Kentucky Thoroughblades

Kentucky Thoroughblades
founding	1996
history	Kentucky Thoroughblades 1996 - 2001 Cleveland Barons 2001 - 2006 Worcester Sharks 2006 - 2015 San Jose Barracuda since 2015
Stadion	Rupp Arena
Location	Lexington , Kentucky
Team colors	fir green, plum, silver, black
Calder cups	no

The Kentucky Thoroughblades were an American ice hockey franchise of the American Hockey League from Lexington , Kentucky . They played in the Rupp Arena from 1996 to 2001 . The team was relocated to Cleveland , Ohio after the 2000/01 season and renamed Cleveland Barons .

history

The brief history of the Thoroughblades began in 1996 with the founding of the team and entry into the American Hockey League, at that time the strongest North American ice hockey league alongside the International Hockey League and behind the National Hockey League . The team was owned by Kentucky Hockey Associates Inc. In its first year of existence, the team reached the first round of the playoffs. This also succeeded in the following four years, where you could even win the division title in the regular season in the 1999/00 and 2000/01 seasons . The playoffs were never crowned with success for the Thoroughblades. In three of the five years you failed in the first round, where mostly the Hershey Bears proved to be too big a hurdle.

During its existence, the Thoroughblades served as the farm team of the NHL team San Jose Sharks , whereby some well-known players, such as the later NHL Awards winners Jonathan Cheechoo , Yevgeny Nabokow and Miikka Kiprusoff , were members of the team. In 2001 the team was bought by the owners of the Sharks and relocated to Cleveland .

Season statistics

Ryan Kraft in the Thoroughblades jersey

season	GP	W.	L.	T	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	space	Playoffs
1996/97	80	36	35	9	0	81	278	284	1881	3rd, Mid-Atlantic	Conference quarterfinal defeat, 3-1 ( Hershey )
1997/98	80	29	39	9	3	70	241	287	2346	3rd, Mid-Atlantic	Conference quarterfinal defeat, 3-0 ( Hershey )
1998/99	80	44	26th	7th	3	98	272	214	2153	2nd, Mid-Atlantic	Victory in the Conference Quarterfinal, 3-2 ( Hershey ) defeat in the Conference Semifinal, 3-4 ( Philadelphia )
1999/00	80	42	25th	9	4th	97	250	211	2563	1st, Mid-Atlantic	Victory in the Conference Quarterfinal, 3-1 ( Louisville ) Defeat in the Conference Semifinal, 1: 4 ( Hershey )
2000/01	80	42	25th	12	1	97	273	212	1970	1st, South	Conference quarterfinal defeat, 3-0 ( Hershey )
total	400	193	150	46	11	443	1314	1208	10913		5 playoff appearances 7 series: 2 wins, 5 defeats 31 games: 11 wins, 20 defeats

Club records

Career Goals: 88, Steve Guolla Assists: 132, Steve Guolla Points: 220, Steve Guolla Penalty Minutes: 692, Garrett Burnett Games won by a goalkeeper: 42, Jamie Ram , Miikka Kiprusoff Shutouts: 7, Jamie Ram Games: 247, Jarrett Deuling

season Goals: 43, Jan Čaloun (1996/97) Assists: 63, Steve Guolla (1997/98) Points: 100, Steve Guolla (1997/98) Penalty Minutes: 506, Garrett Burnett (1999/00) Average conceded goals: 2.24, Miikka Kiprusoff (2000/01) Shots saved (%): 92.6, Miikka Kiprusoff (2000/01)

Former players

Peter Allen Niklas Andersson Greg Andrusak Chris Armstrong Steve Bancroft Ken Belanger Alexander Boikov Eric Boulton Dan Boyle Matt Bradley Rich Brennan Garrett Burnett Shawn Burr Jan Čaloun Zdeno Chára Jonathan Cheechoo

Mike Craig Rob Davison Shean Donovan Wade Flaherty Iain Fraser Sean Gauthier Steve Guolla Scott Hannan Johan Hedberg Shawn Heins Jason Holland Alexei Yegorov Miikka Kiprusoff Alexander Korolyuk Ryan Kraft

Vlastimil Kroupa Filip Cuba Jaroslav Kudrna Eric Landry Chris Lipsett Chris LiPuma Jim Montgomery Jason Muzzatti Brantt Myhres Yevgeny Nabokov Andrei Nazarov Ville Peltonen Yves Racine Peter Roed Mikael Samuelsson

Jarrod Skald Andrei Sjusin Mark Smith Adam Spylo Jason Strudwick Andy Sutton Chris Tancill Jeff Tory Vesa Toskala Vladimir Chebaturkin Herberts Vasiļjevs Steve Webb Ray Whitney Jason Widmer Miroslav Zálešák

Web links

• Kentucky Thoroughblades at hockeydb.com