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. 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 rival is the Providence Bruins, which dates all the way back to early IceCats' days. Over the past few years, a rivalry with the Norfolk Admirals has developed. Even though they play each other three or four times a year, the games are usually very intense and physical usually containing fights, including multiple line brawls, once including a goalie fight between Thomas Greiss and Jonathan Boutin. 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. Currently, Sommer is the longest tenured coach in the AHL. Then, 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 Roy became the fourth coach in AHL history to record 500 wins with a 3-2 shootout win over Hershey at Giant Center.
This market was previously served by:
- Worcester Warriors (1954–1956) - members of the Eastern Hockey League (1954–55) and Atlantic Hockey League (1955–56)
- Worcester IceCats (1994–2005) - affiliated with the St. Louis Blues
Read more about this topic: Worcester Sharks
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