Springfield Indians - End of An Era

End of An Era

Roberts and several stars were promoted to Hartford the following fall, and while the Indians repeated for the final time as division champions in 1992 (and in winning their seventh straight playoff series in the preliminary round of the playoffs, setting a new league record, (since tied by the Hershey Bears), they never again gained the finals nor thereafter had a winning record. In 1993 the Indians made the conference finals before being devastated by eventual champion Cape Breton Oilers. The team's last game was at home in the first round of the 1994 playoffs against the Adirondack Red Wings.

In the fall of 1994, the franchise was bought by out-of-town interests and moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, to become the Worcester IceCats. With good will from an American Hockey League with central offices across the river in West Springfield and run by ex-Indians Jack Butterfield and Gordon Anziano, longtime Springfield General Manager Bruce Landon secured a new franchise from the league and started play that season (with the same Whalers'-owned players as the previous season) as the Springfield Falcons. Springfield has thus fielded a team in the AHL and its predecessors for all but seven years since 1926, and continuously since 1954. The only city with a longer unbroken run in the AHL is Hershey, where the Bears have played continuously since joining the AHL in 1938.

The original franchise moved to Peoria, Illinois for the 2005–06 AHL season, where it now plays as the Peoria Rivermen and is the oldest minor league franchise still in existence. The only professional hockey franchises older are the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins of the NHL.

The final Springfield Indian playing any significant time with the franchise active in the NHL was Rob DiMaio, who last played in the 2006 preseason with the Dallas Stars; the final Indians playing significant time with the franchise active in professional hockey were Michel Picard and Terry Yake, active respectively in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey and the Swiss Nationalliga B through the end of the 2009 season. The last active player who ever wore an Indians jersey is Michael Nylander, who played seven games in Springfield between the 1993 and 1994 seasons, active as of 2012 with the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League.

The market was subsequently home to: Springfield Falcons (1994-current)