The Thunder made a strong showing in their first season, finishing with the best record in the league: 115 points and a 52–18–11 record. They topped that performance in 1995–1996 when they again finished with the league's best record (122 points, 57–17–8). The Thunder lost in the conference finals that season. Throughout the team's history they garnered player development deals with the
Phoenix Coyotes of the
NHL, the
ECHL's Knoxville Cherokees and
Mississippi Sea Wolves and
Russian side
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. The Thunder's main rivals included the
Denver/Utah Grizzlies,
Los Angeles/Long Beach Ice Dogs,
San Diego Gulls, and
Phoenix Roadrunners. These rivalries later saw a rebirth in the
ECHL with the
Las Vegas Wranglers and continue with the
Henderson Silver Knights of the
AHL. The team's mascot was "Boom-Boom", a polar bear.
The franchise was replaced by: •
Las Vegas Wranglers of the
ECHL (2003–2015) •
Vegas Golden Knights of the
NHL (2017–present) •
Henderson Silver Knights of the
AHL (2020-present) The Golden Knights later acknowledged their Thunder predecessors by basing their 2020–21 Reverse Retro jerseys off of the Thunder's "V-stripe" pattern. ==Notable alumni==