Tag: Cincinnati Gardens

Cincinnati Slammers Continental Basketball Association

Cincinnati Slammers

During the early-to-mid 1980’s, the Continental Basketball Association made several efforts to grab a foothold in “Major League” cities.  The CBA, at the time, was akin to triple-A baseball and had a formal partnership with the NBA. While the CBA established passionate followings in cities like Albany, New York and La Crosse, Wisconsin during the 1980’s, the league’s experience in Cincinnati was typical of the box office busts that resulted from each one of its major market adventures.

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Cincinnati Mohawks International Hockey League

Cincinnati Mohawks

The Cincinnati Mohawks, at first, were a middling minor league hockey club that put together three unremarkable seasons as a Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers farm club in the American Hockey League (AHL) during the early 1950’s. But the Mohawks turned from also-rans to juggernaut when the club jumped from the AHL to the lower-cost International Hockey League (IHL) in 1952. The Mohawks reeled off five consecutive Turner Cup playoff championships from 1953 to ’57.

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Cincinnati Mighty Ducks American Hockey League

Cincinnati Mighty Ducks

The Mighty Ducks were the Disney-fied half of Cincinnati’s unusual intra-city minor league hockey rivalry of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. The Ducks, who served as the top farm club of the NHL’s Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the American Hockey League, played at the Cincinnati Gardens. The Cyclones, of the International Hockey League, played at the larger and more modern Riverfront Coliseum. Both teams fell on hard times in the mid-2000’s and the Ducks closed their doors in 2005 after Anaheim withdrew its support of the team.

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1995-96 Cincinnati Silverbacks Program from the National Professional Soccer League

Cincinnati Silverbacks

The Cincinnati Silverbacks were an indoor soccer team that played three seasons in the National Professional Soccer League from 1995 until 1998. After two seasons at the Cincinnati Gardens, the Silverbacks played their final campaign at Riverfront Coliseum (or “The Crown” as it was then known) during the winter of 1997-98. The Silverbacks represented the Queen City’s second go at professional indoor soccer following the Cincinnati Kids of the Major Indoor Soccer League, who played at the Riverfront Coliseum in 1979.

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Cincinnati Swords American Hockey League

Cincinnati Swords

Popular but short-lived minor league hockey team that played at the Cincinnati Gardens from the fall of 1971 through the spring of 1974.  The Cincinnati Swords were formed as an American Hockey League farm club of the NHL’s expansion Buffalo Sabres franchise (hence the name).

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