Barons piece

[Steve Buffum]

Nice history of the Barons: I was born in '64, so I don't remember the Barons well, glomming on to the Crusaders instead. (Of course, this means I went to about 8 games and remember one player, G. Cheevers.) My lasting memory of the Crusaders was:

1) Their preposterous song, "We're With You, Crusaders!" ("Every Step of the Way!")
2) My Dad trying to catch a puck that came rocketing over the glass: he missed the puck and kicked over his drink, then realized that had he actually made contact with the pick, he would likely have broken most of the small bones in his hand. Hockey pucks are hard and go very fast.

I still have a souvenir puck they gave out at the gate on night, though.

But really, I just wanted to say that I had no idea the Barons had such a rich history. Thanks, Greg.

[skatingtripods]

Definitely an excellent piece by Greg. Coincidentally, AHL CEO and President Dave Andrews was in Cleveland to take in Friday night's game and was commenting to the play-by-play guy John Michael about how glad he was to see AHL hockey thriving in Cleveland again. Because of the rich history, and the 75th anniversary of the league this year, it is really great to see.

Unfortunately, when the Barons left in 2005 for Worcester, the arena took down some of the retired numbers from the Lumberjacks and the old Barons.

[googleeph2]

Thanks guys!! Much appreciated. I learned a lot in my research about the Barons.

As I told Buff, Cheevers was my favorite too, but there's not much to find on the web about him once you get past the existence of the team, his NHL career and the mask with the stitches.

I plan to include him in a future piece.

Greg

[skatingtripods]

Thanks guys!! Much appreciated. I learned a lot in my research about the Barons.

As I told Buff, Cheevers was my favorite too, but there's not much to find on the web about him once you get past the existence of the team, his NHL career and the mask with the stitches.

I plan to include him in a future piece.

Greg

The Hockey News has a special issue magazine on shelves still about the history of goalie masks. There's a fair amount of Cheevers stuff in there.