The Bismarck Bobcats came to Bismarck in 1997 and played their first season at the Bismarck Civic Center. They moved to the V.F.W. Sports Center the following year and have called it home ever since. The V.F.W. Sports Center was remodeled in the summer of 2008. The seating capacity 1,289 and with standing room is 1,450. The Bobcats also won back-to-back Borne Cup titles as champions of the America West Hockey League in 2003 and 2004. Their 2004 title was the last Borne Cup to be awarded prior to the complete merger between the NAHL and AWHL for the 2004–05 season. Byron Pool, who served as head coach 2007–10, was named the NAHL "Coach of the Year" in 2009. In addition to leading the team to its first-ever Robertson Cup title in 2010, he led the Bobcats to the most successful regular season in history in the 2008–09 season. The Bobcats won 43 games and earned 88 points in the standings, which both set franchise records. The Bobcats won consecutive Central Division Playoff titles under Pool in 2009 and 2010. Layne Sedevie is the current head coach, having been promoted from assistant coach following Byron Pool's decision to accept an associate head coach position with the Fargo Force of the United States Hockey League. Sedevie, a Bismarck native, was a goaltender at Bemidji State University and played professionally in the CHL before serving as assistant coach under Pool for the 2009–10 season. In his first season behind the bench he led the Bobcats to their third straight Central Division Playoff championship. The Bobcats have had five head coaches in their tenure in Bismarck including: John Becanic; Chad Johnson, Dane Litke, Pool, and Sedevie. Currently, they are the second-oldest franchise in the NAHL behind the Springfield Jr. Blues.
Rivalries
The Bobcats have two primary rivals: the Aberdeen Wings and the Minot Minotauros. The Bobcats-Wings rivalry is in its third year, and is centered on the Titan Machinery Dakota Cup. The Bobcats, despite being the defending national champions in 2010–11, suffered multiple setbacks against the expansion Wings in front of capacity crowds at both teams' rinks before finally wrestling the new traveling trophy away from their South Dakota neighbors by a point total of 15-11. The 2011–12 Dakota Cup was much more lopsided, as the Bobcats won the Cup 21-7, posting a 10-1-1 regular season record against the Wings. In the 2012 Playoffs, the Bobcats ousted the Wings in four games from the Central Division Semifinals. The Bobcats and Tauros is a newer intrastate rivalry, and the proximity of the two teams that share North Dakota has already produced multiple fights and plenty of bad blood. Former Bobcats rivals include the Alexandria Blizzard, North Iowa Outlaws and Owatonna Express.
