2001, the WPHL would merge with the most recent version of the Central Hockey League, bringing the New Mexico Scorpions along with them. The team would continue to play at Tingley Coliseum, just as the Six-Guns and Chaparrals did before them, up until the 2004-05 season. All in all, in the five WPHL seasons they played, the Scorpions made the post-season in three of them.
“Stanley” was the mascot of the team during their tenure in Albuquerque.
The Scorpions would return after a one year hiatus. The team moved their home games from Tingley Coliseum (opened in 1957) to the new Santa Ana Star Center (later Rio Rancho Events Center). The Scorpions had another great chance to win a championship in the 2006-07 CHL season, winning the Southwest Division with a 32-24-3-5 record. That run would end in the conference finals against the Laredo Bucks 4 games to 1. Altogether, in the 12 seasons of the New Mexico Scorpions (5 in the WPHL and 7 in the CHL), they made the playoffs 6 times, 3 in each league, making it to the league finals once and semi-finals four times overall, though only once in the CHL. On July 2nd, 2009, Scorpions ownership were unable to find additional investors, thus resulting in the team ceasing operations for good. Lifetime, the Scorpions compiled a record of 420 wins, 303 losses, 40 overtime losses, and 24 shootout losses over their 12 seasons in existence, totaling 787 regular season contests, good enough for a solid .615 points percentage. Their playoff record all-time is 29-30, going 5-6 in their 11 playoff series. Combined all-time has them at 449-333-40-24 in 846 games.
The Ice Breakers were successful, while the Renegades and Mustangs were not.
After the Scorpions burrowed their proverbial helmets into the Albuquerque wilderness, the scene for hockey hasn’t been the same since. Three other teams (one during and two that came after the Scorpions, but before the Ice Wolves) would call the Duke City home. The Ice Breakers had a very solid first season going 32-5-1, finishing second in the league to the Flagstaff Mountaineers. They would go 27-9 in 99-00 (I could not find records for the 98-99 season). The team experienced some success while in the now defunct Western States Hockey League from 1996-2001. After the demise of the Scorpions, the only teams that have come through town have been junior teams. The New Mexico Renegades would also play out of the WSHL from 2009-14. Despite making the playoffs only once in 2011-12, where they lost to the El Paso Rhinos in the first round 2 games to 1, the Renegades never compiled a winning record in their 5 seasons of existence. Their last season was one of the worst teams in league history, going 5-40-1. During the era of the Renegades, another team, known as the New Mexico Mustangs, played just two seasons in the NAHL from 2010-2012, finishing dead last in their division in both seasons of play, though the team was better than the Renegades. The New Mexico Ice Wolves came to be in 2019.
New Mexico Pro Hockey Club, will make it’s ECHL adventure in 2026-27
Which brings us back to where we started. New Mexico based hockey teams have never won a cup of any kind and while that may be as depressing as Walter White’s backstory and fate, Albuquerque has shown incredible support for the teams that do come through town. Successful squads will make this team a hot ticket in town. Teams that don’t perform well playing out of Rio Rancho have definitely caused fan support to dwindle somewhat. In the CHL, during their time playing out of Tingley Coliseum, the Scorpions averaged 4,532 a game (including 4,862 in 02-03). After the move to Rio Rancho, things took a dip attendance wise, averaging 2,995 nightly (including 3,217 in their first season back, 06-07). There has openly been talk among locals and other fans about how moving teams to Rio Rancho has caused teams to eventually fold and leave town (they may have a point there after all). Going back to their old WPHL days, the Scorpions averaged 4,659 a game. Their inaugural season is still the only year they averaged over 5,000 a game with 5,418. In their 12 seasons, 9 at Tingley, 3 at Rio Rancho, they averaged 4,200 in total. Looking at the 24-25 attendance chart for the ECHL, that would rank 18th out of the other 29 teams in the league. Middle of the road. If they put a successful team on the ice, fans will show up. They have in the past and they will continue to do so here. The verdict is, fans are going to show up no matter what.
Before, the puck drops once more for professional hockey at the Rio Rancho Events Center, before the New Mexico Professional Hockey Team (name pending) starts their yearly inaugural journey to hoist the Kelly Cup, the issue still remains, what is the team name? Ah, yes, that often asked about topic that drives internet searches organically every time a new kid on the block comes to their town. New Mexico Professional Hockey has stated there will be a “name the team” contest held. That’s a great idea! Good fan engagement all-around. However, that brings us to the final topic that might blow the whistle far and wide on the team name. USPTO trademarks. Every professional team needs a trademark and going through trademark processes for teams is part of the process, isn’t it? The United States Patent and Trademark Office has filings that started back in February 2023.
The ECHL is behind the trademark process of “New Mexico Scorpions”.
Notice that? That sure looks like the ECHL is trying to trademark the name New Mexico Scorpions. Now, one can dismiss this as “trying to cover their bases”, but I digress. I think it’s highly likely this has been a process that the league is now close to the finish line with. I find it hard to believe one would simply go through a two-year process to simply not put a potentially great product and brand to good use. The ECHL is too smart for that. Even for a AA hockey league, the league has great business savvy and is a huge reason for its growth to 31 teams by 2026.
Goods and services section of the ECHL trademark application for the name.
The good and services show two separate sections. The top one can be used by either you or I pretty easily if we get approved (and I have a few teams I plan on using that with in the near future, no I will not say what those are). Jokes aside, it’s the second one that we are focusing on here. “Entertainment in the nature of hockey games”. THAT one is the one that should be focused one. Looks like they intend on using this in a hockey game. Hockey games are considered entertainment, aren’t they? At the absolute worse, this is a throwback night sorta thing. After all, who spends two years on a process, just to abandon it? There have been rumors going back at least two years of pro hockey coming back to New Mexico. And how far back does this application of the trademark go to? Even more telling is that this comes from the ECHL itself and not anyone else.
The trademark process began four days after this press release back in 2023.
Once again, timing is everything with these sorts of things. Bottomline? The ECHL knows they have a very good product and brand name on their hands. The fans love it, the locals love it, and hockey fans love it. It’s a great opportunity to revive the best brand in the history of professional ice hockey for the Land of Enchantment, if not hockey in the state’s HISTORY. Scorpions are well native to the American Southwest that encompasses Albuquerque. It’s a seamless transition to revive a brand synonymous with the best era in the history of ice hockey for New Mexico. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a popular name got revived. Just ask teams like the San Diego Gulls (AHL), Maine Mariners (ECHL), or even the Carolina Thunderbirds (FPHL). No doubt, the whistle will be blown loud and clear once word gets out about the trademark process (and believe me, it will, I’ve already been telling anyone that’ll listen via Facebook). And while fans might be a bit disappointed to have some of the fun and mystery taken out of it should Scorpions be chosen, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that if the name is chosen (and let’s be fair it’s not a 100% money in the bank guarantee, although, I think it would be a bad decision if they didn’t take the chance to finish that process), it will be one the smartest business decisions that New Mexico Pro Hockey could ever make. In this climate and market? You have to. That’s the difference between watching the playoffs from your couch to potentially hoisting that cup high for all to see. I have said it once and I will say it again. “If you don’t take chances, you can’t create a future”. This is one puck I hope the ECHL and New Mexico Pro Hockey get to the net. Just ask some of the funkiest and coolest teams in sports. The Mighty Ducks ring any bells? They did just that. Stingers up, claws out. Hockey is back.
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