Hurricane History

The Hurricanes first entered the league in fall of 2002, but their roots date back to 2001 when they entered the league as the Shock.  Thirty or so men of various ages all came to N Olmsted in January of 2001.  They were divided into two teams, the Fire Ants and the Shock.  It was one of the few times in Cleveland history that two beginner teams entered the league at the same time.  Both teams had a wide range of talent, from those that were the true definition of the word beginners to others that had played the game to some degree, mostly growing up.  From the start, most of the advantages went to the Fire Ants.  They were fortunate to have most of their team from the same area of town, while the Shock were quite spread out, from Norwalk to Euclid to Akron.  There was also a huge advantage given to the Ants in their goalie.  The Shock goalie was new to hockey while the Ants goalie had prior experience.  Both teams were fed to the established C level teams that year, the Bulldogs, the Stampede, the Thunder and the Icemen.  The Fire Ants also managed to win all five games they played versus the Shock as well.  Not to be thrown off track, the Shock added some players for their first full season for the 2001-2 season to offset several losses.  Unfortunately, the 2001-2 Shock never got to enjoy the taste of victory.  That, however, was the least of their problems as a riff divided the team in two.  Towards the end of the 2001-2 season it became apparent that this Shock would not survive together and the idea of forming a new team was hatched.  With only seven Shock players willing to make the jump, we set off to become what would become the Hurricanes.  We had no goalie, which some would argue was a step up compared to the days of the 2001-2 Shock, no plan, just some determination to become a better hockey team.  We tossed around some names for our new team, but it was the year that the Carolina Hurricanes came out of the east to take on the Detroit Red Wings, so the Hurricanes it was.  Besides, whatever name we took, we needed to make sure that their colors matched the red and white jerseys we had left over from our Shock days.  Our team came together slowly, finally picking up a goalie at the evaluation skate and picking up two new players at our first practice.  We were ready to take on a new season with a new attitude. 

2002-3 Season - Our inaugural season got under way October 20th against none other than the Shock.  They also managed to scrape together a new team and more importantly, a new goalie.  It had been roughly 22 months since we first took the ice in beginner school, during that time, some of us had not tasted victory, going 0-29.  Our streak came to end as we handed the Shock their 30th loss and our first victory, 5-1.  A new team and a new beginning!  If anyone wants the puck from our first game, it is atop my entertainment center.  Our first season saw us finish with a 10-9-1 record for the regular season and reach the local playoffs.  Having won all three of our games against the Shock during the regular season, our season ended with two losses to the Shock in the playoffs.  A good first season, but we had a long way to go. 

Season leaders:  Goals - Bogdas 12, Assists - Bogdas 14, Points - Bogdas - 26, PIM - Filiatreau - 36, Goalie - Wiesner 10-8-1, 3.84 GAA

2003-4 Season - Our success in our inaugural season only fueled our desire to become a better team.  We once again had to retool our roster as a few players from the previous season went their separate ways.  We got our season under way October 15th against the Fire Ants and won 2-0.  We would go on to win our first four games only to hit some major bumps along the way.  We finished the season at 9-10-1, but won our last two to ensure we would make the local playoffs.  With two full seasons under our belt, we managed to surprise the Stampede in the first game of the playoffs, beating them 5-1.  We went onto beat the Shock 4-3 in our next game.  We were set to win the local playoffs if we could beat the Stampede one time, knowing that we could afford to lose a game, but obviously preferring not to.  We split the regular season against them 2-2, so each team knew how to beat the other.  In a gut wrenching game, the Stampede prevailed 6-5 to force a winner take all championship game.  We wilted as they hammered us 7-2 and won the local championship.  Still, valuable playoff experience was gained and we considered ourselves hungrier yet.

Season leaders - Goals - Bogdas 16, Assists - Trizio 18, Points - Bogdas 29, PIM - Filiatreau 22, Goalie - Wiesner 7-8-1, 4.31 GAA, Stone 2-2, 3.00 GAA

2004-5 Season - Our third season as the Hurricanes, some success had been shared in the past two seasons, but the hunger was there to establish ourselves within our division.  The Stampede had finally been moved up after having won the division three years in a row.  It was time for a new champion in our division.  Over the summer, every team made great strides to better themselves and we were no different.  Our season was under way October 24th against the Ants.  Each team showcased their fire power, but it was the Ants prevailing 8-7.  It marked the first time the Hurricanes had lost a season opener.  We went through 2/3 of the season playing average hockey and were looking at the possibility of not making the playoffs this year as we stood at 7-6.  It was in early March that the Hurricanes started a roll that was unmatched in our division.  We finished the regular season winning 6 of 7 games and finished up at 13-7 and a #2 seed in the playoffs.  During the regular season, we lost our 7 games by a total of 9 goals, testimony to how competitive our division had become.  With the playoffs upon us, it was time to get busy as no one wanted to be sitting home this June.  Our first game was against the Buccaneers, a team we had beat 2 of 3 times during the regular season.  We would prevail 8-6 in a game that was not as close as the score would indicate.  The Blast were our next opponent with the best goalie in our division and probably the one above it as well.  Our season series was split with the Blast having won the previous two.  The Blast our known for excellent goal tending and capitalizing on other teams mistakes, finishing the regular season 16-3-1.  Our playoff game was a battle as they capitalized a few mistakes and had us down late in the third period.  We put up a relentless attack and managed to tie the game with 90 some seconds left in regulation.  The first OT came and went, each team having a few chances here and there.  The second OT saw the Hurricanes dispatch the Blast and prevail 4-3.  We would await the winner of the Blast-Fire Ants game.  For the second season in a row, the Canes were one victory away from securing a berth in the league playoffs in Toronto.  This year, we would not be denied and took the Ants out 4-2 to wrap up our first local division championship.  We would go on and win the league championship as well, for that, click on the Toronto link.  All that is left to do is defend it.

Season leaders - Goals - Busta 31, Assists - Busta 24, Points - Busta 55, PIM - Busta, Filiatreau, Stone 20, Goalie - Wiesner 11-7, 3.17 GAA, Stone 2-0, 3.50 GAA

2005-6 Season - Having won the league championship in June of 2005, we could have gone winless for the 2005-6 season and still knew that we were guaranteed a return trip to the 2006 Championships.  The Hurricanes would have none of that of course.  Our roster for the most part was unchanged from the previous year with one major addition, we added George Esner, the nephew of Bob, an original Hurricane.  We opened our season against the Fire Ants and George's impact was immediately felt as we won 8-2, with George scoring two goals and adding an assist.  His biggest impact was felt on the defensive side, limiting the Ants to only two goals.  We breezed through the next two games, winning 5-1 over the Blast and 9-3 over the Buccaneers.  It was then that the league decided that we would get bumped up a division, moving us up to C1 with the likes of Sharks, Predators, Vikings and the Stampede.  We played out the remainder of our C2 schedule, finishing 8-0.  Our next 14 games would be played against more experienced and talented teams.  We opened the second half of the season versus the Stampede and won 9-8 in a back and fourth game.  We then extended our HNA winning streak to 22 games by besting the Sharks in OT, 6-5.  We were brought back to earth by the Vikings as they beat us 6-2.  The remainder of the season gave us valuable experience and continued to challenge us.  We would beat every team in our new division at least once, but we would also get beaten by them, sometimes handily.  In all, we would post a 6-8 record in our new division.  We were able to qualify for the local playoffs, winning a 3 OT game against the Predators, then losing an embarrassing game to the Sharks and finally getting eliminated in the final seconds by the Predators.  The challenges that were presented us helped prepare for the 2006 championships as we would be elevated two tiers.

Season leaders - Goals - Busta 32, Assists - Busta 19, Points - Busta 51, PIM - Stone 75, Goalie - Wiesner 13-7, 4.79 GAA, Stone 1-1, 3.00 GAA

2006-7 Season -

Season leaders - Goals - , Assists - , Points - , PIM - , Goalie - Wiesner  GAA, Stone  GAA

2007-8 Season -

Season leaders -

Standings since 2002-03