History
The Rage franchise originated in 1987 in the city of Minot, North Dakota, originally named the Minot Americans before later becoming the Minot Top Guns in homage to both the 1986 movie Top Gun and the nearby Minot Air Force Base.
The team was never very successful as the SJHL's first and only franchise based in the United States. They faced low attendance and a consistent losing record. During one of their final seasons in Minot, the Top Guns had to play their first 14 games on the road due to bookings at their home arena, then fired their coach after a 20-game losing streak and faced immigration-related issues in finding a replacement.
The franchise was sold to interested parties at the Beardy's 97, Saskatchewan reserve in 1997 after beginning discussions with the team's ownership the previous year. That arrangement lasted one season in 1997-98.
In 1998-99, the team became the Saskatoon Rage and played their home games at Harold Latrace Arena. It marked the SJHL's return to Saskatoon for the first time since the Saskatoon J's folded in 1982, but the Rage would meet a similar fate and folded after one season in Saskatoon due to financial reasons.
