Springfield Falcons

American Hockey League (1994-2016)

Tombstone

Born: May 5, 1994 – AHL expansion franchise¹
Moved: May 2016 (Tucson Roadrunners)

First Game: September 30, 1994 (W 5-3 vs. Worcester IceCats)
Last Game: April 17, 2016 (L 3-1 vs. Portland Pirates)

Calder Cup Championships: None

Arena

MassMutual Center (6,679)
Opened:1972

Marketing

Team Colors: Cyan Blue, Black, Yellow, Grey & White²

Ownership & Affiliation

Owners:

1994-2002: Bruce Landon, Wayne LaChance, et al.
2002-2010: Joe Cambi, Peter Picknelly, MassMutual Financial Group, Bruce Landon, et al.
2010-2016: Charlie Pompea & Bruce Landon

NHL Affiliations:

1994-1996: Winnipeg Jets
1994-1997: Hartford Whalers
1996-2004: Phoenix Coyotes
1998-1999: Los Angeles Kings
2000-2001: New York Islanders
2001-2003: Tampa Bay Lightning
2004-2007: Tampa Bay Lightning
2007-2010: Edmonton Oilers
2010-2015: Columbus Blue Jackets
2015-2016: Arizona Coyotes

Background

The Springfield Falcons were a long-running American Hockey League club that kept professional ice hockey alive in the historic hockey city of Springfield, Massachusetts. In the spring of 1994, Peter Cooney, the final owner of the city’s nearly 70-year old Springfield Indians, sold the team to former New York Islanders owner Roy Boe, who in turn moved the AHL franchise to Worcester, Massachusetts.

The AHL, which maintained its league headquarters in Springfield, approved the Indians’ shift to Worcester at league meetings on May 5th, 1994. At the very same meeting, the league swiftly approved a new expansion franchise for Springfield to a group headed up by retired Springfield Indians goaltender Bruce Landon.

In Competition

The Falcons, although a durable entry in the AHL, were never particularly good. In 22 seasons, the Falcons won just four playoff rounds. Despite the AHL’s relatively generous playoff format, Springfield missed the playoffs 14 times during the Falcons era, including nine straight years from 2004 to 2012.

The team’s finest season was its third campaign during the winter of 1996-97. Working as a Hartford Whalers farm club, the Falcons finished 2nd in the AHL’s New England Division with a 41-25-21-2 record. In the Calder Cup playoffs, Springfield advanced to the semi-finals and held a commanding lead over the Hershey Bears, winning the first two games of the best-of-seven set on the road before returning home to Springfield for games 3, 4 and 5. Despite those advantages, the Falcons blew a 3 games to 1 series lead, and lost three consecutives elimination games to lose the series.

Springfield would win only one more playoff series in the next 19 years.

Jean-Guy Trudel (Falcons ’99-’02) was the club’s all-time point leaders with 90 goals and 152 assists over three-seasons. Journeyman center Ryan Craig, who played intermittently for the Falcons between 2004 and 2015, was the team’s top career goal scorer with 94.

Move & Replacement by Thunderbirds

In the spring of 2016 the Falcons’ NHL parent club, the Arizona Coyotes, exercised an option to purchase the club. As part of the transaction, the Coyotes announced they would move the franchise to Tucson, Arizona for the 2016-17 season to bring their top prospects closer to home. The former Falcons franchise is known today as the Tucson Roadrunners.

In a replay of the Falcons’ own origin story back in 1994 upon the departure of the Indians, a local Springfield group immediately formed to replace the Falcons. The new group purchased the AHL’s Portland Pirates and moved to the team to Springfield’s MassMutual Center in the fall of 2016. The new team adopted the name ‘Thunderbirds’ and remains active in the AHL at the time of this writing.