The
American Basketball Association announced on August 23, 2006, that
Halifax, Nova Scotia, had been granted an expansion franchise for the 2007–08 season. A local contest was later held among fans to help name the team, and on December 19, 2006, the organization unveiled that they would be known as the Halifax Rainmen. The Rainmen hosted the
2007 ABA All-Star Game ten months before the team started play.
Joe Newman, the league's chairman, figured it would be an excellent way to promote Canadian expansion. On May 30, 2007, the team announced their home venue, the
Halifax Metro Centre, and head coach, Kevin MaBone. Mabone later stepped down due to a family illness and was replaced as head coach by Rick Lewis. Shannon Hansen and Daniel Freiberg joined Lewis on the coaching staff as assistants. The Rainmen's first two player signings were Peter Benoite and Chad Eichelberger. Benoite was a former
CIS standout for the
Memorial Sea-Hawks, and is currently the Sea-Hawks head coach. Days before their first game, the Rainmen announced the signing of star Canadian guard
Jermaine Anderson, a veteran member of the Canadian National basketball team.
2007–08 season The Rainmen played their inaugural season in the Northeast Division of the
Blue Conference in the
American Basketball Association. The team won its first-ever game on November 15, 2007 at the Metro Center, against the
Boston Blizzard by a score of 136-103, in front of 4,343 fans. Halifax went on to lose seven straight before their next win, against the
Montreal Royal. The Rainmen ended the season with a record of 12 wins and 20 losses. Eric Crookshank led the Rainmen during the season, averaging 20.5 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. He was also named to the All-ABA first team. Crookshank and Brian Silverhorn were both chosen to represent the Rainmen at the 2008 ABA All-Star Weekend, in Vermont. Halifax lead the
American Basketball Association in attendance during the year. On March 19, 2008, the Rainmen withdrew from the ABA due to the ownership's dissatisfaction with the league's management. The team announced their intention to pursue membership in the
NBA Development League. D-League president, Dan Reed, visited Halifax and the Metro Centre. While he stated was impressed with the city, owner, and arena, he said that for travel costs and other reasons, 2008–09 expansion would be unlikely, and a more likely expansion target would be the 2009–10 season. On June 23, the Rainmen joined the
Premier Basketball League.
2009 season The Rainmen kicked off their inaugural
PBL season by placing former Rainmen Eric Crookshank, Kadiri Richard, Brian Silverhorn and Jimmy Twyman on their protected players list, giving them exclusive PBL negotiating rights to the four. Halifax then received the second overall pick in the PBL Entry Draft, held in
Chicago, Illinois. With the pick the Rainmen selected former
Acadia Axemen all-star
Walter Moyse. With their second-round pick, Halifax selected
David Bailey, formerly of the
Maryland Nighthawks. Ultimately, Moyse could not come to terms with the team. In early November 2008, the Rainmen signed Bailey for the 2009 season, along with former ABA All-Stars Rob Sanders, a former
Manchester Millrat, and Cordell Jeanty, formerly of the
Montreal Royal. Jimmy Twyman and Brian Silverhorn returned to the team along with newcomers Kevin Hammack and Tyronne McNeal. Forward Kadiri Richard was granted a release and was signed by PBL rival the
Wilmington Sea Dawgs. On November 17, the Rainmen re-signed All-Star Eric Crookshank, who had turned down offers from the
Vermont Frost Heaves and various overseas teams to sign with the Rainmen. Later that month, the Rainmen signed Jason McGriff, Rodney Mayes and Canadian Jabulah Murray. McGriff and Murray failed to report to the team. With training camp underway, the Rainmen signed shooting guard Glen Dandridge, a former three-year member of the
University of Missouri basketball program, to fill the void left by their departures. Halifax won in their
Premier Basketball League opener 110-108 versus the hosting
Quebec Kebs on January 2, 2009. Earlier in the day, the Rainmen signed guard Zach Ramey, formerly of the
Rockford Fury. The Rainmen played their home-opener seven days later against the Kebs, winning in front of over 4,000 fans. On January 14, the team suspended star Eric Crookshank for the season, with pay, following a series of conflicts with Coach Rick Lewis. The Rainmen did not comment on the cause. On February 3, the team released Rick Lewis, the head coach and general manager, citing poor results in weekend games at
Vermont and
Manchester. The team's record was 6-5 at that point, dropping the Rainmen a game behind in a tight divisional race with Vermont and Manchester. Rodney Mayes, one of the last of the players signed in late November, was also released. Assistant Shannon Hanson served briefly as interim head coach. Following Lewis' dismissal, Crookshank was reinstated. On February 5, the Rainmen announced Halifax native Les Berry as the new head coach. Berry previously led
Acadia University within one win of the national CIS Men's Basketball championship. The team was then bolstered by the signings of guard Tony Bennett who played his college ball at
Bradley University and PBL leading scorer A.J. Millien. Although Berry led the team to a record of 6 wins and 3 losses, the Rainmen failed to qualify for the PBL playoffs. Following the season, Millien was named "PBL Newcomer of the Year" while Tony Bennett was named to the PBL All-Defensive team.
2010 season The Rainmen's first move of the 2010 season was to re-sign coach Les Berry. Berry and team owner
Andre Levingston began recruiting during the offseason and signed a number of players, including former NBA'er
Desmond Ferguson. Tony Bennett, Eric Crookshank, and John Strickland were all re-signed for the 2010 season.
2011 season During the pre-season, the Rainmen added Kavon Jones, Josh Dollard,
Tajuan Porter,
Mike Mercer,
Marshall Brown and Tommy Mitchell while welcoming back veteran players Eric Crookshank and Desmond Ferguson to the roster. The Rainmen also re-signed 6'1 point guard Taliek Brown, who joined the team during the 2010 season but did not play due to a family emergency. On January 14, the organization added former NBA Development League Forward/Centre James "Boo" Jackson to their lineup. On January 22, the Rainmen announced the addition of
Kirk Snyder to their roster but after playing three games between January 23–30, they waived him. On January 24, Les Berry's tenure as Head Coach of the Halifax Rainmen ended by mutual consent. While the Rainmen had been pleased with Berry's performance, the decision for his resignation came after he was presented with an opportunity to build his career outside of the sports arena. Two days later, former NBA player, scout and coach Mike Evans was named as head coach of the Rainmen for the remainder of the 2011 season. The Rainmen ended their 2011 season as the fourth place team in the PBL after falling to the Lawton Fort Sill Cavalry in the final game of their series (1-2). In the first game of the series, the Cavalry beat the Rainmen in Halifax by one point in overtime. Four days later, the Rainmen beat the Cavalry by ten points in Oklahoma, where the Cavalry had not lost in three years. After the controversy surrounding the Rochester Razorsharks's advancement through the PBL playoffs, the Rainmen joined the
Saint John Mill Rats in disassociating themselves from the PBL within one hour after the playoffs ended. The decision to withdraw from the league was made upon the Rochester RazorSharks being crowned as PBL champions over the Lawton Fort-Sill Cavalry, with controversies over the officiating of games, as the RazorSharks and the league share a common owner. Rainmen owner Andre Levingston was quoted as saying, "I am appalled by the officiating that took place during the playoffs, and am ashamed of the PBL's operations this season. I want nothing but the best for our city, our fans, our sponsors, and our players, and I can say with confidence that the best is no longer found in the PBL." The
Quebec Kebs followed suit one day later. On May 12, 2011, the Rainmen, Mill Rats, and Kebs founded the
National Basketball League of Canada. On November 15, 2012, the Rainmen named former
Laval Kebs head coach Rob Spon to the same position.
2013-14 season 2014–15 season The Rainmen had the second-best record in the league and were the Atlantic Division champion. They advanced to the championship round vs the
Windsor Express, which was supposed to come down to a decisive Game 7 hosted by Windsor. Unfortunately, before Game 7 could even begin, the two teams brawled, police were summoned and the Rainmen left the Windsor Arena. Despite calls to the owner and team to come back by league officials, Halifax forfeited the game and the championship to the Express. Coach
Pep Claros was nominated coach of the year, but also suspended by the league for life following an investigation of the brawl. == Bankruptcy, folding, and replacement NBL Canada team ==