Les Cunningham Award Winners From The Cleveland Barons

The Cleveland Barons existed in the American Hockey League from 1936-37 to 1973-74. The Les Cunningham Award was established for the 1947-48 AHL season to honour the league’s most valuable player. In the lifetime of the Cleveland, Ohio franchise, four different players from the Barons won the Les Cunningham Award.

Les Douglas

Les Douglas won the Cunningham Award in 1949-50. With 32 goals and 68 assists for 100 points in 67 games, Douglas was also the recipient of the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the player in the AHL with the highest point total during the regular season.

Douglas played in the American Hockey League from 1939-40 to 1950-51 with the Indianapolis Capitals, Buffalo Bisons and Cleveland. Between 1940-41 and 1946-47, Les played sporadically with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League, appearing in a total of 52 games.

Eddie Olson

Eddie Olson was the next Cleveland player to be honoured with the Les Cunningham Award. Olson took the prize in 1952-53 and, like Les Douglas, also won the Sollenberger Trophy. In 61 games, he scored 32 and added 54 assists for 86 points to lead the league. The Barons were Calder Cup champions that season.

Olson played in the AHL from 1946-47 to 1954-55 with the St. Louis Flyers and the Barons. Eddie never appeared in a National Hockey League game.

Johnny Bower

Johnny Bower is one of just two players to win the Les Cunningham Award three times. Just one of the three came as a member of the Cleveland Barons with the other two being awarded while he was with the Reds in Providence, Rhode Island. Bower won the Cunningham with Cleveland in 1957-58. He played in 64 of the team’s 68 regular season games, posting two shutouts and a 2.19 goals against average.

Bower had played his last game in the AHL with the Barons at the end of that season. The following year, he became a regular goaltender with the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, a job he would retain until retiring from the game during the 1969-70 season. Johnny was a charter member of the AHL Hall of Fame and is also enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Fred Glover

Besides Bower, Fred Glover is the only other player to win the Les Cunningham Award three times. All of Glover’s victories came while playing for the Cleveland Barons. Fred won the award in 1959-60, 1961-62 and 1963-64. In 1959-60, Glover also won the second of his two John B. Sollenberger Trophies.

Fred played 1,201 regular season AHL games between 1948-49 and 1967-68 while only playing with the Indianapolis Capitals and the Barons. His career totals include 520 goals, 1,334 points and 2,402 minutes in penalties. Glover also appeared in 92 NHL games between 1949-50 and 1952-53 with the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks. Like Bower, Fred is a charter member of the AHL Hall of Fame.

Hockey Trivia: NHL Franchise Relocations Of The 1970's, 1980's and 1990's

The 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s brought expansion to the National Hockey League. With the rapid growth, poor economy and lack of proper planning, there was quite a bit of movement among franchises in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Test and broaden your hockey knowledge with the following four trivia questions.

Q. The franchise that is now known as the New Jersey Devils came into the NHL in 1974-75 as what team?

A. The Kansas City Scouts are the origin of the New Jersey Devils. The Scouts lasted just two seasons in Kansas City before a short stint in Denver as the Colorado Rockies before moving east to become the Devils.

Over the two years, 1974-75 and 1975-76, the Scouts won a total of 27 of 160 regular season games. In the first year, they were second last in the NHL, ahead of only their expansion partners, the Washington Capitals. In 1975-76, Kansas City once again finished ahead of only the Capitals.

Simon Nolet served as team captain until midway through the second season when he was replaced by Guy Charron. The Scouts drafted Wilf Paiement second overall at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft. NHL legend Sid Abel had a brief three game stint as the team’s head coach.

Q. In 1976-77, what franchise moved to Cleveland and became the Barons?

A. The California Seals were a product of the first expansion boom in 1967-68. They left California to become the Barons and then merged with the Minnesota North Stars after just two seasons. In both those years, the Barons placed fourth in the Adams Division and did not qualify for the post season.

Despite having an arena that would seat 18,500 in Richfield Coliseum, the Barons averaged around 6,000 fans per game over the two years. At the time, Richfield Coliseum had the largest seating capacity of any National Hockey League venue.

Q. The Calgary Flames were born into the NHL as what team?

A. The Atlanta Flames joined the league in 1972-73 along with the New York Islanders. The deep south wasn’t ready for hockey and the Flames made the move to Calgary for the 1980-81 season. The Flames were a decent team, on the upper end of mediocrity.

Over their eight years in Atlanta, the team reached the post season in six, including their last five. However, they were never able to win a series in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

While in Atlanta, the Flames drafted some good talent in Tom Lysiak, Brad Marsh and Paul Reinhart. The four captains in Atlanta Flames history include Keith McCreary, Pat Quinn, Tom Lysiak and Jean Pronovost.

Q. The franchise currently known as the Dallas Stars originally was located in what northern U.S. city?

A. The Stars franchise was born in the 1967-68 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars. The team uprooted and headed to the Lone Star State for the 1993-94 season. The move was not made due to a poor on-ice product. The North Stars reached the Stanley Cup finals twice in their time in Minnesota. In 1980-81, the team fell to the mighty New York Islanders 4-1 in the finals. In 1990-91, they reached the finals again but fell in six games to Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

 

NHL Hockey Trivia: Oakland Seals and California Golden Seals

The California Golden Seals existed in the National Hockey League for nine years from 1967-68 to 1975-76. The team was one of six expansion teams in 1967-68 that doubled the league in size from the ‘Original Six’.

Test and expand your knowledge of the California Golden Seals with the following four hockey trivia questions.

Q. The Golden Seals franchise originally entered the NHL under what name?

A. For the first three years that the franchise existed, they were dubbed the Oakland Seals. Originally, the plan was to be called the San Francisco Seals. They became the California Golden Seals and then the California Seals.

The ‘Seals’ nickname originated in 1961-62 with the San Francisco Seals of the WHL. That franchise played in the minor pro league from 1961-62 until 1966-67.

Q. What defenseman from the inaugural Seals team starred with the Toronto Maple Leafs the year before?

A. Bob Baun played one season with the Oakland Seals in 1967-68. The long time Toronto Maple Leafs blue liner played a major role as Toronto won the 1966-67 Stanley Cup with a victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Baun would eventually return to the Maple Leafs to finish his career but the Stanley Cup has yet to return to Toronto.

Other Original 6 castaways that played for Oakland in that first season include: Bill Hicke, Charlie Burns and Bert Marshall. The team’s goaltending duo was quite decent with Charlie Hodge doing the bulk of the work with Gary Smith as his backup. Another member of that 1967-68 Oakland team was Alain Caron. It was the only full NHL season for Caron but a few years later, he would score an amazing 78 goals in the North American Hockey League.

Q. After the 1975-76 season, to what city did the California Seals move to?

A. For the 1976-77 season, the California Seals moved to Cleveland, Ohio and became the Cleveland Barons. The Barons lasted just two seasons in the National Hockey League before merging with the Minnesota North Stars.

The North Stars were a struggling franchise at the time and were also one of the six 1967 expansion teams. In their second year after the Cleveland Barons ceased to exist, Minnesota reached the Stanley Cup semi-finals before losing to the Philadelphia Flyers. The following year, the North Stars marched right to the Stanley Cup finals before losing to the New York Islanders.

Minnesota would reach the Stanley Cup finals one more time in 1990-91, losing to Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins. After 1992-93, the franchise moved to Dallas to become the Dallas Stars. With Dallas, the franchise finally won a championship in 1998-99 over the Buffalo Sabres.

Q. Who did the Oakland Seals meet in their first Stanley Cup playoffs series?

A. In their second season, the Seals faced off against the Los Angeles Kings in the quarter-finals, losing in seven games to their California rivals. 1968-69 was the team’s best season in their short history with 29 wins and 69 points to finish second in the weak West Division. The team would make the playoffs just one more time, losing in the first round the following season to the Pittsburgh Penguins in four straight games.

Hockey Trivia: Cleveland Barons of the AHL

The Cleveland Barons were an American Hockey League franchise from 1936-37 to 1973-74. The team thrived in the Cleveland market until the Cleveland Crusaders of the World Hockey Association came along in the early 1970’s and diluted the waters. The Barons failed soon after the arrival of the Crusaders and the Crusaders didn’t last long. The curse continued with the NHL version of the Barons that came along soon after and lasted just a few seasons. Test and expand your knowledge of the AHL Barons with the following four hockey trivia questions and answers.

Q. What player holds the AHL’s Cleveland Barons records for most career goals, assists, points and penalty minutes?

A. Fred Glover played for the Barons from 1952-53 to 1967-68. In that time, he scored 410 goals, assisted on 695 and totalled 1,105 points while sitting 2,164 minutes in the sin bin. Inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame in its 2006 inaugural season, Glover is also the AHL career leader in each of those categories with 520 goals, 814 assists, 1,334 points and 2,402 PIM. Before he was a Baron, Fred also played for the Indianapolis Capitals. He saw brief NHL action early in his career with the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks.

Q. What arena did the Cleveland Barons play their home games at?

A. The Cleveland Arena was built for the AHL team’s first season. The seating capacity of the Cleveland Arena was 9,900 for hockey games. The rink closed in 1974, replaced by the Richfield Coliseum, and was demolished three years later.

The Richfield Coliseum held 18,544 for hockey but didn’t have a much better fate. The venue was closed in 1994 and demolished in 1999.

Q. What Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender was the AHL MVP in 1957-58?

A. Johnny Bower and the above mentioned Fred Glover are the only two AHL players to be awarded the Les Cunningham Award as the league’s MVP on three occasions. Bower won the award with Cleveland in 1957-58 and had previously won twice with the Providence Reds. Bower moved on to the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs in 1958-59 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1976. Like Glover, Bower was inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame in 2006.

Q. The Cleveland Barons won the Calder Cup as AHL playoff champion on nine occasions. In which year did they win their first?

A. The Barons entered the AHL in 1936-37 and in 1938-39, just their third year in the league, Cleveland was crowned Calder Cup champions. Although finishing the year just one game over .500 and in third place in the four team West Division, Cleveland beat the Springfield Indians, Providence Reds and the Philadelphia Ramblers in the playoffs to capture the Calder.

Cleveland’s final Calder Cup championship came in 1963-64 with Fred Glover leading the way. After a somewhat mediocre regular season where the Barons placed third in the four team West Division and fourth overall in the nine team league, Cleveland went undefeated in the post season. The Barons swept the Rochester Americans and Hershey Bears before taking out the Quebec Aces in four games in the finals to win the title. That year, Fred Glover won the Les Cunningham Award as AHL MVP and Ted Harris won the Eddie Shore Award as defenseman of the year.