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:Cleveland had great hockey at the Arena in the 40s, 50s and early 60s. That was when there were only 6 NHL teams and only 6 in the AHL. Those teams owned their players and were not farm teams. If a player wanted to go to the NHL they wouldn’t stand in his way but they would get a player or cash in return. If somebody would have built a NHL worthy arena (20000 capacity instead of 10000 plexiglass instead of chicken wire) they probably would have become the 7th NHL franchise. Unfortunately no one did.During that time a lot of hockey experts felt the Barons were actually better than the 5th and 6th place team in the NHL (usually the Bruins and Rangers). Your father is right that crowds for the Barons were only half the size in the Colisuem but by then it was a true minor league franchise. No more Fred Glover, Bill Needham and Johnny Bower to name a few (all NHL quality players yet only Bower joined the NHL and won 2 two Stanley Cups as the goalie of Toronto, the other 2 preferred to stay in Cleveland). Hockey fans were concentrated on the West Side of Cleveland making the trip even longer. Then when the WHA formed we had much better quality again as the WHA tried to do what the AFL did just 5 years earlier. They ended more like the All American Football Conference with only 3 teams going to the NHL (Edmonton, Hartford now Carolina and Quebec now Colorado if my memory is correct). Cleveland then got an actual NHL franchise (Gordon Gunds California Seals) and held it for two or three years but as the city shrunk in size and discovered hockey had only about 10,000 west siders who would go, Gund merged the team with the North Stars in Minnesota (now the Dallas Stars) and hockey will forever be very minor league in Cleveland.

Ironically we are heading to Rocket Mortgage FH to take in a minor league hockey game tomorrow.

(02-10-2023 11:35 AM)burden Wrote:  :Cleveland had great hockey at the Arena in the 40s, 50s and early 60s. That was when there were only 6 NHL teams and only 6 in the AHL. Those teams owned their players and were not farm teams. If a player wanted to go to the NHL they wouldn’t stand in his way but they would get a player or cash in return. If somebody would have built a NHL worthy arena (20000 capacity instead of 10000 plexiglass instead of chicken wire) they probably would have become the 7th NHL franchise. Unfortunately no one did.During that time a lot of hockey experts felt the Barons were actually better than the 5th and 6th place team in the NHL (usually the Bruins and Rangers). Your father is right that crowds for the Barons were only half the size in the Colisuem but by then it was a true minor league franchise. No more Fred Glover, Bill Needham and Johnny Bower to name a few (all NHL quality players yet only Bower joined the NHL and won 2 two Stanley Cups as the goalie of Toronto, the other 2 preferred to stay in Cleveland). Hockey fans were concentrated on the West Side of Cleveland making the trip even longer. Then when the WHA formed we had much better quality again as the WHA tried to do what the AFL did just 5 years earlier. They ended more like the All American Football Conference with only 3 teams going to the NHL (Edmonton, Hartford now Carolina and Quebec now Colorado if my memory is correct). Cleveland then got an actual NHL franchise (Gordon Gunds California Seals) and held it for two or three years but as the city shrunk in size and discovered hockey had only about 10,000 west siders who would go, Gund merged the team with the North Stars in Minnesota (now the Dallas Stars) and hockey will forever be very minor league in Cleveland.

Right, it was considered a "minor" league in that the NHL was considered the major league, but they weren't farm teams. I always thought that if an arena had been built downtown an NHL team would have done well in Cleveland. There are lots of hockey fans in Cuyahoga County and other counties bordering the lake, but not nearly as many as one moves south from that area. Of course, Columbus getting a franchise means that won't be happening. Hockey is a really fun sport to watch sitting in the arena.

Yeah maybe one of the few sports that is better live then on TV. TV is to concerned with close ups. One thing I forgot to mention was that Bopol was right that in 1970 hockey in Cleveland was the worst it had been. The NHL had gone from 6 to 12 teams in about 1966 and the AHL 6 became farm teams and no longer owned their players. That along with the location of the Coliseum was the end. Luckily the WHA Crusaders brought it back for 5 or so years and we got to see washed up stars like Howe, Hull, Mikita eg and also some of the young stars such as Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Cheevers etc. Always been a fan and still get to 3 or 4 Blue Jackets games a year (send condolences if you want).

(02-10-2023 11:46 AM)fallsdog Wrote:  Ironically we are heading to Rocket Mortgage FH to take in a minor league hockey game tomorrow.

Let me know if any of the young Blue Jackets look any good.