The Sound Tigers last won a playoff series in 2003, 12 years ago tonight.
Since then, 24 of the other 29 teams in the league have won at least one series. Lake Erie*, the Albany Devils, Utica, the Adirondack Flames and the Iowa Wild are the five others who have not won a playoff series since 2003, though:
- All got a later start, like as in “this year” for the Flames (though they won’t get another — until Stockton).
- Four won playoff series in the Sound Tigers era in earlier incarnations (Iowa won a Cup and reached another final among other wins as the Houston Aeros; Albany won as the Lowell Lock Monsters in 2005; Abbotsford won a couple of playoff series, most recently in 2012; and Utica won as the Worcester IceCats in 2004 (though never as the Peoria Rivermen)).
- Utica will have a good chance this year, as one of the top seeds in the Western Conference.
- Cleveland, Albany and Des Moines all had playoff victories since 2003 by other franchises that have since moved on (Cleveland’s in a preliminary round).**
Aside from those five current franchises, only San Antonio and Springfield*** haven’t won a best-of-7 since Bridgeport beat Hamilton in the 2002 Eastern Conference Final; they each have a first-round best-of-5 win in recent years, San Antonio in 2012 and Springfield in 2013.
Aside from the Lock Monsters, Heat, Aeros and IceCats, five other defunct/moved-on clubs have also won one since 2003: the Iowa Stars, Cincinnati, Manitoba, the Albany River Rats and, in a preliminary round, the Cleveland Barons. (This will all be complicated next year by a Manitoba franchise that detoured to St. John’s, and a St. John’s IceCaps franchise that used to be in Hamilton.)
It is harder now to win a best-of-7 than it was for most of the era in question, since the first round has been best-of-5 since 2012 and only four teams can win a best-of-7 every year. (Of those 12 chances, eight different teams have done it.)
*-Lake Erie made the playoffs only once, losing to Manitoba in seven games in 2011. The Lake Erie franchise has never won in the AHL but, as the Utah Grizzlies, last won in the IHL in 1997, and last won a best-of-7 when it won the Turner Cup in 1996 under Butch Goring.
**The Phantoms franchise, treated as a single entity by the league, hasn’t made the playoffs since it left Philadelphia in 2009. Its last playoff-series win was the year before.
***Springfield won the preliminary round in 2003 and the first round in 2013 but hasn’t won a best-of-7 since 1997. San Antonio’s last best-of-7 win was in 1994… as the Adirondack Red Wings.
****-There is no Footnote 4, but some stuff that kind of blew my mind checking this:
- Hershey and Manchester met in the 2010 Eastern Conference Final. Hershey won that, won the Calder Cup… and neither has won a playoff series since?
- Hartford’s only playoff-series win since 2006 was the Bridgeport sweep in 2012?
- Rochester hasn’t won a playoff series since 2005?
- Remember when this used to take up, like, a paragraph in the season-wrap post?
LAST PLAYOFF WINS
1. Lake Erie never (IHL as Utah, 1997). 2. Bridgeport 2003. 3. Utica (as Worcester) 2004. 4. Rochester, Albany (as Lowell) 2005. 6. Rockville, Lehigh Valley (as Philadelphia) 2008. 8. Manchester, Worcester, Hershey 2010. 11. Portland, Binghamton, Hamilton, Milwaukee, Iowa (as Houston), Charlotte 2011. 17. Hartford, San Antonio, Adirondack (as Abbotsford) 2012. 20. Springfield, Syracuse, Oklahoma City 2013. 23. St. John’s, Providence, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Norfolk, Toronto, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Texas 2014.
LAST BEST-OF-7 WINS
1. San Antonio never (as Adirondack Red Wings 1994). 2. Lake Erie never (IHL as Utah, 1996). 3. Springfield 1997. 4. Bridgeport 2002. 5. Utica (as Worcester) 2004. 6. Rochester, Albany (as Lowell) 2005. 8. Hartford 2006. 9. Lehigh Valley (as Philadelphia), Rockville 2008. 11. Providence 2009. 12. Adirondack (as Abbotsford), Manchester, Worcester, Hershey, Chicago 2010. 17. Iowa (as Houston), Charlotte, Norfolk, Hamilton, Portland, Binghamton 2011. 23. Norfolk 2012. 24. Syracuse, Grand Rapids, Oklahoma City 2013. 27. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, St. John’s, Toronto, Texas 2014.