The San Antonio Dragons were a minor league

Minor league

Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...

 professional 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 in the International Hockey League for two seasons in 1996–97 and 1997–98. The Dragons were based in San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

 and played at the Freeman Coliseum

Freeman Coliseum

The Joe and Harry Freeman Coliseum is a sports and concert venue in San Antonio, Texas, USA, built in 1949.It has been host to thousands of events including the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, concerts, trade shows, motor sports, circus, professional sports including professional bull riding,...

 and occasionally the Alamodome

Alamodome

The Alamodome is a domed 65,000 seat, multi-purpose facility that is primarily used as a football/basketball stadium and convention center in San Antonio, Texas, U.S...

.

The franchise was previously known as the Peoria Rivermen

Peoria Rivermen (IHL)

The Peoria Rivermen were an ice hockey team in the International Hockey League. They played in Peoria, Illinois, USA at the Carver Arena....

. For the first month of the 1996–97 season, the Dragons wore all white (home) and all black (road) jerseys because the New Jersey designs had not come in yet. The team never drew many fans, competing directly with the established San Antonio Iguanas

San Antonio Iguanas

The San Antonio Iguanas were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in San Antonio, Texas. The first expansion team in the Central Hockey League, they were active for seven seasons from 1994–1997 and 1998-2002. Their home arena was the Freeman Coliseum. Bill Goldsworthy initially...

 for attendance, and folded after two seasons due to financial problems. Although the Iguanas were established, the Dragons drew more fans then the Iguanas and also captured a larger share of the corporate support of San Antonio. Following an overhaul of the front office and following the loss of assistant coach, John Torchetti

John Torchetti

John Torchetti is the head coach of the American Hockey League's Houston Aeros and a former professional ice hockey player. Previously, he was the head coach of the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League , and the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL for the 2006–2007 season...

(former Iguanas head coach), the Dragons in year two of their existence and being the only hockey team in the city floundered and finally went under. Ownership misread the market and finally pulled the plug.