The Worcester Sharks were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that played from 2006 to 2015. Affiliated with the National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks and located in Worcester, Massachusetts, the Sharks played their home games at the DCU Center.
History On November 9, 2004, the St. Louis Blues announced the sale of the Worcester IceCats to the owners of their ECHL affiliate, the Peoria Rivermen. The new owners moved the franchise to Peoria, Illinois, for the 2005–06 season. Shocked by the loss of the IceCats, the people of Worcester bargained with several National Hockey League (NHL) franchises, trying to bring hockey back to the city. On January 6, 2006, the San Jose Sharks announced they were moving their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Barons, to Worcester, Massachusetts, and the Worcester Sharks played their first home game on October 14, 2006, in front of a sold-out 7,230 fans in a shootout loss to the Portland Pirates. The Sharks qualified for the playoffs in their inaugural season, but were eliminated in six games by the Manchester Monarchs in the first round.
The Sharks' main rivals were the Providence Bruins, the genesis of which dates back to IceCats' days.
The Sharks were well represented in the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, with former Sharks Joe Pavelski (played for the United States), Douglas Murray (represented Sweden) along with the goaltending tandem from the franchise's first two years with Thomas Greiss and Dimitri Patzold played for Germany.
On November 1, 2009, head coach Roy Sommer became only the fourth coach in AHL history to record 400 wins. On January 14, 2011, Sommer was behind the Sharks bench for his 1,000th regular-season game as an AHL head coach, becoming just the fourth man in AHL history to reach that milestone. On February 11, 2012, Sommer became the fourth coach in AHL history to record 500 wins with a 3–2 shootout win over the Hershey Bears.
Relocation to San Jose On January 26, 2015, it was reported that the Sharks would move to San Jose and share SAP Center at San Jose with their parent club, the San Jose Sharks. These reports were confirmed with the Sharks' official announcement on January 29. On April 2, 2015, the team was announced as the San Jose Barracuda.
Worcester did not initially receive an ECHL team to replace the relocated AHL team, unlike the other markets with relocated AHL teams in 2015, such as Manchester, New Hampshire, Norfolk, Virginia, and Glens Falls, New York. On February 8, 2016, the ECHL announced Worcester would be home to an expansion team, set to begin play for the 2017–18 season. The team is owned by Cliff Rucker, with Toby O'Brien serving as president and general manager. The team name was revealed on April 3 to be the Worcester Railers.
This market was previously served by: Worcester Warriors (1954–1956) - members of the Eastern Hockey League (1954–55) and Atlantic Hockey League (1955–56) Worcester IceCats (1994–2005) - affiliated with the St. Louis Blues
Broadcasters Radio Eric Lindquist - Play-by-Play
Television Eric Lindquist - Play-by-Play Kevin Shea - Color Commentary
Season-by-season results Calder Cup championsConference championsDivision championsLeague leader Records as of April 21, 2015. Regular SeasonPlayoffsSeasonGamesWonLostOTLSOLPointsPCTGoalsforGoalsagainstStandingYear1stround2ndround3rdroundFinals2006–07 80 41 28 3 8 93 .581 247 244 4th, Atlantic 2007 L, 2–4, MCH ———2007–08 80 32 37 5 6 75 .469 216 258 6th, Atlantic 2008 Out of playoffs2008–09 80 42 35 1 2 87 .544 223 223 4th, Atlantic 2009 W, 4–2, HFD L, 2–4, PRO ——2009–10 80 49 25 3 3 104 .650 275 239 1st, Atlantic 2010 W, 4–1, LOW L, 2–4, MCH ——2010–11 80 36 31 4 9 85 .531 210 245 4th, Atlantic 2011 Out of playoffs2011–12 76 31 33 4 8 74 .487 199 218 5th, Atlantic 2012 Out of playoffs2012–13 76 31 34 4 7 73 .480 191 228 4th, Atlantic 2013 Out of playoffs2013–14 76 36 34 4 2 78 .513 189 226 4th, Atlantic 2014 Out of playoffs2014–15 76 41 29 4 2 91 .579 224 198 3rd, Atlantic 2015 L, 1-3, HER — — —Totals 704 339 286 32 47 760 .537 1974 2079 4 Playoff Appearances
Players
Team captains Graham Mink, 2007–2008 Ryan Vesce, 2008–2010 Jay Leach, 2010–2011 Mike Moore, 2011–2012 John McCarthy, 2012–2013 Rob Davison, 2013–2014 Bryan Lerg, 2014–2015
All-Star Classic representatives
Mathieu Darche, 2007 Canadian Mike Iggulden, 2008 Canadian Derek Joslin, 2009 Canadian Ryan Vesce, 2009 PlanetUSA Logan Couture, 2010 Canadian Alex Stalock, 2010 PlanetUSA Justin Braun, 2011 Eastern Jonathan Cheechoo, 2011 Eastern Matt Irwin, 2012 Eastern Bracken Kearns, 2013 Eastern Matt Taormina, 2015 Eastern
Notable alumni List of Worcester Sharks alumni who played in the National Hockey League:
Riley Armstrong Steve Bernier Justin Braun Adam Burish Joe Callahan Matt Carle Tom Cavanagh Jonathan Cheechoo Logan Couture Mathieu Darche Rob Davison Aaron Dell Dylan DeMelo Jason Demers
Andrew Desjardins Scott Ferguson Benn Ferriero Barclay Goodrow Josh Gorges Thomas Greiss Dwight Helminen Tomas Hertl Carter Hutton Mike Iggulden Matt Irwin Derek Joslin Melker Karlsson Lukas Kaspar
Tyler Kennedy Tim Kennedy Claude Lemieux Brandon Mashinter John McCarthy Jamie McGinn Frazer McLaren Kyle McLaren Torrey Mitchell Mike Moore Mirco Mueller Douglas Murray Sandis Ozolinsh
Dimitri Patzold Joe Pavelski Tomas Plihal Devin Setoguchi James Sheppard Alex Stalock Brad Staubitz Matt Tennyson Patrick Traverse Ryan Vesce Marc-Edouard Vlasic Tommy Wingels Steven Zalewski
Player records
All-time regular season leaders Games Played: Nick Petrecki, John McCarthy, 277 Goals: John McCarthy, 63 Assists: Tom Cavanagh, 92 Points: John McCarthy, 151 PIM: Frazer McLaren, 577 Wins: Thomas Greiss, 74 Losses: Thomas Greiss, 60 Shutouts: Alex Stalock, Aaron Dell 4 Lowest GAA : Aaron Dell, 2.06
Individual regular season Most Goals: Mathieu Darche, 35 (2006–07) Most Assists: Danny Groulx, 52 (2009–10) Most Points: Mathieu Darche, 80 (2006–07) Most Penalty Minutes: Matt Pelech, 238 (2012–13) Most Power-Play Goals: Mathieu Darche, 16 (2006–07) Most Shorthanded Goals: Ryan Vesce, 3 (2008–09) Most Appearances: Alex Stalock, 61 (2009–10) Most Minutes Played: Alex Stalock, 3,534 (2009–10) Most Wins: Alex Stalock, 39 (2009–10) Most Losses: Thomas Greiss, 24 (2008–09) Most Shutouts: Alex Stalock, 4 (2009–10) Aaron Dell, 4 (2014-15) Lowest GAA (min. 25 games): Aaron Dell, 2.06 (2014–15) Highest Save Percentage (min. 25 games): Aaron Dell, .927 (2014–15)
All-time playoff leaders Games Played: 14 players tied, 12 Goals: Patrick Traverse/Jamie McGinn/Andrew Desjardins, 4 Assists: Riley Armstrong, 11 Points: Riley Armstrong, 14
Franchise firsts First Game & Win: October 6, 2006. Worcester Sharks 4, Portland Pirates 3 [SO] Franchise First Goal: October 6, 2006. Worcester Sharks 4, Portland Pirates 3 [SO]. Goal scored by Mathieu Darche Franchise First Shutout: January 11, 2008 by Dimitri Patzold. Worcester Sharks 3, Providence Bruins 0. Franchise First Hat Trick: December 22, 2006 by Mathieu Darche. Worcester Sharks 6, Manchester Monarchs 4. Franchise Largest Crowd: February 24, 2012. 10,170 Providence Bruins 5, Worcester Sharks 3.
Franchise lasts Last Game: May 1, 2015. Worcester Sharks 4, Hershey Bears 10 [Game 4, Round 1 of Playoffs] Last Win: April 29, 2015. Worcester Sharks 4, Hershey Bears 1 [Game 3, Round 1 of Playoffs] Franchise Last Goal: May 1, 2015. Worcester Sharks 4, Hershey Bears 10 [Game 4, Round 1 of Playoffs] Goal scored by Matt Taormina assisted by Oleksuk, Langlois. Franchise Last Shutout: April 7, 2015 by Aaron Dell. Worcester Sharks 1, Portland Pirates 0 Franchise Last Hat Trick: February 27, 2015 by Evan Trupp. Saint John's IceCaps 3, Worcester Sharks 6 Franchise Last Home Game: April 25, 2015 Hershey Bears 3, Worcester Sharks 1 [Game 2, Round 1 of Playoffs] Attendance:4,045
Franchise scoring leaders These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points;
Player Pos GP G A Pts John McCarthy LW 277 63 88 151 Dan DaSilva RW 239 60 84 144 Tom Cavanagh C 202 46 92 138 Steven Zalewski C 210 41 87 128 Lukas Kaspar LW 216 46 79 125 Mike Iggulden C 151 59 64 123 Graham Mink RW 132 55 63 118 Riley Armstrong RW 208 59 53 112 Brandon Mashinter LW 236 54 54 108 Benn Ferriero C 121 44 59 103
Head coaches Roy Sommer, 2006–2015
References
External links Worcester Sharks Supporters Website Worcester Sharks Booster Club