Skip to main content

Baltimore Clippers (AHL, 1972-73)

1972-73 Regular Season
Clippers vs. Virginia Red Wings
     The Baltimore Clippers were coming off their first-ever trip to the AHL's Calder Cup Finals in 1972. Terry Reardon was back behind the bench in '72-73. The Clippers were no longer affiliated with the California Golden Seals, and appeared to operate as an independent that season.
     After two straight years at the top of the Western Division, the Clippers crashed to the basement in 1973. Their record of 17-48-11 and miniscule 45 points were the worst in the AHL that year. Baltimore was 10 points behind the fifth place Cleveland/Jacksonville Barons and 68 behind the league-leading Cincinnati Swords. Oddly enough, attendance remained steady that year, as 2,910 fans per game went to the Civic Center, the same as last season.
     So, what happened that season in Baltimore? The lack of an NHL affiliate, even from one as awful as the Golden Seals, didn't help matters. Neither did a lack of goal-scoring, as the Clippers had all the firepower of a toy pop gun, scoring just 210 goals. Center Bob Rivard led the team on offense, with 25 goals and 75 points. Right winger Marc Dufour led the team in goals with an even 30 in 67 games. Only three other Clippers managed at least 20 goals that season. As of this program, Dufour was leading the pack with 17 goals and 37 points in 32 games, with Rivard (9 goals, 36 points) and left winger Brian Murphy (12, 19) right behind.
     Baltimore had the fourth-worst defense in the AHL, allowing 315 goals. Jim Shaw was back between the pipes after the playoff run in '72. Shaw played in 47 games, with a 3.64 GAA and two shutouts. Ken Lockett, previously from the Fort Wayne Komets and the University of Guelph, made it into 32 games, with a 4.57 GAA and no shutouts. Despite playing for a brutal Clippers team, both goaltenders would go on to bigger things in their careers. Lockett would make it all the way to the NHL, spending two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. Shaw would make it to the WHA with the Toronto Toros.
     With the AHL's worst record, the Clippers were light years away from the postseason. The Cincinnati Swords would dethrone the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in the Finals.
     This program is similar to the previous year's edition. It's 40 pages thick, mostly all black-and-white. Again, the roster sheet is in color, as is the Coca-Cola ad on page 24. Head Coach Terry Reardon has a half-page bio on page 25, referring to him as "this city's Mr. Hockey". It noted that only seven players returned from the '72 Calder Cup finalist team, which likely didn't help matters in 1973. That night's opponent was the Virginia Red Wings. The Wings were coached by Doug Barkley, who apparently autographed the roster sheet in pencil. Again, no date for this game, but the Wings stats were as of December 27th. My guess is this game was played on December 30th, a 6-4 Wings win. It was the fourth-straight loss for the Clippers and dropped them to a miserable 5-21-7 record.
     Franchise records, including highest-scoring shutout (14-zip vs. Springfield in 1971!) are included on page 31. Each Clippers player has his own bio and picture on pages 2-8. Local advertisements include The Lord Nelson, Bud's Restaurant and Bar, WMAR TV-2, National Bohemian Beer ("Nat Boh"), Brooks Robinson Sporting Goods and Briggs All Meat Franks.

Aftermath: The Clippers would stick around until midway through the 1974-75 season. When the WHA's Michigan Stags relocated to Baltimore partway through that season, the Clippers franchise was terminated in order to free up the Civic Center ice. The newly renamed "Baltimore Blades" recycled the Clippers jerseys, with a Blades logo replacing the diagonal "CLIPPERS" wordmark. The Blades, already drowning in debt following their half-season in Detroit as the Stags, folded at the end of the 1975 season. The Clippers returned to the AHL in 1975-76, then switched to the Southern Hockey League for one year before folding with the rest of the SHL in 1977. Baltimore would be home to the AHL Skipjacks and AHL Bandits. After the Bandits left town in 1997, Baltimore has been without minor-pro hockey.

References:
AHL Statistics: 1972-73 (from hockeydb.com)
1972-73 Baltimore Clippers Souvenir Program
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Port Huron Hockey: Flags/Wings (1962-81)

Now, on to Port Huron.      Port Huron has had a long, yet checkered, history of pro hockey. The most successful franchise, by far, was the Port Huron Flags (also called Wings for a few years) of the IHL. The Flags were, for the most part, a competitve team on the ice, making the Turner Cup Finals seven times and winning the Cup on three occasions. For three years, (1971-74), the franchise was a farm team of the Detroit Red Wings, and sent numerous players on to the NHL in it's existence. However, the team had problems drawing big enough crowds. While the Flags lasted for nearly 20 years, former GM Morris Snider later admitted that the franchise could have folded three years before it actually did, due to declining attendance. I've found some Flags/Wings programs online over the years, and here's what I have. 1963-64 Regular Season--Flags vs. Windsor       1963-64 was the second year of existence for the Flags. After missing the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Flint Generals yearbook (IHL, 1973-74)

     I recently bought two yearbooks from the Flint Generals of the IHL. This one is from the 1973-74 season. It's a 40-page book, all in black-and-white, and on glossy paper. Each player for that season has a full page photo and a short bio. The statistics and a team photo for each Generals season are included. Stats for every player that wore the "blue and gold" are listed in the back of the yearbook. Flint Journal sportswriter Len Hoyes added an article previewing the remainder of the 1973-74 campaign.       One thing that Hoyes noted in his article was about attendance: "With all of their problems, the Generals were still attracting fans at a rate of 3,950 per game. Attendance was down slightly, but Flint's percentage rate of almost 100 percent remained the envy of minor league hockey." (Hoyes, 1974)      The original Generals were a popular team for most of their existence, and attendance only bottomed out when the region...
Post a Comment
Read more

Muskegon Mohawks (IHL, 1965-84)

I know, I said earlier I was going to look at Detroit's minor league teams. That would mean the Vipers would be next, but I decided to cover them later when I had time (I have a TON of programs from that team). Instead, I'm going to look briefly at Muskegon.  Muskegon has had a long, colorful past in professional hockey. It all started in 1960 with the expansion Muskegon Zephyrs of the IHL. Five seasons later, 1965-66, the Zephyrs became the Mohawks, and remain so until 1984-85, when they became the Lumberjacks. The Lumberjacks would remain in town through the 1992-93 season. After that season, the franchise would relocate to Cleveland, Ohio. Here are the Mohawks programs I have, along with a couple bonus scans.        The Mohawks existed from 1965-84, about 20 seasons, and had two vastly different eras of success. From 1965-76, the Mohawks finished above .500 10 times, winning the Huber Trophy (Regular Season Championship) six times and the ...
Post a Comment
Read more