Worcester IceCats™ Hockey Apparel
Celebrate the electric 11-year run of the IceCats in Worcester, Massachusetts by ordering retro Worcester IceCats™ apparel from Vintage Ice Hockey! From special shirts to comfortable hoodies, our exclusive collection of Worcester IceCats hockey clothing delivers premium quality, thoughtfully designed products crafted by true hockey fans. And after you pick out your favorite Worcester IceCats gear, consider checking out the team history of the IceCats below —as well as our other New England minor league hockey collections.
Philadelphia Firebirds Jerseys
Our Seattle Ironmen jerseys are a custom design that is an homage to the sweaters of the original Ironmen, but is also unique in its own right. They have embroidered elements and fully cut and sewn seams for that old school jersey feel.
These jerseys feature embroidered "ironmen" logos sewn onto the chest of the jersey. The Ironmen usually only wore an "S" or the words "Seattle Ironmen" one their chest, so this is a customized chest logo.
The Ironmen did wear a white and dark color scheme with a mid-chest color split that we've captured here, along with a set of five stripes on both the arms and lower chest. All of these features are embroidered at the seams for that old school look and feel; nothing sublimated about it.
Further, we mimicked the two stars on each shoulder that the Ironmen wore to the best of out ability using modern production methods. Two stars are embroidered onto the jersey over each shoulder, including one red star for a pop of color.
Finally, the names and numbers. We do offer a blank option at a lower price point without names and numbers. If you'd like yours customized, we are keeping true to the Ironmen's original design with no numbers on the arms. On the back, we have an option for a stitched name bar with heatpress lettering and large heatpressed numbers across the back. Both the name and back numbers are red, to further add color to the Ironmen and bring what we believe to be their red, white and blue color scheme to the modern age.
How our jersey pre-orders work.
We're a small mom and pop shop and due to lack of well, everything, we are not able to customize our retro hockey jerseys on the fly. Instead, we need to send them out to get made in batches. To be able to offer customization, we open up individual jerseys for pre-orders when we debut them and again later on depending on demand for that particular jersey. So if you are interested in customization or an unusual size such as youth or goalie cuts, pre-order time is the time to buy! You never know when (or if) these jerseys might be available again.
All that said, we do plan to keep stock available continuously for blank jerseys in sizes small through 3XL for most teams. Please note that pre-order jerseys are expected to ship 2-3 months from the date the pre-order period ends and payment in full is required at the time of purchase. In stock blanks will ship on our normal timeframes and usually leave the warehouse within a couple of days. You can read our pre-order policy here.
Worcester IceCats™ History
presented by Vintage Ice Hockey
Who were the Worcester IceCats?
The IceCats got their start as the legendary Springfield Indians franchise. The Indians (and sometimes Springfield Kings) were a maintsay in Springfield from the 1930s through 1994 and were a dominant AHL force for many of those years. Roy Boe would put an end to that legacy by purchasing the Indians franchise in the summer of 1994 and move the team an hour east to Worcester. Boe was the original owner of the New York Islanders when that franchise started up in 1972 and he also owned the ABA's New York Nets (today's Brooklyn Nets) when they playe don Long Island. He would eventually be forced to sell the both those teams when he ran into money trouble.
In their early years, the IceCats would end up being an affiliate of the Islanders. That saw a number of mid-90s Islanders on the IceCats, most notably TSN analyst and former goalie Jamie McLennan. In 1995, the IceCats became the St. Louis Blues' main minor league affiliate, a relationship that would last for the duration of the IceCats' run.
Teaming up with the Blues gave the IceCats stability and saw a lot of big league names pass through including Dennis Wideman, Curtis Sanford, Marty Reasoner, Jochen Hecht and Michal Handzus. The IceCats also had stable coaching, helmed throughout their tenure by Greg Gilbert, former Islander and Blackhawk, and then Don Granato, former Columbus Chill and future Buffalo Sabres head coach. The team finished above .500 and made the playoffs in eight of its ten seasons. They also fielded good crowds of five or six thousand per game at the Worcester Centrum (now DCU Center).
Around 2000, Boe, then 70 years old, sold the IceCats to the St. Louis Blues. The Blues continued to operate the IceCats as their top affiliate for a number of years before they ended up selling the franchise to their own affiliate in Peoria, Illinois. This was the avenue to let the Peoria Rivermen, which had been the Double-A affiliate of the Blues move up to the AHL. Unfortuantely, that spelled the end for the IceCats whose last season was 2004-05.
The Spark Fades…
The team’s success on the ice didn’t last in their later seasons. They missed the playoffs four times. They also only went above 36 points a season once in their last four seasons. By 1999, their crowd reached a record low at 2,728. Things also took a strange turn when the team was fined $50,000 and docked 15 points in the standings for circumventing the league salary cap and making payments to NHL and AHL teams for players. The penalties prevented the Tiger Sharks from participating in the playoffs.
The owner also moved the team to Macon, Georgia in June of 2001. The franchise continued as the Macon Whoopees.
While the beginning of the Tiger Sharks’ story is a tale as old as time for the minor league hockey circuit, the franchise is still in existence today. That’s not something we can say for many of the teams we showcase. After a year in Macon, the team moved to Lexington, Kentucky for one year. Their next move was to Utah where they became the Utah Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies still take the ice today.
Notable Players
Manon Rheaume played one period in one game during the Tiger Sharks’ first season. Rheaume was a female goaltender who played for a lot of different teams and always helped them to draw in a crowd. Unfortunately, Rheaume gave away four goals during the one period she donned a Tiger Shark jersey.
Michael Ryder was the most noteworthy player to spend time with the Tiger Sharks. He joined the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens. Over the next few years, he had several 30 goal seasons with the Canadiens and Dallas Stars. In 2011, he won a Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins.
Mark Streit, another NHL Cup Winner, spent some time with the Tiger Sharks as well. His career boasts 96 goals in 786 games.
Todd Reirden followed up his Tiger Sharks stint with a long time career as an NHL coach. He was eventually a cup winner with the Washington Capitals.
A Wild Ride & The Philly Firebird Legacy
While their inaugural season was definitely eventful, the Firebirds sustained their fair share of exciting moments throughout the rest of their time in the NAHL as well. They eventually found their stride and won the Lockhart Cup in 1976, compiling an impressing 45-20 regular season record and defeating the Beauce Jaros in the playoff finals. The following season, 1976-77, was a good one as well although they didn't win any titles.
Unfortunately, as the Firebirds’ luck was at an all-time high, the NAHL couldn’t say the same. The league collapsed before the 1977-78 season could begin. The Firebirds hustled to join the American Hockey League (AHL), but it was also struggling at the time and was also a significant step up in play. The Firebirds weren't terrible, but they didn't finish above .500 in either of their two AHL seasons. They both of their AHL seasons in Philadelphia, but continued to lose money and saw their fan attendance dip. Their last “Hail Mary” attempt at survival was to move to upstate New York and become the Syracuse Firebirds. Unfortunately, that move failed and the Firebird franchise ended in the spring of 1980.
As far as famous Firebirds go, Reggie Lemelin went on to attain great success after goaltending for the Firebirds. He stayed with the Firebirds all 5 years they were in Philadelphia and joined the NHL in 1978. He had a 15 year professional career with the Atlanta/Calgary Flames and Boston Bruins. Interestingly, Lemelin was drafted by the Flyers in 1974, so there's a photo out there of him in a Flyers uniform, but he never played for them. Lemelin would return to Philly to be a goalie coach for the Flyers in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Mike Eruzione, a 1980s Olympic hero, also had a brief stint with the Firebirds. He joined them for their last six games during their final season in Philly.
The infamous hockey film Slap Shot was also heavily influenced by the Firebirds and the rest of the NAHL. It is rumored that Paul Newman attended several Firebird games in order to prepare for his role in the movie. Mark Bousquet, who is 3rd from the right in the second row in the picture above, played an important role in the movie as Andre "Poodle" Lussier of the Syracuse Bulldogs.
While the Firebirds were a quick and tumultuous roller coaster of a hockey franchise, they proved that Philadelphia could support two pro hockey teams. The Philadelphia Phantoms also spent more than a decade as an AHL team in the city during the 1990s and 2000s.
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