American Hockey League (2001-2006)
Tombstone
Born: 2001 – The Kentucky Thoroughblades relocate to Cleveland, OH
Moved Announced: January 9, 2006 (Worcester Sharks)
First Game: October 5, 2001 (W 6-5 vs. Portland Pirates)
Final Game: April 15, 2006 (L 8-1 @ Manitoba Moose)
Calder Cup Championships: None
Arena
Gund Arena (10,221 – lower bowl only)
Opened: 1994
Marketing
Team Colors: Baron Blue, Gray, Gold, Black & White
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner: San Jose Sharks
NHL Affiliation: San Jose Sharks
Background
The 2001-2006 Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League represented the second revival of the classic “Barons” hockey brand in Cleveland. The original Barons played in the AHL from 1937 to 1973. When the NHL’s woeful California Golden Seals franchise moved to Ohio to play in the old Richfield Coliseum in 1976, they reclaimed the historic Barons name. But the club was a disaster and lasted just two seasons before financial insolvency forced the team to merge with the Minnesota North Stars in June 1978. To this day, the NHL Cleveland Barons remain the last franchise from North American Big Four professional sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL) to go out of business.
Pro hockey returned to Cleveland in 1992 with the arrival of the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the minor International Hockey League. The ‘Jacks enjoyed some good crowds in the mid-1990’s. But by the end of the decade the IHL was on the verge of collapse. Cleveland became one of the league’s trouble spots, drawing fewer than 3,000 fans per night at Gund Arena by the end of the decade.
San Jose Sharks Partnership
After the IHL and the Lumberjacks folded in the spring of 2001, the San Jose Sharks moved their Lexington, Kentucky AHL farm club to Gund Arena for the 2001-02 season. The Sharks brought back the old Barons identity, but the farm club used San Jose’s modern colors of teal and black.
Perhaps the Lumberjacks’ struggles soured the market on minor league hockey or maybe northeast Ohio fans just couldn’t get excited about the far away San Jose Sharks. The Barons also played very poorly, failing to make the Calder Cup playoffs in four of their five seasons. Whatever the problem, the modern day Barons failed to spark much interest in Cleveland. Through the club’s first four-and-a-half seasons at Gund Arena, attendance averaged only 3,716 per game according to The Silicon Valley Business Journal. The Sharks reportedly lost several million dollars on the Barons over the years.
Midway through the 2005-06 season, San Jose management applied to the AHL to move the team to Worcester, Massachusetts for the 2006-07 season. The move was approved on January 9, 2006 and the Barons finished out the season as a lame duck team. The former Barons franchise plays on today in the AHL as the San Jose Barracuda.
Cleveland Barons Shop
Links
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One Response
The 21st-century Barons also never had a television deal during their existence. Only one game for this club was televised, to my knowledge, and that was on WCIU, channel 26, in Chicago (the Barons were playing the Chicago Wolves then, and that game was apparently televised to the home fans). They also came in when the Buffalo Sabres’ Empire Sports Network was in the lineup of the area’s dominant cable company back then, Adelphia.