History
In 1994, the longtime AHL Springfield Indians team was sold to interests that moved the franchise to Worcester, Massachusetts, to become the Worcester IceCats (now the Peoria Rivermen). Ex-Indian players Bruce Landon, then the general manager of the Indians, and Wayne LaChance, a local rink owner, secured an expansion franchise for Springfield for the 1995 season. The Indians name was still under trademark, so the new owners named the team after Andy and Amelia, a pair of nesting peregrine falcons that was a popular local civic symbol. The Falcons secured affiliation with both the Hartford Whalers and the Winnipeg Jets of the NHL, keeping continuity with the Whalers' affiliation of the previous few years. Veteran defenseman John Stevens (who shared the co-captaincy that first year with Rob Murray and the last captain of the Indians) scored the franchise's first goal.
Among the Falcons' notable players have included Jean-Guy Trudel, the franchise's leading career goal and point scorer; Daniel Briere of the Philadelphia Flyers; Manny Legace, the franchise's all-time leading goaltender and former St. Louis Blues starter; Nikolai Khabibulin, former Stanley Cup winning goalie also played 23 games with Springfield; and Rob Murray, the franchise's long-time captain and inspirational leader, and current assistant coach of the New York Islanders. During the 2004 season, Springfield fans voted on the Web for the club's 10th Anniversary Team, and selected Briere at center, Trudel at left wing, Tavis Hansen at right wing, Brad Tiley and Dan Focht on defense, and Legace in goal.
Individual honors won by Falcons players have included the Baz Bastien Award given to the league's best goaltender (to Legace in 1996 and Scott Langkow in 1998), Briere winning the Red Garrett Award emblematic of rookie of the year and a nod as First Team All-Star center in 1998, Tiley winning the Eddie Shore Award for the league's outstanding defenceman in 2000, Trudel winning a Second Team All-Star award in 1999-00, and Charles Linglet was also named a second-team all star in 2009-10.
The team has finished in first place in its division twice and made the playoffs six times in its seventeen seasons, although only once in the last eleven years. After the Whalers relocated to become the Carolina Hurricanes, the Falcons were subsequently affiliated exclusively with the Jets, and with their relocated successors, the Phoenix Coyotes. The team was affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning between 2005 and 2007.
On March 19, 2007, the team announced that given its ninth straight losing season, it was exercising its option to sever relations with the Tampa Bay Lightning to become an affiliate to the Edmonton Oilers, starting in the 2007–08 AHL season, through the 2009-10 AHL season. The Tampa Bay Lightning became affiliated with the Norfolk Admirals.
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