page_title: Springfield Falcons
section_title: The beginning
hierarchical_section_title: Springfield Falcons / History / The beginning
caption_attribution_description: English: Springfield Indians: Tavis Hansen and Daniel Briere score against Saint John
context_page_description: The Springfield Falcons were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League and played in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the MassMutual Center.
  In 2016, the Falcons' franchise was purchased by the National Hockey League's Arizona Coyotes and relocated to Tucson, Arizona, before the start of the 2016–17 AHL season.
context_section_description: In 1994, the longtime AHL Springfield Indians team was sold to interests that moved the franchise to Worcester, Massachusetts, to become the Worcester IceCats (now the Utica Comets). Ex-Indian players Bruce Landon, then the general manager of the Indians, and Wayne LaChance, a local rink owner and former member of the Springfield Kings, secured an expansion franchise for Springfield for the 1994–95 season. The Indians name was still under trademark, so the new owners named the team after Andy and Amelia, a pair of nesting peregrine falcons that was a popular local civic symbol. The AHL, which was headquartered in nearby West Springfield, was keen to maintain a presence in a city that had hosted a team in the AHL or its predecessors for all but nine years since 1926, and readily granted an expansion franchise to Landon and LaChance.
  The Falcons secured affiliation with both the Hartford Whalers and the Winnipeg Jets of the NHL. Since the Indians had been the Whalers' top affiliate in their last few years, this allowed the Falcons to secure most of the players who had played for the Indians the previous season.  Veteran defenseman John Stevens (the last captain of the Indians, who shared the co-captaincy that first year with Rob Murray) scored the franchise's first goal.
  Among the Falcons' early notable players were Jean-Guy Trudel, the franchise's leading career goal and point scorer; Daniel Briere of the Colorado Avalanche; Manny Legace, the franchise's all-time leading goaltender and former St. Louis Blues starter; Nikolai Khabibulin, former Stanley Cup winning goalie; and Rob Murray, the franchise's long-time captain and inspirational leader. During the 2004 season, Springfield fans voted on the Web for the club's 10th Anniversary Team, and selected Briere at center, Trudel at left wing, Tavis Hansen at right wing, Brad Tiley and Dan Focht on defense and Legace in goal.
  Individual honors won by Falcons players during their first thirteen seasons included the Baz Bastien Award given to the league's best goaltender (to Legace in 1996 and Scott Langkow in 1998), Briere winning the Red Garrett Award emblematic of rookie of the year and a nod as First Team All-Star center in 1998, Tiley winning the Eddie Shore Award for the league's outstanding defenseman in 2000 and Trudel winning a Second Team All-Star award in 1999–00.
  After the Whalers relocated to become the Carolina Hurricanes, the Falcons were subsequently affiliated exclusively with the Jets, an affiliation that continued when that team became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996. The team was then affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning between 2004 and 2007.
  The team had finished in first place in its division twice and made the playoffs six times in its first nine seasons. However, after three seasons affiliated with Tampa Bay and nine straight losing seasons, the team announced that it was exercising its option to sever relations with the Lightning. On March 19, 2007, they announced an affiliation with the Edmonton Oilers beginning in the 2007–08 season until the conclusion of the 2009–10 season.
caption: Tavis Hansen and Daniel Briere score against Saint John
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