Thanks. It has been a few years of researching while checking out the history of a former Barons player. Check it out: ralphklassen.wordpress.com/barons/
I remember the Barons. Great footage! Especially liking the Buffalo Sabres clips. Im from Buffalo. Sorry about the shellacking the Barons faced against the Sabres. Side note, i was in Cleveland sevetal years ago. The local gas station was still selling Baronsbitems like mugs, jey chains, stickers, etc !!! Thanks for posting!!!
It is really too bad that the Barons ended-up moving after only two seasons in Cleveland. I was lucky enough to see the Barons play the Penguins in Pittsburgh once and it was cool because the two cities have always had a great rivalry in football with the Steelers and Browns and I am sure that if the Barons were still in the NHL today, they would be rivals with the Pens.
@@rickytavilla4259 Gilles Meloche was really a very good goaltender, but unfortunately, he played on a lot of weak teams and I always wondered how he would have done playing for better ones, especially defensively. Gilles also had one of the coolest masks ever when he played for the Barons.
@@jeffthewhiff I had him on my wall as a kid when he finally played for the north stars and had a few winning seasons. And I thought he was cool wearing such an odd number for a time when goalies wore 1 or 30. Yeah he was one of the cool ones. I’m embarrassed to ask but need he ever get any hall mentions or votes
@@rickytavilla4259 Unfortunately, I don't think Gilles has ever been considered for the Hall of Fame and I think it is mostly because of the poor teams he played for in his career. I like that you had a picture/poster of Meloche on your wall as a kid too!👍
In 1981, the North Stars reached the Stanley Cup finals and lost to the NY Islanders. A big reason for the resurgence of the North Stars was the addition & play of Meloche in net, MacAdam on the top line, and Greg Smith on defence. With the merger, the North Stars instantly went from the basement to a strong and respectable hockey team. Some die-hard Minnesota fans were quite bitter to see their North Stars later win a Stanley Cup in Dallas. There was a lot of hate for the former owner.
all the more impressive of those Sabres from that era, when you factor in 13 goals was pretty much how much the current Sabres scored all of this past season....
The Cleveland Barons got their name after the original Cleveland Barons of the AHL. During the 1950’s the original Cleveland Barons were so popular, they wanted to join the NHL. However the Red Wings and Blackhawks didn’t want a 3rd team in the MidWest
I think I heard from a podcast that the Barons might have turned down the invitation to join the NHL ... possibly with the dormant Montreal Maroons franchise. I cannot remember where I might have heard that and cannot substantiate that rumour.
The Richfield Coliseum's 'isolation' didn't stop fans from flocking there for the Cavaliers' teams of 75-78. 21, 564 was the capacity for basketball. We all knew that because that was the attendance at so many games during that period. It was a really nice building, and was no different from the other arenas and stadiums built during that time in the suburbs.
Akron and Cleveland are both excellent basketball cities that have nurtured lot of homegrown NBA talent. Having the stadium serve 2 huge basketball markets does make a lot of sense for basketball ... but not hockey in the mid 1970s. Cleveland had a legacy of AHL hockey ... and an unsuccessful run at the WHA. It's a huge stretch to identifying Akron as a hockey city. I agree that the stadium was top notch and one of the best facilities in the league. But, ownership dropped the ball promoting hockey and getting people into the rink. The location was a barrier for transit, a quick cab ride, or any last minute walk-in attendance.
It was trash. Nobody wants to to to the middle of a national park to watch anything. People went to watch the cavs and the force because they were winning. The cavs had 2,000 people per game on the early 80s. Glad that arena is gone.
@@squiggleface3631And Columbus got the BlueJackets. Cleveland has their farm club now. Too bad it couldn't have another chance. Dan Gilbert would be the kind of owner to take on an NHL team.
Thankfully, he did have a couple great years with the Minnesota North Stars & he helped take them to the Stanley Cup finals in 1981. Meloche and Don Beaupre made a pretty good goaltending tandem that season.
@@michaelleroy9281 He would have only seen limited play. Tony Esposito would usually play around 65 games in a season. A couple of years he hit 70 regular season games.
Amazingly, this wasn't the last time the Barons name would be in Cleveland. In the 90'/00's the Barons were the cities AHL team Cleveland! If Cleveland ever gets another NHL team it has to be called the Barons.
The terms "folding" and "contraction" have been used frequently, but the Barons are the only of the four major sports leagues to fold in the past 80 years ...
This was an interesting video about the Seals/Barons franchise ... The Last Major Sports Franchise to Stop Existing: ruclips.net/video/vkRLqZqarf8/видео.html
Minnesota was also struggling financially and were lower in the standings than Cleveland. They had a richer history of hockey in Minnesota. During the Word Championships in Prague in 1978, both owners were attending and came up with the idea of a merger. The NHL quickly approved the request and the merger became a reality. Because I decided on keeping the video brief, I edited out lots of great detail. Thanks for the question!
I had a buddy that played a few games for the California Golden Seals and I do not recall them moving to Cleveland.. I had to google it to believe it. They did not make much of a stir in the league. But I do not watch much sports as I prefer to keep playing rather than watching.
@@squiggleface3631 I can't even remember his nickname let alone his real name and did not see his name of the Seals roster so he may have only had a few preseason games. I tried to find the team in the minors where he played, but can't find the hockey db roster. He worked at GM in St Catharines. My buddy that was good friends with him is dead but I texted another buddy that might remember. If he can remember his name I will let you know. Old age sucks.
@@squiggleface3631 A buddy just texted me that Buffi did not play for the Seals and did not play pro hockey. Now i wish i could remember the actual story about Buffi and the Seals. Anyway thanks for posting.
@@squiggleface3631 All good. Chatted about the good old days with my buddy and this video helped with the nostalgia and none of them remembered the Cleveland Barons. Now I can not remember the kids name that skated with us only 15 years ago and went first round to the thrashers. You should do a video on them. Dalton something lol
They were never in Cleveland. They played in Richfield, Oh. Just outside of Akron, Ohio. No public transportation and the interstate, I-271, couldn't handle the traffic at the Richfield exit. What should have been a mainstay in the NHL for years was wasted because of the failure of the City of Cleveland to build an Arena in Cleveland. Cleveland politicians are still just as stupid but ownership these days usually brings tons of money for arenas. Nick Mileti, Owner of the Indians, AHL Barons, NBA Cavaliers was so cash poor that it is amazing any league let him own anything. To be fair, the prices of franchises were listed in the millions instead of 100's of millions or billions! Big difference! What a shame!
Yep. Definitely a missed opportunity and legacy for NHL hockey in Cleveland. It was text book for how NOT to successfully set-up and sustain and NHL franchise.
Richfield damn near killed any hope for winter sports in Cleveland. 50 miles outside the city in the middle of nowhere with zero public transportation to or from. It's a wonder how even the Cavs survived there. I can't think of a single suburban arena project that the state who built them didn't regret. They ALL failed.
As much as I love hockey, played-coached-ref’d and now work in TV with the NHL, in general ownership is rather quick to jump at a chance to make a buck or try and appease the masses, look at how they’ve glommed on to the lgbtq parade while many players want nothing to do with that. Nonetheless it’s a shame the teams in Cleveland didn’t work out, I think a team there would’ve been a great rivalry with Pittsburgh, Buffalo Detroit, Chicago and now Columbus.
cleveland barons. The remains of the failed cali golden seals. Houston after failed nhl/wha merger bid and a failed solo nhl expansion bid tried to re-locate barons there but nhl nixed the idea citing the failure in atlanta the first deep south nhl team as the reason why. So instead barons were absorbed by another failing franchise, the minny north stars. Barons are the last pro franchise to fold/cease operations. denny maruk seal/baron/north star was the caps first ever 60 goal scorer.
Houston Aeros also tried to buy and bring the Colorado Rockies NHL franchise to Houston during the summer of 1978 . There were some NHL meetings but they Rockies were sold to Arthur Imperatore instead - and his goal was to eventually move the team to New Jersey. According to a podcast I heard, the idea for the Barons & North Stars merging happened at the 1978 World Championships in Prague. The owners and/or GMs started chatting and then petitioned the move to the league.
@@squiggleface3631yep. nhl/wha war left too many $$$-losing franchises out there so they already had their mind made up to nix barons from the nhl. and barons had to get a couple of nhl loans to finish out that second season.
@@orbyfanyes they did. but just like most don't consider gretzky's wha goals to his total many don't consider the wha a legit pro league. and that's why gretz was sold off for ca$h because racers were bleeding $$$'s. most wha franchises demise was to fold.
This is a remarkable amount of Cleveland Barons footage all in one place. Kudos to the uploader of this video!
Thanks. It has been a few years of researching while checking out the history of a former Barons player. Check it out: ralphklassen.wordpress.com/barons/
I remember this team, they became half of the Minnesota North Stars.
Now they're the San Jose Sharks after the un-merger
@@ZiggyMcZag Which was the beginning of the end of the team in Minnesota
what a great rivalry that would have been with the Penguins
Barons played close to .500 hockey at home ... but were pretty dismal on the road.
Or with the Blue Jackets.
Before sparsly attended arenas
@@squiggleface3631Id like to see both Cleveland & Kansas City have NHL teams again
Those uniforms were really sharp.
I saw them play in Toronto in 78. I will say...I always liked their colours! The light home jerseys were really sharp.
Happy with the monsters but damn I would do anything to have nhl in Cleveland
At least you have Columbus 😅
I remember the Barons. Great footage! Especially liking the Buffalo Sabres clips. Im from Buffalo. Sorry about the shellacking the Barons faced against the Sabres. Side note, i was in Cleveland sevetal years ago. The local gas station was still selling Baronsbitems like mugs, jey chains, stickers, etc !!! Thanks for posting!!!
It is really too bad that the Barons ended-up moving after only two seasons in Cleveland. I was lucky enough to see the Barons play the Penguins in Pittsburgh once and it was cool because the two cities have always had a great rivalry in football with the Steelers and Browns and I am sure that if the Barons were still in the NHL today, they would be rivals with the Pens.
Cool I’m jealous
Loved 27
@@rickytavilla4259 Gilles Meloche was really a very good goaltender, but unfortunately, he played on a lot of weak teams and I always wondered how he would have done playing for better ones, especially defensively. Gilles also had one of the coolest masks ever when he played for the Barons.
@@jeffthewhiff I had him on my wall as a kid when he finally played for the north stars and had a few winning seasons. And I thought he was cool wearing such an odd number for a time when goalies wore 1 or 30. Yeah he was one of the cool ones. I’m embarrassed to ask but need he ever get any hall mentions or votes
@@rickytavilla4259 Unfortunately, I don't think Gilles has ever been considered for the Hall of Fame and I think it is mostly because of the poor teams he played for in his career. I like that you had a picture/poster of Meloche on your wall as a kid too!👍
Thanks for posting really impressive 👍
Thanks. I appreciate your positive comment.
Would like to see another NHL team in Cleveland.
Sad that it never worked out properly. North Stars went to Dallas and had some Stanley Cup success later. They were in Minnesota for some time too.
In 1981, the North Stars reached the Stanley Cup finals and lost to the NY Islanders. A big reason for the resurgence of the North Stars was the addition & play of Meloche in net, MacAdam on the top line, and Greg Smith on defence. With the merger, the North Stars instantly went from the basement to a strong and respectable hockey team. Some die-hard Minnesota fans were quite bitter to see their North Stars later win a Stanley Cup in Dallas. There was a lot of hate for the former owner.
I always loved the old North Stars uniforms, wish Minnesota Wild would keep their alternate green and gold as their regular jersey
@@bearforce187 yea, totally agree!
@@squiggleface3631 There still is
Had some nice unis...
I remember that 13-3 Buffalo game...my only memory of the NHL Barons...my lost youth where did it go? Iol
I saw them once against the Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada ... yep, my lost youth bolted a long time ago too ;-P
all the more impressive of those Sabres from that era, when you factor in 13 goals was pretty much how much the current Sabres scored all of this past season....
The Cleveland Barons got their name after the original Cleveland Barons of the AHL. During the 1950’s the original Cleveland Barons were so popular, they wanted to join the NHL. However the Red Wings and Blackhawks didn’t want a 3rd team in the MidWest
I think I heard from a podcast that the Barons might have turned down the invitation to join the NHL ... possibly with the dormant Montreal Maroons franchise. I cannot remember where I might have heard that and cannot substantiate that rumour.
Larry Hirsch - just about the nicest person you'll ever meet.
The Richfield Coliseum's 'isolation' didn't stop fans from flocking there for the Cavaliers' teams of 75-78. 21, 564 was the capacity for basketball. We all knew that because that was the attendance at so many games during that period. It was a really nice building, and was no different from the other arenas and stadiums built during that time in the suburbs.
Akron and Cleveland are both excellent basketball cities that have nurtured lot of homegrown NBA talent.
Having the stadium serve 2 huge basketball markets does make a lot of sense for basketball ... but not hockey in the mid 1970s.
Cleveland had a legacy of AHL hockey ... and an unsuccessful run at the WHA.
It's a huge stretch to identifying Akron as a hockey city.
I agree that the stadium was top notch and one of the best facilities in the league.
But, ownership dropped the ball promoting hockey and getting people into the rink.
The location was a barrier for transit, a quick cab ride, or any last minute walk-in attendance.
It was trash. Nobody wants to to to the middle of a national park to watch anything. People went to watch the cavs and the force because they were winning. The cavs had 2,000 people per game on the early 80s. Glad that arena is gone.
@@germxv That's the stupidest thing I've heard in a while. Did the Coliseum kill your brother or something?
@@squiggleface3631And Columbus got the BlueJackets. Cleveland has their farm club now. Too bad it couldn't have another chance. Dan Gilbert would be the kind of owner to take on an NHL team.
The Gateway Project had the Indians at Jacobs Field, Gund Arena and Art Modell was offered to get a stadium there but turned it down back then.
Great logo and jerseys.
There is nothing cooler than NHL players not wearing helmets. These guys were warriors!
Alwats wished Meloche got an opportunity to play on a good team. Such a good goalie that didnt get the accolades he deserved.
Thankfully, he did have a couple great years with the Minnesota North Stars & he helped take them to the Stanley Cup finals in 1981. Meloche and Don Beaupre made a pretty good goaltending tandem that season.
Gillies Meloche originally broke in with the Chicago Blackhawks in 70/71 a good team, but they traded him to the lowly Seals
@@michaelleroy9281 He would have only seen limited play. Tony Esposito would usually play around 65 games in a season. A couple of years he hit 70 regular season games.
Absolutely! I used to cite Meloche as an example of a goalie whose stats did not reflect his skill.
I only clicked on this because it's under 5 minutes; which is appropriate for this 'team'.
That's hilarious! Thanks for your comment.
I go back to Les Binkley, who was the goalie for the AHL Cleveland Barons.
Nice! That is back a ways!
One of the 2 goalies for the Penguins when they started in 67/68
The unis and masks are awesome
Barons uniforms some of the best ever in the NHL
Amazingly, this wasn't the last time the Barons name would be in Cleveland. In the 90'/00's the Barons were the cities AHL team Cleveland! If Cleveland ever gets another NHL team it has to be called the Barons.
Shame as they had great uniforms and Meloche and Simmons' masks were great.
Barons may have had the best masked tandem in NHL history
@@squiggleface3631 That Barons mask of Melbourne was one of the best. Is on display at Hockey Hall Of Fame in Canada.
We called them the Ba-rons.
That franchise was cursed from day one back in San Francisco.
The whole timing and scenario was wrong. Cleveland would have been better in the 80s to 2000s with an expansion team.
Should have awarded that team to Vancouver or Buffalo which got in in the next expansion in 1970
The terms "folding" and "contraction" have been used frequently, but the Barons are the only of the four major sports leagues to fold in the past 80 years ...
This was an interesting video about the Seals/Barons franchise ...
The Last Major Sports Franchise to Stop Existing:
ruclips.net/video/vkRLqZqarf8/видео.html
Bring back the Barons!
I bet the people in Cleveland wish they could have a do-over with the Barons.
That would be great with an owner like Dan Gilbert.
Was hoping they’d expand a little bit on the merger with the North Stars. Like, why Minnesota? Were they struggling financially at the time also?
Minnesota was also struggling financially and were lower in the standings than Cleveland. They had a richer history of hockey in Minnesota. During the Word Championships in Prague in 1978, both owners were attending and came up with the idea of a merger. The NHL quickly approved the request and the merger became a reality. Because I decided on keeping the video brief, I edited out lots of great detail. Thanks for the question!
@@squiggleface3631 and after 15 years the North Stars would be gone themselves
@@michaelleroy9281 Fans were great during those years ... Owner Norman Green was hated for ending the franchise & moving the team to Dallas.
They only gave them two years. No time to get any loyalty. They were a team from California.
I had a buddy that played a few games for the California Golden Seals and I do not recall them moving to Cleveland.. I had to google it to believe it. They did not make much of a stir in the league. But I do not watch much sports as I prefer to keep playing rather than watching.
Who was the player that played for the California Golden Seals?
@@squiggleface3631 I can't even remember his nickname let alone his real name and did not see his name of the Seals roster so he may have only had a few preseason games.
I tried to find the team in the minors where he played, but can't find the hockey db roster. He worked at GM in St Catharines. My buddy that was good friends with him is dead but I texted another buddy that might remember. If he can remember his name I will let you know. Old age sucks.
@@squiggleface3631 A buddy just texted me that Buffi did not play for the Seals and did not play pro hockey. Now i wish i could remember the actual story about Buffi and the Seals. Anyway thanks for posting.
@@justbeyondthemath4559 No worries ... I was only curious.
@@squiggleface3631 All good. Chatted about the good old days with my buddy and this video helped with the nostalgia and none of them remembered the Cleveland Barons. Now I can not remember the kids name that skated with us only 15 years ago and went first round to the thrashers. You should do a video on them. Dalton something lol
Good hockey. Bad business.
They were never in Cleveland. They played in Richfield, Oh. Just outside of Akron, Ohio. No public transportation and the interstate, I-271, couldn't handle the traffic at the Richfield exit. What should have been a mainstay in the NHL for years was wasted because of the failure of the City of Cleveland to build an Arena in Cleveland. Cleveland politicians are still just as stupid but ownership these days usually brings tons of money for arenas. Nick Mileti, Owner of the Indians, AHL Barons, NBA Cavaliers was so cash poor that it is amazing any league let him own anything. To be fair, the prices of franchises were listed in the millions instead of 100's of millions or billions! Big difference! What a shame!
Yep. Definitely a missed opportunity and legacy for NHL hockey in Cleveland. It was text book for how NOT to successfully set-up and sustain and NHL franchise.
Not very patient... Just normal 2 losings seasons for the start of a new franchise.
Richfield damn near killed any hope for winter sports in Cleveland. 50 miles outside the city in the middle of nowhere with zero public transportation to or from. It's a wonder how even the Cavs survived there. I can't think of a single suburban arena project that the state who built them didn't regret. They ALL failed.
Terrible ownership.
leave Harold Ballard out of this
The Blue Jackets succeeded whereas the Barons did not.
It's good that their fans keep supporting the team even though the team has seldom been successful on the ice.
obviously the mistake by the lake
As much as I love hockey, played-coached-ref’d and now work in TV with the NHL, in general ownership is rather quick to jump at a chance to make a buck or try and appease the masses, look at how they’ve glommed on to the lgbtq parade while many players want nothing to do with that.
Nonetheless it’s a shame the teams in Cleveland didn’t work out, I think a team there would’ve been a great rivalry with Pittsburgh, Buffalo Detroit, Chicago and now Columbus.
cleveland barons. The remains of the failed cali golden seals. Houston after failed nhl/wha merger bid and a failed solo nhl expansion bid tried to re-locate barons there but nhl nixed the idea citing the failure in atlanta the first deep south nhl team as the reason why. So instead barons were absorbed by another failing franchise, the minny north stars. Barons are the last pro franchise to fold/cease operations. denny maruk seal/baron/north star was the caps first ever 60 goal scorer.
Houston Aeros also tried to buy and bring the Colorado Rockies NHL franchise to Houston during the summer of 1978 . There were some NHL meetings but they Rockies were sold to Arthur Imperatore instead - and his goal was to eventually move the team to New Jersey.
According to a podcast I heard, the idea for the Barons & North Stars merging happened at the 1978 World Championships in Prague. The owners and/or GMs started chatting and then petitioned the move to the league.
@@squiggleface3631yep. nhl/wha war left too many $$$-losing franchises out there so they already had their mind made up to nix barons from the nhl. and barons had to get a couple of nhl loans to finish out that second season.
The Indianapolis Racers of the WHA folded 25 games into the 1978-79 season.
@@orbyfanyes they did. but just like most don't consider gretzky's wha goals to his total many don't consider the wha a legit pro league. and that's why gretz was sold off for ca$h because racers were bleeding $$$'s. most wha franchises demise was to fold.
I have Maruks hockey card