Maine Mariners
The Maine Mariners were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played from 1977 to 1992 in Portland, Maine, USA at the Cumberland County Civic Center. The team was moved to Providence in 1992 and renamed the Providence Bruins.
History
Starting in 1973, existed with the Maine Nordiques from the North American Hockey League is a professional ice hockey team in the U.S. state of Maine, which served as a farm team of the Quebec Nordiques of the World Hockey Association. 1977 should be a franchise of the American Hockey League in Portland are settled and there were three applications for it. The well-established AHL team of Rhode Iceland Reds was ready to discharge some of their home games in the city. The Quebec Nordiques wanted to play in Portland their farm team also, but should also be discharged in Lewiston home games. Only the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League wanted to install an AHL team as a farm team, the only Portland has his home and eventually also received the award.
The Maine Mariners went in the fall of 1977 in its first season and played from the beginning successful hockey. At the end of their first season, they were the best team in the main round and even in the playoffs, they continued to play confidently and won as the second team in the history of the AHL equal in their debut season in the Calder Cup. In the second season they attached it to, again won the title as the best team in the regular season and could after a successful final defense of the Calder Cup.
Guarantee of success in the early years was coach Bob McCammon, who was twice awarded the Louis AR Pieri Award as the best coach of the league and was thus promoted to head coach of the Flyers the early eighties. The players stood out among other Wayne Schaab, Paul Evans, Bernie Johnston, Barry Dean and Gordie Clark, who shone especially on the offensive and the image of the team coined longer. In addition, the team turned in their first season with Blake Dunlop equal to the winner of the Les Cunningham Award as the most valuable player in the AHL, but in the second season only rarely for Maine and was played in the NHL for regular players.
In the following four years, the Mariners failed twice prematurely in the playoffs for the first time and thus had to cope with some setbacks, but twice they went again into final, subject to there but the Adirondack Red Wings and the Rochester Americans. Particularly stood out while the young Swedish goalkeeper Pelle Lindbergh, who in 1980 came to the Mariners. In his first season he led the team to the finals and received the awards after the season Most Valuable Player and Best Neuprofi the league.
After six successful years as a farm team of the Philadelphia Flyers cooperation and the Mariners ended acted from the 1983/84 season as a cooperation partner of the New Jersey Devils. The team then played the worst game until then its existence and finished the regular season with 33 wins from 80 league games, so they could still qualify for the playoffs. Tom McVie, who had led the team in the previous year to the final, was appointed by the New Jersey Devils interim head coach and the inexperienced John Paddock had assumed responsibility for the Mariners for the rest of the season. In the playoffs, the team showed but from another angle and made for a surprise when they were still able to win the Calder Cup after the weak main round.
When Tom McVie again took over as coach for the 1984/85 season, the Mariners in the following two years were able to stabilize again in the regular season but in the playoffs they were unsuccessful. When it was finally reached in the spring of 1987, failed to qualify for the playoffs the first major low point in the franchise history, were several major changes.
In the summer of 1987, the Boston Bruins took on the Maine Mariners as their farm team and replace the last unsuccessful Tom McVie by the inexperienced Mike Milbury, who was in the twelve years previously as a defender for the Bruins and was active before the start of his coaching career. And also in the squad, there were some changes, as Boston shuts off many young players in Maine. The 1987/88 season was finally marked by success, as the team returned back under the best teams in the league.
But the positive result did not last long and the next four years were largely dominated by failure. In 1989 and 1990 they missed the playoffs, before coach Rick Bowness, who had now superseded Milbury, could lead the Mariners season despite a weak result in the final round, but where they already failed in the first round.
1991/92 the team finally reached the nadir. With only 23 wins from the 80 games of the season they finished cut off the last place in the AHL. It was also the last season in Portland. The team owners were in negotiations with the City of Providence, Rhode Iceland and finally came to the conclusion to relocate the franchise and rename in Providence Bruins.