Baltimore Clippers®

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Vintage Ice Hockey's mission is to celebrate defunct hockey teams that don't take the ice anymore, many of which still have a special place in people's hearts and memories. To do that, we're creating apparel for these teams that, in many cases, simply doesn't exist anywhere else.

The Baltimore Clippers® played for many years in Maryland in many different leagues. The first iteration of the Clippers was in the Eastern Hockey League (EHL) for the 1945-46 season. These Clippers played at Carlin's Iceland and would win the EHL's Walker Cup during the 1947-48 season. The EHL did not have a 1948-49 season, but would restart the next season, 1949-50, and the Clippers would rejoin. They wouldn't make it to 1950 though as the team folded in December 1949. The Clippers would restart again for the 1954-55 season. They would again hit a road block in 1955-56 when Carlin's Iceland burned down in the middle of January 1956. The Clippers would move to Charlotte and become the Rebels (then the Charlotte Clippers then the Charlotte Checkers who occupied the Charlotte Coliseum for many years. The EHL version of the Clippers are believed to have worn yellow and black.

Fast forward to 1962 and the Clippers were revived as an AHL team with orange and black colors similar to that of Baltimore's baseball team. They also had a very recognizable sailor logo. These Clippers spent many years in the AHL though 1975 and won the AHL regular season title in 1970-71. However, they would run short on NHL affiliates and find the AHL increasingly costly to operate in. The team joined the SHL in 1976-77 in an effort to save on both league and travel costs. However, the SHL was in dire straits and would fold in January 1977 in the middle of the season. The Clippers would do the same.

A new version of the Clippers with a green color scheme and without the sailor logo would join the revived EHL for two years from 1979-1981.

The Clippers can claim a number of NHL hall of famers as alums including Eddie Giacomin, Doug Harvey, Jacques Plante, and Jean Ratelle.