The Springfield Thunderbirds are the latest iteration of a storied American Hockey League history in the hometown of the league’s headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts. The market is one of the pillars of the league, dating back to its founding days, with the Thunderbirds holding the distinction as the third different name that the team has held since 1926, as one of the most active sites for AHL hockey since the league’s inception.
The team began life as the Springfield Indians in 1926, playing for 60 seasons in total until 1994 with two brief hiatuses from 1933-1935 and 1942-1946. They’d also have two different names during that original tenure, being known as the Springfield Warriors from 1951-1954 as well as the Springfield Kings from 1967-1975. During this original incarnation, the team won seven Calder Cup championships, three straight from 1960-1962, once under the Kings name in 1971, 1975, 1990, and 1991. They are the only AHL team to win three consecutive Calder Cups; no team before or since has accomplished the feat.
In 1994, the franchise was purchased by outside interests and moved about an hour away to become the Worcester IceCats, but all was not lost for hockey in the city as general manager Bruce Landon secured a new franchise from the league to bring in the Springfield Falcons as well as an affiliation with the Hartford Whalers in order to keep continuity as well as the Winnipeg Jets. The new Falcons franchise would become the sole affiliate of the Phoenix Coyotes when the Jets relocated, and later on with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and finally the renamed Arizona Coyotes in 2015. The Falcons would go only as far as the Eastern Conference Finals in 1997, where they fell to the Hershey Bears in seven games.
Their second affiliation with Arizona saw another big change as the Coyotes purchased the franchise in 2016, moving the team out west to become the Tucson Roadrunners. However, much like the prior change, Springfield wouldn’t be without hockey for even one season as the Portland Pirates were sold to a local group of business owners interested in keeping hockey in the city. The new Springfield Thunderbirds inherited the affiliation with the Florida Panthers to begin the 2016-17 season, though they’d later ally with the St. Louis Blues starting in full during the 2021-22 campaign.
The new affiliation yielded immediate results, as the Thunderbirds came within three wins of a Calder Cup in 2022 in their first trip to the final round since 1991.
This season, the Thunderbirds finished the season with a record of 38-26-3-5, fourth in the Atlantic Division. They lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Their head coach is Drew Bannister, their GM is Kevin Maxwell, and they play out of the MassMutual Center.
Notable former Thunderbirds include Joel Hofer, Jordan Kyrou, Jake Neighbours, and Nathan Walker.
