Worcester Sharks

Worcester Sharks
City Worcester, Massachusetts
League American Hockey League (AHL)
Conference Eastern Conference
Division Atlantic Division
Founded 1996
Operated 2006–2015
Home arena DCU Center
Colors Pacific teal, Black, White, Burnt Orange
                   
Owner(s) San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises (Hasso Plattner, Governor)
Media Worcester Telegram & Gazette
WTAG AM 580 & FM 94.9
Charter TV3
Affiliates San Jose Sharks
(2006–2015)
Franchise history
1996–2001 Kentucky Thoroughblades
2001–2006 Cleveland Barons
2006–2015 Worcester Sharks
2015–present San Jose Barracuda

The Worcester Sharks were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that played from 2006 to 2015. Affiliated with the National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks and located in Worcester, Massachusetts, the Sharks played their home games at the DCU Center.

History

On November 9, 2004 the St. Louis Blues announced the sale of the Worcester IceCats to the owners of their ECHL affiliate, the Peoria Rivermen.[1] The new owners moved the franchise to Peoria, IL, for the 2005–06 season. Shocked by the loss of the IceCats, the people of Worcester bargained with several National Hockey League (NHL) franchises, trying to bring hockey back to the city. On January 6, 2006, the San Jose Sharks announced that they were moving their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Barons, to Worcester, Massachusetts, and the Worcester Sharks played their first home game on October 14, 2006, in front of a sold-out 7,230 fans in a shootout loss to the Portland Pirates. The Sharks qualified for the postseason in their first season, but were knocked out in six games by the Manchester Monarchs in the first round.

The Sharks' main rivals were the Providence Bruins, the genesis of which dates back to IceCats' days.

The Sharks were well represented in the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, with former Sharks Joe Pavelski (played for the U.S.A.), Douglas Murray (represented Sweden) along with the goaltending tandem from the franchise's first two years with Thomas Greiss and Dimitri Patzold suited up for Germany.

On Sunday November 1, 2009, head coach Roy Sommer became only the fourth coach in AHL history to record 400 wins. On January 14, 2011, Sommer was behind the Sharks bench for his 1,000th regular-season game as an American Hockey League head coach, becoming just the fourth man in AHL history to reach that milestone. On February 11, 2012, Sommer became the fourth coach in AHL history to record 500 wins with a 3–2 shootout win over Hershey.

Relocation to San Jose

On January 26, 2015, it was reported that the Sharks would move to San Jose and share SAP Center at San Jose with their parent club, the San Jose Sharks. These reports were confirmed with the Sharks' official announcement on January 29.[2] On April 2, 2015, the team was announced as the San Jose Barracuda.

Worcester did not initially receive an ECHL team to replace the relocated AHL team, unlike the other markets with relocated AHL teams in 2015, such as Manchester, New Hampshire, Norfolk, Virginia and Glens Falls, New York. On February 8, 2016, the ECHL announced that Worcester would be home to an expansion team, set to begin play for the 2017–18 season. The team is owned by Cliff Rucker, with Toby O'Brien serving as President/General Manager. The team name was revealed on April 3 to be the Worcester Railers.[3]

This market was previously served by:

Broadcasters

Radio
Television

Season-by-season results

Calder Cup Champions Conference Champions Division Champions League Leader

Records as of April 21, 2015.[4]

Players

Team captains

All-Star Classic representatives

Notable alumni

List of Worcester Sharks alumni who played in the National Hockey League:

Player records

All-time regular season leaders

Individual regular season

All-time playoff leaders

Franchise Firsts

Franchise Lasts


Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points;

Player Pos GP G A Pts
John McCarthy LW 277 63 88 151
Dan DaSilva RW 239 60 84 144
Tom Cavanagh C 202 46 92 138
Steven Zalewski C 210 41 87 128
Lukas Kaspar LW 216 46 79 125
Mike Iggulden C 151 59 64 123
Graham Mink RW 132 55 63 118
Riley Armstrong RW 208 59 53 112
Brandon Mashinter LW 236 54 54 108
Benn Ferriero C 121 44 59 103

Head coaches

References

  1. ↑ "Worcester IceCats sold to Rivermen owners". oursportscentral.com. 2004-11-09. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
  2. ↑ "Sharks Moving AHL Franchise to SAP Center". San Jose Sharks. January 29, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Introducing the Worcester Railers professional hockey team". Worcester Magazine. April 3, 2016.
  4. ↑ Hockeydb.com, Worcester Sharks season statistics and records.
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