Edmonton has become a city rich with sports history, and that goes beyond the teams currently playing in Edmonton.
It’d be easy to point at the Alberta capital and call it a city strictly obsessed with hockey. After all, look how manic the Edmonton Oilers made the city during their last two runs to the Stanley Cup Final. The Oilers are the talk of the town on most nights, with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings taking up a tiny bit of attention on occasion.
Those two teams, however, don’t account for Edmonton’s entire history of hockey. Several defunct teams once called the city home, and you may have forgotten about them.
The same goes for baseball, soccer, and even lacrosse, as many teams have come and gone from the Alberta capital and may have been lost to memory over time. With that in mind, we thought it would be a good time for a refresher on these eight defunct Edmonton sports teams that you most likely forgot even existed:
Hockey
Edmonton Road Runners (AHL, 2004-2005)
Do you recall the season when the city of Edmonton hosted both an NHL and AHL team simultaneously?
The Edmonton Road Runners played a single season out of Rexall Place in 2004-05 and served as the Oilers’ AHL affiliate. They struggled and missed the playoffs with a 32-33-11-4 record. Despite the disappointing season, they still managed to attract an average crowd of 8,854, which landed them third in the AHL.
The Road Runners were never intended to stay in Edmonton, and plans were made to relocate the team to Saskatoon, but those plans fell through. The team suspended operations after their only season.
Edmonton Ice (WHL, 1996-1998)
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Before the Oil Kings, the Edmonton Ice was the city’s WHL club.
With the first iteration of the Oil Kings being relocated to Portland in 1976, the city was without a WHL team for two decades. To remedy that, the WHL decided to expand to the Alberta capital in 1996 with the establishment of the Edmonton Ice.
The Ice played two seasons in Edmonton, missing the playoffs both times and winning just 21 times in 144 games. That was enough for the team, and they relocated to Cranbrook, B.C, to become the Kooteney Ice in 1998. Eventually, that team moved to become the Winnipeg Ice in 2019 and is now based in Washington state as the Wenatchee Wild.
The Oil Kings would return to Edmonton in 2006 to much better results.
Baseball
Edmonton Capitals (NAL, 2005-2011)
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Before the highly popular Edmonton Riverhawks, the baseball team of choice in the Alberta capital was the Edmonton Capitals.
Initially founded as the Edmonton Cracker Cats in 2005, the team re-branded to the Capitals in 2009 shortly after Oilers owner Daryl Katz purchased the team. The baseball club competed in the Northern League from 2005 to 2007 before moving to the Golden Baseball League from 2008 to 2010. They then ended their existence with a single season in the North American league in 2011.
They played at Re/Max Field until they went dark in 2012 after failing to find a league to compete in.
Edmonton Trappers (Triple-A, 1981-2004)
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If there is any team on this list you might remember, it’s certainly the Edmonton Trappers.
This was the highest level of baseball ever played in the city, as the Trappers were a Triple-A team that operated out of Re/Max Field for over 20 years from 1981 to 2004. They played in the Pacific Coast League throughout their entire existence and acted as the Triple-A affiliate for the MLB’s Chicago White Sox, California Angels, Florida Marlins, Oakland Athletics, Anaheim Angels, Minnesota Twins, and Montreal Expos.
The Trappers won four minor league titles (1984, 1996, 1997, and 2002) and eventually relocated to Round Rock, Texas, after being sold to MLB legend Nolan Ryan.
Soccer
Edmonton Drillers (NASL, 1979-1982)
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While the Oilers and the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos were dominating the city’s sports scene in the early 1980s, soccer was keen to capitalize on the excitement.
Oilers owner Peter Pocklington was leading the charge on the pitch, bringing the Edmonton Drillers into the North American Soccer League in 1979. The team had previously played soccer as the Oakland Stompers, Hartford Bicentennials, and Connecticut Bicentennials before coming to Edmonton.
They played outdoor games at Commonwealth Stadium and Clarke Stadium, while indoor games took place in Northlands Coliseum. The Drillers won an indoor championship in 1980-81.
Rising costs as well as poor business strategy led to their demise following the 1982 season.
Edmonton Brick Men (CSL, 1985-1990)
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Pocklington was not deterred after the demise of the Drillers, spearheading the founding of the Edmonton Brick Men in 1985.
Seed money for the team was provided, unsurprisingly, by the Brick Warehouse Company. The soccer club competed in the 1985 Western Alliance Challenge Series, while not an official member of the league. They then joined the Western Soccer Alliance for the 1986 season.
That lasted just a single year as the Brick Men jumped to the newly-formed Canadian Soccer League in 1987, where they would compete until they folded in 1990. During their time in the CSL, they qualified for the playoffs twice, with their best finish being a semi-final loss in 1989.
FC Edmonton (CPL, 2010-2022)
Soccer took a bit of a break in the Alberta capital after the fall of the Brick Men.
It wasn’t until 2010 that the city would get a legitimate soccer team with the formation of FC Edmonton (known by fans as the ‘Eddies’). They began play in 2011 in the North American Soccer League, hosting games at Clarke Stadium, where they missed the playoffs in five of seven seasons.
They went on hiatus for the 2018 season but returned to play in the newly formed Canadian Premier League in 2019. They would play four seasons in the CPL, qualifying for the playoffs twice, before ownership troubles caused them to shut down operations after the 2022 season.
Lacrosse
Edmonton Rush (NLL, 2005-2015)
NLL
Edmonton’s first and only professional lacrosse team came into existence in 2005 after the NLL awarded the city a team.
Owner Bruce Urban had purchased the dormant Ottawa Rebel franchise to found the Edmonton Rush lacrosse club. They began play in 2006 in Rexall Place, sharing an arena with the Oilers.
They won the NLL championship in 2015, but moved to Saskatchewan the next season. This sudden relocation was described by Urban as a result of the team not having a long-term deal in place to play at Rogers Place, which was set to open in 2017 and replace Rexall. He also stated that the Oilers refused to allow the Rush to place any of their signs in the arena, hurting the marketing of the team to fans.