Worcester Sharks

{{Pro hockey team

| bg_color = background:#006C88; border-top:#088696 5px solid; border-bottom:#E57200 5px solid;

| text_color = Black

| team = Worcester Sharks

| logo = Worcester Sharks.svg

| logosize = 200px

| city = Worcester, Massachusetts

| league = American Hockey League (AHL)

| conference = Eastern Conference

| division = Atlantic Division

| founded = 1996

| operated = 2006–2015

| arena = DCU Center

| colors = Pacific teal, Black, White, Burnt Orange
{{Color box|#088696}} {{Color box|#2C2A29}} {{Color box|#FFFFFF}} {{Color box|#E57200}}

| owner = San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises (Hasso Plattner, Governor)

| media = Worcester Telegram & Gazette
WTAG AM 580 & FM 94.9
Charter TV3

| affiliates = San Jose Sharks
(2006–2015)

| name1 = Kentucky Thoroughblades

| dates1 = 1996–2001

| name2 = Cleveland Barons

| dates2 = 2001–2006

| name3 = Worcester Sharks

| dates3 = 2006–2015

| name4 = San Jose Barracuda

| dates4 = 2015–present

|reg_season_titles =

|division_titles =

|conf_titles =

|calder_cups =

}}

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.{{cite web|date=November 9, 2014|title=Worcester IceCats sold to Rivermen owners|url=http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3099733&l_id=&t_id=|access-date=February 3, 2010|website=OurSports Central}} 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,{{Cite web|date=January 9, 2006|title=Minor league Barons moving to Worcester, Mass.|url=https://www.espn.com/nhl/news/story?id=2286043|access-date=October 19, 2021|website=ESPN|publisher=Associated Press|language=en}} 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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}

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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} 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.{{cite web|date=January 29, 2015|title=Sharks Moving AHL Franchise to SAP Center|url=http://sharks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=750913&navid=DL|access-date=January 29, 2015|website=San Jose Sharks|publisher=}} 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.{{cite web|date=April 3, 2016|title=Introducing the Worcester Railers professional hockey team|url=http://worcestermag.com/2016/04/03/introducing-worcester-railers-professional-hockey-team/41632|access-date=April 3, 2016|website=Worcester Magazine|publisher= |last1=Lyford |first1=Joshua }}

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

class="wikitable"

style="background:#fea;"|Calder Cup Champions

| style="background:#dfd;"|Conference Champions

| style="background:#d0e7ff;"|Division Champions

| style="background:#fbb;"|League Leader

Records as of April 21, 2015.{{Cite web|title=Worcester Sharks season statistics and records|url=https://www.hockeydb.com/stte/worcester-sharks-9069.html|website=HockeyDB}}

colspan=11\|Regular Season !colspan=5\|Playoffs
class="wikitable" style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-size:100%"
Season !Games !Won !Lost !OTL !SOL !Points !PCT !Goals for !Goals against !Standing !Year !1st round !2nd round !3rd round !Finals
2006–07	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	colspan="4"\|Out of playoffs
2008–09	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	style="background:#d0e7ff;"\| 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	colspan="4"\|Out of playoffs
2011–12	76	31	33	4	8	74	.487	199	218	5th, Atlantic	\|2012	colspan="4"\|Out of playoffs
2012–13	76	31	34	4	7	73	.480	191	228	4th, Atlantic	2013	colspan="4"\|Out of playoffs
2013–14	76	36	34	4	2	78	.513	189	226	4th, Atlantic	2014	colspan="4"\|Out of playoffs
2014–15	76	41	29	4	2	91	.579	224	198	3rd, Atlantic	2015	L, 1-3, HER	—	—	—
style="font-weight:bold;" \|Totals	704	339	286	32	47	760	.537	1974	2079	colspan="2" style="background:#a8a8a8;"\|	colspan=4\| 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

=Notable alumni=

List of Worcester Sharks alumni who played in the National Hockey League:

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;

class="wikitable"
style="text-align:center; font-weight:bold; background:#ddd;"\| \| style="text-align:left;"\| Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts
style="text-align:center;" \| style="text-align:left;"\| John McCarthy	LW	277	63	88	151
style="text-align:center;" \| style="text-align:left;"\| Dan DaSilva	RW	239	60	84	144
style="text-align:center; background:#eee;" \| style="text-align:left;"\| Tom Cavanagh	C	202	46	92	138
style="text-align:center;" \| style="text-align:left;"\| Steven Zalewski	C	210	41	87	128
style="text-align:center;" \| style="text-align:left;"\| Lukas Kaspar	LW	216	46	79	125
style="text-align:center; background:#eee;" \| style="text-align:left;"\| Mike Iggulden	C	151	59	64	123
style="text-align:center;" \| style="text-align:left;"\| Graham Mink	RW	132	55	63	118
style="text-align:center; background:#eee;" \| style="text-align:left;"\| Riley Armstrong	RW	208	59	53	112
style="text-align:center; background:#eee;" \| style="text-align:left;"\| Brandon Mashinter	LW	236	54	54	108
style="text-align:center;" \| style="text-align:left;"\| Benn Ferriero	C	121	44	59	103