American Hockey League

American Hockey League
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2016–17 AHL season

American Hockey League logo
Sport Ice hockey
Founded 1936 (IHL/C-AHL Interlocking schedules); 1938 (IHL/C-AHL formally merged)
President David Andrews
No. of teams 30
Countries United States (27 teams)
Canada (3 teams)
Most recent
champion(s)		 Lake Erie Monsters (1st title)
Most titles Hershey Bears (11)[1]
TV partner(s) Canada (English): Sportsnet/Sportsnet One
Canada (French): TVA Sports
Europe: Premier Sports
United States (English): NHL Network
United States (Spanish): ESPN Deportes
Official website www.theahl.com
The alternate logo of the AHL.

The American Hockey League (AHL) is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL).[2] Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the league has an affiliation agreement with an NHL team; before then, one or two NHL teams would not have an AHL affiliate and so assigned players to AHL teams affiliated with other NHL teams. Twenty-seven AHL teams are located in the United States and the remaining three are in Canada. The league offices are located in Springfield, Massachusetts, and its current president is David Andrews.

The annual playoff champion is awarded the Calder Cup, named for Frank Calder, the first President (1917–1943) of the NHL. The reigning champions are the Lake Erie Monsters (since renamed as Cleveland Monsters).

History

Predecessor leagues

The AHL traces its origins directly to two predecessor professional leagues: the Canadian-American Hockey League (the "Can-Am" League), founded in 1926, and the first International Hockey League, established in 1929. Although the Can-Am League never operated with more than six teams, the departure of the Boston Bruin Cubs after the 1935–36 season reduced it down to just four member clubs – Springfield Indians, Philadelphia Ramblers, Providence Reds, and New Haven Eagles – for the first time in its history. At the same time, the then-rival IHL lost half of its eight members after the 1935–36 season, also leaving it with just four member teams: Buffalo Bisons, Syracuse Stars, Pittsburgh Hornets and Cleveland Falcons.

1936–38

With both leagues down to the bare minimum in membership, the governors of each recognized the need for action to assure their member clubs' long-term survival. Their solution was to play an interlocking schedule. While the Can-Am was based in the Northeast and the IHL in the Great Lakes and Midwest, their footprints were close enough for this to be a viable option. The two older leagues' eight surviving clubs began joint play in November 1936 as a new two-division "circuit of mutual convenience" known as the International-American Hockey League. The four Can-Am teams became the I-AHL East Division, with the IHL quartet playing as the West Division. The IHL also contributed its former championship trophy, the F. G. "Teddy" Oke Trophy, which would go to the regular-season winners of the merged league's West Division until 1952. The Oke Trophy is now awarded to the regular-season winners of the AHL's Northeast Division.

A little more than a month into that first season, the balance and symmetry of the new combined circuit suffered a setback when its membership unexpectedly fell to seven teams. The West's Buffalo Bisons were forced to cease operations on December 6, 1936, after playing just 11 games, because of what proved to be insurmountable financial problems and lack of access to a suitable arena; the Bisons' original arena, Peace Bridge Arena, had collapsed the previous season. (A new Buffalo Bisons would return in 1940 after a new arena was constructed for them.) The makeshift new I-AHL played out the rest of its first season (as well as all of the next) with just seven teams.

At the end of the 1936–37 season, a modified three-round playoff format was devised and a new championship trophy, the Calder Cup, was established. The Syracuse Stars defeated the Philadelphia Ramblers in the final, three-games-to-one, to win the first-ever Calder Cup championship. The Calder Cup continues on today as the AHL's playoff championship trophy.

Formal consolidation of the I-AHL

After two seasons of interlocking play, the governors of the two leagues' seven active teams met in New York City on June 28, 1938, and agreed that it was time to formally consolidate. Maurice Podoloff of New Haven, the former head of the Can-Am League, was elected the I-AHL's first president. The former IHL president, John Chick of Windsor, Ontario, became vice-president in charge of officials.

The new I-AHL also added an eighth franchise at the 1938 meeting to fill the void in its membership left by the loss of Buffalo two years earlier with the admission of the then two-time defending Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL) champion Hershey Bears.[3] The Bears remain the only one of these eight original I-AHL/AHL franchises to have been represented in the league without interruption since the 1938–39 season. The newly merged circuit also increased its regular-season schedule for each team by six games from 48 to 54.

Contraction, resurrection, and expansion

After the 1939–40 season the I-AHL renamed itself the American Hockey League. It generally enjoyed both consistent success on the ice and relative financial stability over its first three decades of operation. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, the cost of doing business in professional ice hockey began to rise sharply with NHL expansion and relocation (a process which involved the placing of teams in Pittsburgh and Buffalo, forcing two long-time AHL clubs, the Pittsburgh Hornets and Buffalo Bisons, to fold) and especially the 1972 formation of the World Hockey Association (WHA), which forced the relocation and subsequent folding of the Cleveland Barons, Baltimore Clippers and Quebec Aces. The number of major-league teams competing for players rose from six to thirty in just seven years. Player salaries at all levels shot up dramatically with the increased demand and competition for their services.

This did not seem to affect the AHL at first, as it expanded to 12 teams by 1970. However, to help compensate for the rise in player salaries, many NHL clubs cut back on the number of players they kept under contract for development, and players under AHL contracts could now also demand much higher paychecks to remain with their clubs. As a result, half of the AHL's teams folded from 1974 to 1977. The league bottomed out in the summer of 1977 with news that the Rhode Island (formerly Providence) Reds – the last remaining uninterrupted franchise from the 1936–37 season, and the oldest continuously operating minor league franchise in North America – had decided to cease operations after 51 years in Rhode Island.

The AHL appeared in serious danger of folding altogether if this downward trend was not reversed. However, two events in the fall of 1977 helped reverse the trend. The first of these was the decision of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers to return to the league as a team owner, and the second was the unexpected collapse of the North American Hockey League just weeks before the start of the 1977–78 season.

The Flyers' new AHL franchise became the immediately successful Maine Mariners, which brought the new AHL city of Portland, Maine both the regular-season and Calder Cup playoff titles in each of that club's first two seasons of operation. The folding of the NAHL, meanwhile, suddenly left two of its stronger teams, the Philadelphia Firebirds and Binghamton, New York-based Broome Dusters, without a league to play in. The owners of the Dusters solved their problem by buying the Reds franchise and moving it to Binghamton as the Binghamton Dusters, while the Firebirds crossed over to the AHL from the NAHL. The Dusters and Firebirds, together with the Hampton Gulls (who had joined the league from the Southern Hockey League), boosted the AHL to nine member clubs as the 1977–78 season opened. Hampton folded on February 10, 1978, but was replaced the next year by the New Brunswick Hawks. With franchise stability improving after the demise of the WHA in 1979, the league continued to grow steadily over the years, reaching 20 clubs by the 2000–01 season.

Absorption of the IHL

In 2001–02, the AHL's membership jumped dramatically to 27 teams, mostly by the absorption of six teams – Milwaukee, Chicago, Houston, Utah, Manitoba, and Grand Rapids – from the International Hockey League. The IHL had established itself as the second top-level minor league circuit in North America, but folded in 2001 due to financial problems. One oddity caused by the AHL's 2001 expansion was that the league had two teams with the same nickname: the Milwaukee Admirals and the Norfolk Admirals. The latter team transferred to the league from the mid-level ECHL in 2000. This situation lasted until the end of the 2014–15 season when the Norfolk team moved to San Diego and was replaced by another ECHL team with the same name.

The Utah Grizzlies suspended operations after the 2004–05 season (the franchise was sold in 2006 and returned to the ice in Cleveland in 2007 as the Lake Erie Monsters). The Chicago Wolves (2002, 2008), Houston Aeros (2003), Milwaukee Admirals (2004), and Grand Rapids Griffins (2013) have all won Calder Cup titles since joining the AHL from the IHL. Chicago and Milwaukee have also made multiple trips to the Calder Cup Finals, and Houston made their second Finals appearance in 2011.

The Manitoba Moose moved to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador in 2011 and were renamed the St. John's IceCaps after the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg as the second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets. In 2013, Houston moved to Des Moines, Iowa to become the Iowa Wild. This left Chicago, Grand Rapids and Milwaukee as the only ex-IHL teams still in their original cities until the 2015 relocations when the IceCaps moved back to Winnipeg as the Manitoba Moose.

NHL influence and western shift

Team locations and divisional alignment in the 2014–15 season prior to the franchise relocations
Team locations and divisions after the 2015–16 relocation and realignment

Beginning with the 2015–16 season, ten franchises have since relocated or will relocate due to NHL parent clubs' greater influence on their development teams and players. Of the ten relocated franchises, eight were relocated because they were directly owned by NHL teams and the NHL parent club wished to make call-ups from the AHL more practical by having closer affiliates.

In January 2015, the AHL announced the relocation of five existing AHL franchises – Adirondack, Manchester, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, and Worcester – to California as the basis for a new "Pacific Division" becoming Stockton, Ontario, San Diego, Bakersfield, and San Jose respectively.[4] The relocated teams were all affiliated and owned or purchased by teams in the NHL's Pacific Division.

In March 2015, the AHL then announced two more relocations involving Canadian teams[5] with the St. John's IceCaps going back to Winnipeg as the Manitoba Moose and the Hamilton Bulldogs becoming another iteration of the IceCaps to fulfill the arena contract in St. John's.

For the 2016–17 season, two more moves were announced. The Springfield Falcons franchise was purchased by the Arizona Coyotes and relocated to become the Tucson Roadrunners and join the one-year-old Pacific Division. The Falcons were subsequently replaced by the Springfield Thunderbirds, the relocated Portland Pirates franchise under a new ownership group.

For the 2017–18 season, the Montreal Canadiens' owned IceCaps will relocate to the Montreal suburb of Laval, Quebec, and become the Laval Rocket.[6] The Binghamton Senators was purchased by the Ottawa Senators and will be relocated to Belleville, Ontario, to become the Belleville Senators.[7]

Teams

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Franchise has moved in the past; see AHL membership timeline below or the team's main article for further information.
  2. 1 2 Relocating at the end of the 2016–17 season; see the team's main article for more information.

Timeline

Cleveland Monsters Utah Grizzlies (1995–2005) Manitoba Moose St. John's IceCaps Manitoba Moose Milwaukee Admirals Ontario Reign Manchester Monarchs (AHL) Iowa Wild Houston Aeros (1994–2013) Grand Rapids Griffins Chicago Wolves Bridgeport Sound Tigers San Diego Gulls Norfolk Admirals (AHL) Texas Stars Iowa Stars Louisville Panthers Albany Devils Lowell Devils San Jose Barracuda Worcester Sharks Cleveland Barons (2001–06) Kentucky Thoroughblades Lehigh Valley Phantoms Adirondack Phantoms Philadelphia Phantoms Beast of New Haven Carolina Monarchs Rockford IceHogs Cincinnati Mighty Ducks Baltimore Bandits Tucson Roadrunners Springfield Falcons Syracuse Crunch Hamilton Canucks Charlotte Checkers (2010–) Albany River Rats Capital District Islanders Providence Bruins Maine Mariners Bakersfield Condors Oklahoma City Barons Edmonton Road Runners Toronto Roadrunners Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) Cape Breton Oilers Nova Scotia Oilers Moncton Golden Flames Sherbrooke Jets Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Cornwall Aces Halifax Citadels Fredericton Express Springfield Thunderbirds Portland Pirates Baltimore Skipjacks Erie Blades Toronto Marlies St. John's Maple Leafs Newmarket Saints St. Catharines Saints New Brunswick Hawks Syracuse Firebirds Philadelphia Firebirds (ice hockey) Stockton Heat Adirondack Flames Abbotsford Heat Quad City Flames Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights Saint John Flames Utica Devils Maine Mariners Hampton Gulls Belleville Senators Binghamton Senators Prince Edward Island Senators New Haven Nighthawks San Antonio Rampage Adirondack Red Wings Virginia Wings Cincinnati Swords Moncton Hawks Boston Braves (AHL) Laval Rocket St. John's IceCaps Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) Quebec Citadelles Fredericton Canadiens Sherbrooke Canadiens Nova Scotia Voyageurs Montreal Voyageurs Baltimore Clippers Richmond Robins Quebec Aces Rochester Americans Philadelphia Rockets St. Louis Flyers Cincinnati Mohawks Washington Lions Indianapolis Capitals Hershey Bears Buffalo Bisons (AHL) Syracuse Stars Utica Comets Peoria Rivermen (AHL) Worcester IceCats Springfield Indians Syracuse Warriors Springfield Indians Hartford Wolf Pack Binghamton Rangers Providence Reds Pittsburgh Hornets Philadelphia Ramblers New Haven Eagles Syracuse Eagles Jacksonville Barons Cleveland Barons (1937-73) Buffalo Bisons (IHL)

AHL teams of the past and present

All-Star Game

The American Hockey League first held an All-Star Game in the 1941–42 season. The event was not played again until the 1954–55 season, and was then held annually until the 1959–60 season. In the 1994–95 season, the AHL revived the events again, and has been played every season since. The skills competition was first introduced for the 1995–96 season. From 1996 to 2010, the game took place between a team of players born outside of Canada and a team of players born within Canada. The All-Star Game was replaced by an all-star challenge between the league's divisions from the 2015-16 season onward. The challenge consists of six nine-minute round-robin games between the league's divisions; the top two divisions in the challenge's round-robin phase advance to a six-minute championship game. The winning division of the championship game is declared the winner of the all-star challenge.

DateArenaCityWinnerScoreRunner-up
February 1, 2016 Onondaga War Memorial Arena Syracuse, New York Round robin results:
Pacific 0–1 North
Central 2–1 Atlantic (SO)
Central 4–2 North
Pacific 1–2 Atlantic
Central 4–6 Pacific
Atlantic 4–1 North
Central Division 4–0 Atlantic Division
January 26, 2015 Utica Memorial Auditorium Utica, New York West All-Stars 14–12 East All-Stars
February 12, 2014 Mile One Centre St. John's, NL AHL All-Stars 7–2 Färjestad BK
January 28, 2013 Dunkin' Donuts Center Providence, Rhode Island West All-Stars 7–6 East All-Stars
January 30, 2012 Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City, New Jersey West All-Stars 8–7 (SO) East All-Stars
January 31, 2011 Giant Center Hershey, Pennsylvania East All-Stars 11–8 West All-Stars
January 19, 2010 Cumberland County Civic Center Portland, Maine Canada 10–9 (SO) PlanetUSA
January 26, 2009 DCU Center Worcester, Massachusetts PlanetUSA 14–11 Canada
January 28, 2008 Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena Binghamton, New York Canada 9–8 (SO) PlanetUSA
January 29, 2007 Ricoh Coliseum Toronto PlanetUSA 7–6 Canada
February 1, 2006 MTS Centre Winnipeg Canada 9–4 PlanetUSA
February 14, 2005 Verizon Wireless Arena Manchester, New Hampshire PlanetUSA 5–4 Canada
February 9, 2004 Van Andel Arena Grand Rapids, Michigan Canada 9–5 PlanetUSA
February 3, 2003 Cumberland County Civic Center Portland, Maine Canada 10–7 PlanetUSA
February 14, 2002 Mile One Stadium St. John's, NF Canada 13–11 PlanetUSA
January 15, 2001 First Union Arena at Casey Plaza Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Canada 11–10 PlanetUSA
January 17, 2000 Blue Cross Arena Rochester, New York Canada 8–3 PlanetUSA
January 25, 1999 First Union Center Philadelphia PlanetUSA 5–4 (SO) Canada
February 11, 1998 Onondaga War Memorial Arena Syracuse, New York Canada 11–10 PlanetUSA
January 16, 1997 Harbour Station Saint John, NB World 3–2 (SO) Canada
January 16, 1996 Hersheypark Arena Hershey, Pennsylvania USA 6–5 Canada
January 17, 1995 Providence Civic Center Providence, Rhode Island Canada 6–4 USA
December 10, 1959 Eastern States Coliseum West Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield Indians 8–3 AHL All-Stars
January 15, 1959 Hershey Sports Arena Hershey, Pennsylvania Hershey Bears 5–2 AHL All-Stars
October 6, 1957 Rochester Community War Memorial Rochester, New York AHL All-Stars 5–2 Cleveland Barons
October 23, 1956 Rhode Island Auditorium Providence, Rhode Island Providence Reds 4–0 AHL All-Stars
January 10, 1956 Duquesne Gardens Pittsburgh AHL All-Stars 4–4 Pittsburgh Hornets
October 27, 1954 Hershey Sports Arena Hershey, Pennsylvania AHL All-Stars 7–3 Cleveland Barons
February 3, 1942 Cleveland Arena Cleveland, Ohio East All-Stars 5–4 West All-Stars

Outdoor games

An AHL record crowd of 45,653 watched the Adirondack Phantoms defeat the Hershey Bears, 4–3 in OT, at the 2012 AHL Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Main article: AHL Outdoor Classic

Since the 2009–10 season, at least one team in the AHL has hosted an outdoor ice hockey game each year. The Syracuse Crunch was the first organization to put on an outdoor game in the AHL on February 20, 2010, building a rink at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York, and packing a record 21,508 fans in for the Mirabito Outdoor Classic against the Binghamton Senators. The contest, which was also televised to an international audience on NHL Network, was won by the Crunch, 2–1.

The Connecticut Whale hosted the Whale Bowl—the AHL's second outdoor game—on February 19, 2011, as part of a 10-day Whalers Hockey Fest at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn. Attendance for Connecticut's game against the Providence Bruins was announced at 21,673, the largest in AHL history to that point. Providence won, 5–4, in a shootout.

On January 6, 2012, the largest crowd in AHL history saw the Adirondack Phantoms defeat the Hershey Bears, 4–3, in overtime before 45,653 fans at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the final event of the week-long activities associated with the 2012 NHL Winter Classic, which also included a game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers on Jan 2 and an alumni game between retired players (including eight honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame) of those two clubs on December 31, 2011. The contest was the third outdoor game in AHL history and it more than doubled the league's previous single-game attendance mark.

On January 21, 2012, the Steeltown Showdown between Ontario rivals the Toronto Marlies and Hamilton Bulldogs was held at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ont., with the Marlies winning 7–2 in front of 20,565 fans, the largest crowd ever for an AHL game in Canada. The AHL game was preceded the previous night by a game between Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens alumni.

Two outdoor games were announced for the 2012–13 AHL season, but a meeting between the Grand Rapids Griffins and Toronto Marlies at Comerica Park in Detroit as part of the festivities surrounding the NHL Winter Classic was not held because of the cancellation of the NHL Winter Classic. On January 20, 2013, the Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins met outdoors at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pa. The Penguins earned a 2–1 overtime victory in front of 17,311 fans.

The Rochester Americans hosted an outdoor game in 2013–14, the Frozen Frontier, which was held at Frontier Field in Rochester on December 13, 2013. The Americans took a 5–4 decision in a shootout against the Lake Erie Monsters before a standing-room crowd of 11,015 fans. A year after their originally scheduled date, the Griffins and Marlies played at Comerica Park on December 30, 2013, and Toronto prevailed in a shootout, 4–3, becoming the first AHL team ever with two outdoor wins. Attendance in Detroit was 20,337.

As part of the recent addition of the Pacific Division the AHL played its first outdoor hockey game in California during the 2015–16 season called the Golden State Hockey Rush. On December 18, 2015, the Stockton Heat hosted the Bakersfield Condors at Raley Field in West Sacramento, California. Stockton defeated Bakersfield 3–2 in front of 9,357 fans.[8]

For the second consecutive season the AHL will play an outdoor game in California. The Bakersfield Condors were named as hosts for their second outdoor game against the Ontario Reign to be held on January 7, 2017, at Bakersfield College's Memorial Stadium and is called the Condorstown Outdoor Classic.[9]

AHL Hall of Fame

Main article: AHL Hall of Fame

The formation of an American Hockey League Hall of Fame was announced by the league on December 15, 2005, created to recognize, honor and celebrate individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions specifically in the AHL.[10]

Trophies and awards

The following is a list of awards of the American Hockey League. The year the award was first handed out is listed in parentheses.

Individual awards

Team awards

† Trophy predates American Hockey League, established 1926–27 in the Canadian Professional Hockey League.

Other awards

Sources:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Calder Cup Record Book", theahl.com
  2. ↑ Scott, Jon C. (2006). Hockey Night in Dixie: Minor Pro Hockey in the American South. Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd. p. xvii. ISBN 1-894974-21-2.
  3. ↑ "Hershey In Hockey League: Admitted to Circuit as American-International Loops Unite" The Philadelphia Record, June 29, 1938
  4. ↑ "AHL approves formation of Pacific Division". AHL. January 29, 2015.
  5. ↑ "AHL announces franchise transactions". AHL. March 12, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Montreal Canadiens' farm team relocating to St. John's next season". The Compass. March 12, 2015. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Sens Owner Purchases AHL Team Partners W/ Belleville". Ottawa Senators. September 26, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Grant, Kylington and Shore Lead Heat to 3-2 Win at Raley Field". Stockton Heat. December 19, 2015. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Condors bringing outdoor hockey to Memorial Stadium". Bakersfield.com. August 23, 2016.
  10. ↑ http://theahl.com/ahl-hall-of-fame-p135901

External links

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