Iowa Wild

The Iowa Wild is a ice-hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). They are located in Des Moines, Iowa playing at the Wells Fargo Arena. The team's coach is Tim Army, with Cody McLeod as the captain, and Dakota Mermis, Kyle Rau, and Mason Shaw being the alternate captains. The Iowa Wild serves as the minor-league affiliate to the Minnesota Wild in the NHL, even being named after the NHL team. The only other Minnesota sports team to have a minor-league affiliate in Iowa is the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA, with their minor-league affiliate being the Iowa Wolves in the NBA-G League.

History
The Iowa Wild was founded in 1994 as the Houston Aeros in the International Hockey League (IHL). The team was named after the Houston Aeros in the World Hockey Association (WHA) which operated from 1972-1978. This new Aeros team played their home-games at The Summit in Houston, Texas, which was the same arena the original WHA Aeros played their home-games from 1975-1978.

The new IHL Aeros were an immediate success, they had a winning record in their inaugural season and made the Turner Cup Playoffs. The team spent the back-half of the 1990s becoming one of the highest ranked teams in the IHL. The Aeros did not have a primary NHL affiliate, and was independently operated and owned by Chuck Watson. The Aeros tried and tried again to get stars on their team to make a name of itself. One of these stars included former NHL player, Mark Freer who still holds a Houston/Iowa franchise record of the amount of goals scored. This also included Mike Yeo, who eventually became a coach for the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues, and is currently assistant coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, all in the NHL, Jim Paek, who is now director of the Korea Ice-Hockey Association (KIHA), and goalies, Manny Fernandez and Frederic Chabot. In 1996, Watson hired former hit-player of the Hartford Whalers, Dave Tippet as the coach for the Aeros. The Houston Aeros had also won a Turner Cup in 1999.

In 2001, the IHL had financial issues and then closed it's doors. There were only six IHL teams that had moved to the American Hockey League (AHL). These teams were the Chicago Wolves, the Milwaukee Admirals, the Manitoba Moose, the Grand Rapid Griffins, the Utah Grizzlies, and the Houston Aeros. The six teams started their AHL runs in the 2001-02 season. The Aeros started their AHL run about one year after the Minnesota Wild started play in the NHL, but the Wild did not have a minor-league affiliate team, so the Wild and the Aeros made an agreement to become affiliates with each other. The Aeros had won the AHL's Calder Cup with a 3-0 victory against the Hamilton Bulldogs in the 2003 finals.

In the 2003-04 season, the Aeros had moved from The Summit to the Toyota Center.

In 2011, the Aeros had made the Calder Cup Finals once again after their 2003 victory, but had lost to the Binghamton Senators. Then in 2013, after agreement issues with the Toyota Center, the Aeros had relocated to Iowa and became the Iowa Wild. The only players left in the Minnesota Wild that once played for Houston are Jared Spurgeon and Matt Dumba.