The Worcester IceCats were an American Hockey League club that operated for 11 seasons in central Massachusetts. The ‘Cats operated as the top farm club of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues for most of their existence. Following the 2004-05 season, the IceCats franchise moved to Illinois and became the Peoria Rivermen. But the American Hockey League returned to Worcester’s DCU Center one year later with the arrival of the Worcester Sharks.
The minor league Houston Aeros of 1994-2013 were a brand revival of the popular World Hockey Association club of the 1970’s, who famously featured ageless Hall-of-Famer Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty. During the 1990’s, the Aeros operated as a non-NHL affiliated independent club in the ambitious International Hockey League. The Aeros were always a strong club and won the IHL’s Turner Cup championship in 1999 and the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup in 2003, following the IHL’s demise in 2001. In their final decade, the Aeros were acquired by the NHL’s Minnesota Wild and became the Wild’s top farm team in the AHL. After 19 seasons in Houston, the franchise moved to Des Moines, Iowa in 2013.
Springfield’s long-running American Hockey League franchise was known as the Indians by generations of Western Massachusetts hockey fans between 1926 and 1994. The exception was a span of eight seasons between 1967 and 1975 when the team took on the name ‘Kings’, following the contentious exile of the club’s iron-fisted ruler, Eddie Shore. The NHL’s Los Angeles Kings owned the Springfield club outright during these years and helped produce several outstanding future NHL stars, including Butch Goring and Billy Smith. The team changed its name back to the Indians midway through the 1974-75 season after Eddie Shore regained control of the club.
The Broome Dusters, AKA the Binghamton Dusters, were a popular minor league hockey team during the mid-1970’s in Broome County, New York. The Dusters originally played in the rough and tumble North American Hockey League from 1973 through 1977. After that league collapsed, the Dusters joined the American Hockey League for three seasons from 1977 until 1980. Binghamton resident Johnny Hart, who penned the syndicated comic strips B.C. and The Wizard of Id, designed the Dusters’ logo of a caveman with a hockey stick.
The Philadelphia Firebirds minor league hockey team played at the old Philadelphia Civic Center from 1974 through 1979. Philly was hockey mad at the time. The NHL’s Flyers won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. The Firebirds enjoyed some of the overflow enthusiasm and added a championship of their own, winning the North American Hockey League’s Lockhart Cup in 1976. The ‘Birds helped launch the career of long-time NHL goaltender Reggie Lemelin and 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey hero Mike Eruzione also played briefly for the team. The Firebirds moved away to Syracuse, New York in 1979.
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