The Arkansas RiverBlades was a short-lived minor-league ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team located in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Arkansas RiverBlades was an expansion franchise that entered the East Coast Hockey League for the 1998–99 season. Their home games were played at the newly opened ALLTEL Arena

Alltel Arena

Verizon Arena is an 18,000-seat multi-purpose arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas, directly across the Arkansas River from downtown Little Rock. The arena opened in October 1999...

.

The team logo was unveiled in February of 1998 and the Canadian brothers Dave Berryman and Tim Berryman were granted a lease for Alltel Arena in March. The ECHL franchise was granted in May 1998.

The team was originally named the "Arkansas RazorBlades" and adopted a razorback hog as its mascot. The University of Arkansas

University of Arkansas

The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...

 objected to the name and symbology and pressed the team to finally agree to a name change. In October 1998 a contest was held to establish a new name and "RiverBlades" was chosen.

In May 1999 the team selected the slogan "Greatest Game on Ice". Little Rock's minor league baseball team, the Arkansas Travelers

Arkansas Travelers

The Arkansas Travelers, also known informally as The Travs, are a Minor League Baseball team based in Little Rock, Arkansas. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Major League club....

, objected to the slogan which is similar to their long standing "Greatest Game on Dirt" slogan.

The RiverBlades played their home opener on October 28, 1998 after moving the date due to construction delays at ALLTEL Arena. The RiverBlades would compete with the cross-town Arkansas GlacierCats

Arkansas GlacierCats

The Arkansas GlacierCats were a short-lived minor-league hockey team located in Little Rock, Arkansas.The Arkansas GlacierCats were a Western Professional Hockey League franchise in Little Rock, Arkansas. The team was owned by Ed Novess and Dan Hart of Austin, Texas and they played in the WPHL...

 who were in their second season. The two teams played on the same nights in many cases and each developed their own fan following. The next year the GlacierCats would fold, unable to compete with the RiverBlades and their new home arena.

In October of 2001 the ECHL approved the sale of Dave Berryman's 51 percent stake of the team to Equity Broadcasting

Equity Broadcasting

Equity Media Holdings was a broadcasting company based in Little Rock, Arkansas that owned and operated television stations across the United States. Prior to March 30, 2007, the company was known as Equity Broadcasting, which is now used for its broadcast station subisdary...

 which also owned the Arkansas Twisters

Arkansas Twisters

The Allen Wranglers are a professional indoor football team based in Allen, Texas play in the Indoor Football League. The Wranglers play their home games at the Allen Event Center.-History:...

 arena football

Arena football

Arena football is a variety of gridiron football played by the Arena Football League . It is a proprietary game, the rights to which are owned by Gridiron Enterprises, and is played indoors on a smaller field than American or Canadian outdoor football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game....

 team. During the 2000–2001 season the team hosted the ECHL All-Star game at Alltel Arena.
Head coach Jeff Ward. Assistant coach Brad Gratton.

In the summer of 2002 the Fayetteville Force

Fayetteville Force

The Fayetteville Force was a professional ice hockey team. based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The franchise was a member of the Central Hockey League . They played their home games at the Crown Coliseum.-Background:...

, a Central Hockey League

Central Hockey League

The Central Hockey League is a mid-level professional hockey league, owned by Global Entertainment Corporation. Its current champions are the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, which defeated the Colorado Eagles four games to three in the 2011 playoffs....

 team out of North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

offered to switch franchises with Berryman who turned the offer down.

In early 2003 rumors began to circulate that the RiverBlades would not return for the 2003–2004 season but the company denied the rumors. In June 2003 Equity Broadcasting ended the lease with Alltel Arena and announced that it would attempt to sell the team.

In 2008 rumors began to circulate about a new season in 2010–2011, however these rumors could neither be confirmed nor denied by Alltel, Verizon, and others. Additionally, with the December 8, 2008, filing of chapter 11 bankruptcy by Equity Media Holdings Corporation, this has become unlikely.

In July 2009 Alltel Arena officially became Verizon Arena after Verizon Wireless, Inc. purchased Alltel Corp.