Worcester IceCats

The Worcester IceCats were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Worcester, Massachusetts, at the Worcester Centrum (Renamed to the DCU Center in 2004). In 2005 the team was renamed the Peoria Rivermen and moved to Peoria, Illinois.

History

The IceCats got their start when original New York Islanders owner Roy Boe purchased the Springfield Indians AHL franchise and moved it to Worcester in the summer of 1994. The team began play in the Fall of 1994 with a collection of free-agent players but as yet with no National Hockey League team affiliation. Immediately following the end of the 1994–95 season, Boe and head coach/General Manager Jim Roberts closed an affiliation deal with the St. Louis Blues.

:This franchise was previously known as: Springfield Indians (1926–1994)

:The franchise became known as: Peoria Rivermen (2005–2013)

:This franchise was replaced by: Worcester Sharks (2006–2015)

Affiliates:

St. Louis Blues (1995–2005)
New York Islanders (1995–1996)
Ottawa Senators (1996–1998)

Season-by-season results

Regular season

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!Season!! Games !!Won!!Lost!!Tied!!OTL!!SOL!!Points!! Goals for !! Goals against !!Standing

|1994–95||80||24||45||11|| 0||—|| 59||234||300||6th, North

|1995–96||80||36||28||12|| 4||—|| 88||242||244||2nd, North

|1996–97||80||43||23|| 9|| 5||—||100||256||234||1st, New England

|1997–98||80||34||31|| 9|| 6||—|| 83||267||268||4th, New England

|1998–99||80||34||36|| 8|| 2||—|| 78||237||260||4th, New England

|1999–2000||80||34||31||11|| 4||—|| 83||249||250||3rd, New England

|2000–01||80||48||20|| 9|| 3||—||108||264||205||1st, New England

|2001–02||80||39||33|| 7|| 1||—|| 86||245||218||3rd, North

|2002–03||80||35||27||15|| 3||—|| 88||235||220||3rd, North

|2003–04||80||37||27||13|| 3||—|| 90||207||186||3rd, Atlantic

|2004–05||80||39||34|| 3|| 4||—|| 85||212||223||5th, Atlantic

Playoffs

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!Season!!1st round!!2nd round!!3rd round!!Finals

|1994–95 ||colspan="4"|Did not qualify

|1995–96 ||L, 1–3, Portland ||—||—||—

|1996–97 ||L, 2–3, Providence ||—||—||—

|1997–98 ||W, 3–1, Springfield ||L, 3–4, Hartford ||—||—

|1998–99 ||L, 1–3, Providence ||—||—||—

|1999–2000 ||W, 3–1, Portland ||L, 1–4, Hartford ||—||—

|2000–01 ||W, 3–1, Lowell ||L, 3–4, Providence ||—||—

|2001–02†||L, 1–2, Manitoba†||—||—||—

|2002–03 ||L, 0–3, Binghamton ||—||—||—

|2003–04 ||W, 4–2, Manchester ||L, 0–4, Hartford ||—||—

|2004–05 ||colspan="4"|Did not qualify

† Lost in preliminary round.

Team records

Single season

Goals: 38 Eric Boguniecki and Justin Papineau (2001–2002)
Assists: 46 Eric Boguniecki (2001–2002)
Points: 84 Eric Boguniecki (2001–2002)
Penalty minutes: 337 Sylvain Blouin (1999–2000)
GAA: 2.13 Curtis Sanford (2003–2004)
SV%: 0.929 Dwayne Roloson (2000–2001)

Career

Career goals: 79 Marc Brown
Career assists: 154 Terry Virtue
Career points: 210 Terry Virtue
Career penalty minutes: 1083 Terry Virtue
Career goaltending wins: 65 Curtis Sanford
Career shutouts: 10 Curtis Sanford
Career games: 455 Terry Virtue

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top ten point-scorers in IceCat's franchise history.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points;

{| class="wikitable"

|- style="text-align:center; font-weight:bold; background:#ddd;"|

| style="text-align:left;"| Player || Pos || GP || G || A || Pts

|- style="text-align:center;"

| style="text-align:left;"| Terry Virtue || D || 455 || 56 || 154 || 210