San Jose Barracuda

The San Jose Barracuda are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. Affiliated with the National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks, the Barracuda shares the SAP Center with its parent club until a new adjacent arena is completed.

San Jose Barracuda
2019–20 AHL season
CitySan Jose, California
LeagueAmerican Hockey League (AHL)
ConferenceWestern
DivisionPacific
Founded1996
Home arenaSAP Center
ColorsTeal, orange, black, white, gray
                        
Owner(s)San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises (Hasso Plattner, Governor)
General managerJoe Will
Head coachJimmy Bonneau
Michael Chiasson
MediaSan Jose Mercury News
CSN California
KDOW (1220 AM)
AHL.TV (Internet)
AffiliatesSan Jose Sharks (NHL)
Franchise history
1996–2001Kentucky Thoroughblades
2001–2006Cleveland Barons
2006–2015Worcester Sharks
2015–presentSan Jose Barracuda
Championships
Division Championships1 (2016–17)

The Barracuda is a relocation of the former Worcester Sharks AHL franchise; it joined several other AHL franchises to form the AHL's Pacific Division in 2015.

History

On January 29, 2015, the San Jose Sharks announced that they would be moving their AHL affiliate, the Worcester Sharks, to San Jose, California, as one of five charter members of the AHL's new Pacific Division. The team would play at the SAP Center at San Jose, being one of two of the current AHL teams to share a home arena with its parent club (along with the Manitoba Moose sharing Bell MTS Place with their parent Winnipeg Jets).[1]

On April 1, 2015, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported that the Sharks had signed a multi-year presenting sponsorship with Barracuda Networks to be the AHL team's presenting sponsor; the team name would be the San Jose Barracuda and the reported team logo would feature the corporate logo in the background. Neither the Sharks nor Barracuda would comment, however, they stated that an official announcement would come later in the week.[2] The name and logo were confirmed the next day in a joint press release.[3] The team retained longtime AHL head coach Roy Sommer with the relocation.

Friday October 9, 2015 marked the first official game in Barracuda history. They took on the Rockford IceHogs at home, coming up on the losing end of a 4–2 score. Micheal Haley scored the first ever franchise goal while on a power play in the first period. The Barracuda picked up the first win in franchise history while visiting the Stockton Heat on October 15, 2015 by a score of 4–1.[4]

On February 10, 2016, head coach Roy Sommer broke the record for most wins as an AHL coach, picking up his 637th win against the Ontario Reign by the score of 4–2.

The Barracuda finished the season 31–26–8–3. Its .527 winning percentage meant that it was matched up against the Ontario Reign during the Pacific Division semifinals. After splitting the first two games of the best-of-five series, the Barracuda came out on the losing end of game three by a 3–1 score, and also lost game four by a score of 4–1 to end their season. Bryan Lerg and Nikolay Goldobin led the team in goals with 21, while Ryan Carpenter had a team high 55 points. Goaltender Aaron Dell played a team high 40 games in net for the Barracuda, while winning 17 of them.[5] The team's average attendance of 4,412 placed them 24th of 30 in the AHL.[6]

The Barracuda's 2016–17 season would be more successful than its first season, winning 14 consecutive games from January 15 to March 1 and winning the Pacific Division and Western Conference. Goaltender Troy Grosenick won the "Baz" Bastien Award as the AHL's outstanding goaltender. The Barracuda made it to the Western Conference finals during the 2017 Calder Cup playoffs before being eliminated by the Grand Rapids Griffins four-games-to-one.

The Barracuda were the final team to make the playoffs in 2018, winning multiple games in a row. They were eliminated in the first round by the Tucson Roadrunners.

In 2018–19, the Barracuda led the AHL's Pacific Division for most of the first half of the season before the Bakersfield Condors went on a 17-game winning streak, and finished in second place in the division, four points behind the Condors. The Barracuda lost in the first round of the 2019 Calder Cup playoffs three games to one against the San Diego Gulls.

During the 2019–20 season, head coach Sommer was called up to the Sharks as an assistant after over 21 seasons as the Sharks' AHL affiliate head coach. The Sharks named Barracuda assistants Jimmy Bonneau and Michael Chiasson as co-coaches for Sommer's replacements.[7] In January 2020, the city of San Jose approved of a proposed 4,200-seat arena to be built adjacent to the Sharks' SAP Center that would be utilized by the Barracuda for home games.[8] The project is expected to be completed by 2022.[9]

Season-by-season records
Regular season Playoffs
SeasonGPWLOTLSOLPtsPCTGFGAStandingYear1st round2nd round3rd roundFinals
2015–166831268373.5371981934th, Pacific2016L, 1–3, ONT———
2016–176843164595.6992321761st, Pacific2017W, 3–2, STKW, 4–1, SDL, 1–4, GR—
2017–186834264476.5591861984th, Pacific2018L, 1–3, TUC———
2018–196839223485.6252271972nd, Pacific2019L, 1–3, SD———
2019–205521275249.4451791927th, Pacific2020Season Cancelled due to COVID-19

Players

Current roster

Updated August 4, 2020.[10]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
86 Joachim Blichfeld RW R 22 2018 Fredrikshavn, Denmark Sharks
22 Jonny Brodzinski RW/C R 27 2019 Blaine, Minnesota Sharks
47 Trevor Carrick (A) D L 26 2019 Stouffville, Ontario Sharks
82 Ivan Chekhovich LW L 21 2018 Yekaterinburg, Russia Sharks
55 Sasha Chmelevski C/RW R 21 2018 Huntington Beach, California Sharks
93 Michael Downing D L 25 2020 Canton, Michigan Barracuda
– Joseph Garreffa RW L 21 2020 Toronto, Ontario Barracuda
29 Anthony Greco RW R 26 2020 Brooklyn, New York Sharks
79 Tom Gregoire D R 22 2018 Sherbrooke, Quebec Barracuda
89 Jayden Halbgewachs W L 23 2018 Emerald Park, Saskatchewan Sharks
90 Artyom Ivanyuzhenkov LW L 22 2019 Podolsk, Russia Barracuda
32 Josef Korenar G L 22 2018 Vystrkov, Czech Republic Sharks
74 Ivan Kosorenkov W L 22 2018 Mytishchi, Russia Barracuda
85 Tristin Langan C/LW L 21 2019 Swan River, Manitoba Barracuda
84 Max Letunov C L 24 2018 Moscow, Russia Sharks
53 Nicolas Meloche D R 23 2019 LaSalle, Quebec Sharks
81 Jeremy Roy D R 23 2017 Richelieu, Quebec Sharks
36 Zach Sawchenko G L 22 2020 Calgary, Alberta Barracuda
35 Andrew Shortridge G L 25 2019 Anchorage, Alaska Sharks
– Kyle Topping C L 20 2020 Ganges, British Columbia Barracuda
63 Jeff Viel (A) LW L 23 2018 Rimouski, Quebec Sharks
59 Manny Wiederer (A) RW/C R 23 2017 Deggendorf, Germany Sharks
75 Danil Yurtaykin W R 23 2019 Belovo, Russia Sharks
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References
  1. "Sharks Moving AHL Franchise to SAP Center". San Jose Sharks. January 29, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  2. Donato-Weinstein, Nathan (April 1, 2015). "Exclusive: Here's the name and logo of the Sharks' minor-league farm team". BizJournals.com. Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  3. "Sharks, Barracuda Networks Agree to Revolutionary Multi-Year Presenting Partnership". SJBarracuda.com. San Jose Barracuda. April 2, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  4. Barracuda, San Jose. "Games | San Jose Barracuda". www.sjbarracuda.com. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  5. Barracuda, San Jose. "Stats | San Jose Barracuda". www.sjbarracuda.com. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  6. "AHL 2015-16 team attendance at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  7. "SHARKS, BARRACUDA ANNOUNCE CHANGES TO COACHING STAFF". San Jose Barracuda. December 11, 2019.
  8. "Huge expansion planned for Sharks Ice skating complex in San Jose". The Mercury News. January 21, 2020.
  9. "City council approves new rink for Barracuda". AHL. January 28, 2020.
  10. "San Jose Barracuda :: Team". San Jose Barracuda. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
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