Tacoma Sabercats

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox ice hockey team

| text_color = white

| bg_color = #B87333

| logo = Tacomasabercats.PNG

| logosize = 150px

| league =WCHL

| founded = 1997

| operated = 1997–2002

| arena = Tacoma Dome

| city = Tacoma, Washington

| colors = Red, blue, copper

| owner =

| coach =

| championships1_type = Taylor Cups

| championships1 = 1 (1998–99)

| reg_season_titles = 1 (1999–00)

| division_titles = 3 (1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00)

}}

The Tacoma Sabercats were an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Tacoma, Washington. The team began play in the West Coast Hockey League as of the 1997–98 season."Sabercats Unveil Logo, Colors", Seattle Post-Intelligencer (July 15, 1997). ([https://web.archive.org/web/20121021091511/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-64630316.html HiBeam])

Tacoma immediately emerged as a power in the WCHL, winning the regular season Northern Division title and reaching the league finals in its first season. However the Sabercats were defeated by the defending champion San Diego Gulls in the league's Taylor Cup finals.[http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/wchl19961998.html 1997-98 West Coast Hockey League]

The following season, 1998–99, Tacoma won its second WCHL Northern Division title and defeated the Gulls in the Taylor Cup finals, becoming the first team other than San Diego to win the WCHL title in the league's history."Sabercats basking in championship afterglow", The News Tribune (July 28, 1999). ([http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=TNTB&d_place=TNTB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EFC4E9B87AFBA0B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM NewsLibrary.com])[http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/wchl19961999.html 1998-99 West Coast Hockey League] Although the Sabercats won the WCHL Northern Division a third time in 1999–2000, the team failed to win another league championship.

Despite a strong following in the Tacoma area with over 1,500 season ticket holders, the Sabercats were folded in May 2002 by owner Coach-Sports. They had been eliminated by the Idaho Steelheads in the 2002 WCHL playoffs immediately before ceasing operations.{{cite news |last=Ruiz |first=Don |date=May 6, 2002 |title=And five years later, Sabercats close up shop |page=C1 |work=The News Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114954124/and-five-years-later-sabercats-close/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=December 21, 2022}}