suburban community of Colwood, which had been constructed for the junior 'A' Victoria Salsa and the Victoria Shamrocks box lacrosse teams. Despite the preseason difficulties, the Salmon Kings played their first regular-season game on October 22, 2004, in Bakersfield, California, against the Bakersfield Condors. Former University of Alberta player Ryan Wade scored the first goal in Salmon Kings history in a 7–2 loss. The Salmon Kings would struggle during their 14-game road trip, winning three games while losing 10 games in regulation time and one in a shootout. Their first victory was against the Fresno Falcons on October 24, which the Salmon Kings won 5–0. David Brumby, the Kings' starting goaltender at the time, turned away 37 shots for the shutout. As the 2004–05 NHL lockout continued, Dale Purinton and Dan Blackburn of the New York Rangers and Mark Smith of the San Jose Sharks played for the Salmon Kings. Purinton, an enforcer, was suspended twice by the league, the first for a career-ending check into the boards of Condors player Krzysztof Wieckowski and the second for returning to the ice to fight after being ejected during a bench-clearing brawl involving the Kings and the Falcons. After the latter suspension, Purinton was suspended indefinitely by the Salmon Kings and did not play again that season. The Salmon Kings finally played their first home game on December 5, 2004, at Bear Mountain Arena, losing 4–3 in overtime. They finished the regular season with a 15–52–5 record, setting an ECHL record for a continuous winless streak by going 0–18–2 between December 31, 2004 and February 4, 2005. After another losing season in 2005–06, during which the team had four different coaches behind the bench, the Salmon Kings became the ECHL affiliate of the nearby Vancouver Canucks. The Salmon Kings then had their first winning season in the 2006–07 season. Under head coach, Mark Morrison, the Salmon Kings would finish with a nine-game winning streak for an overall record of 36–32–1–3, good enough for seventh place in the National Conference. They faced the Alaska Aces in their first playoff appearance, winning the opening game by a score of 3–2, but losing the series by four-games-to-two. The 2007–08 season was the Salmon Kings' best regular season in the ECHL with a 91-point season and winning 42 of 72 games. The Salmon Kings won the West division and took the number two seed into the