The
Jacksonville Barracudas were a Southern Professional Hockey
League ice hockey team based in
Jacksonville,
Florida
. The Barracudas ownership announced on April
30, 2008 that they have requested a one-year suspension of
operations for the 2008-09 season. The Barracudas are no longer on
the SPHL website, nor is their website in operation. They are
considered folded.
The
Barracudas began play in 2002 in the Jacksonville
Coliseum
in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League, which ceased
play after the 2002-03 season. During the 2003 offseason the
Barracudas changed both buildings and leagues, as the Coliseum was
demolished to be replaced by the 15,000 seat Jacksonville Veterans
Memorial Arena, and the
World
Hockey Association 2 was formed.
The WHA2 was envisioned to be a minor league for the renaissance of
the
World Hockey
Association. Though the new WHA never took the ice, the WHA2
did play for one season, 2003-04.
The Barracudas won both the regular season title and the league
championship of the WHA2. On
April 16,
2004 the Barracudas won the second consecutive
game of a best-of-three series against the Macon Trax to bring the
city of Jacksonville its only professional hockey
championship.
The WHA2 disbanded in the 2004 offseason, and the Barracudas joined
the
Southern
Professional Hockey League for the 2004-05 season, ending with
a third place finish and a semifinal loss in the playoffs. They
finished the 2005-06 season in the bottom of the SPHL standings,
and improved to above .500 in 2006-07, finishing sixth in the
league with a 25-24-7 record.
On
April 4,
2007 the
Barracudas defeated the
Columbus
Cottonmouths in a best-of-five playoff series, 3 games to 1,
vaulting Jacksonville into the SPHL Finals for their first time.
The victory over Columbus advanced the Barracudas to the final
round against quarter- and semifinal winner
Fayetteville FireAntz. The first two
games of the best-of-five final series were won by Fayetteville on
the Fireantz' home ice, before the series returned to Jacksonville
where the Barracudas won Game 3 of the series by a 3-2 score. On
April 18,
2007 the
Fireantz won the fourth game of the series by a score of 5-3 to win
the SPHL President's Cup. Following the 2006-07 season the
Barracudas announced their move to Jacksonville Ice for the
subsequent season.
In the 2007-2008 the Barracudas once again advanced to the SPHL
playoffs. In Round 1 they defeated the Twin City Cyclones 2 games
to none.Round 2 saw the Cudas fall behind 1 game in the series,
before putting the Fayetteville FireAntz away in 3 games.The
Barracuadas were finally bested in the SPHL Finals, 3 games to none
by the regular season champion Knoxville IceBears.
The Barracudas' head coach was
Rick
Allain. From 2003 through 2006 the Barracudas were coached by
former NHL player
Ron Duguay.
Championships
| Year |
League |
Trophy |
| 2003-2004 |
WHA2 |
Commissioner's Cup |
| 2003-2004 |
WHA2 |
President's Cup |
References
- Jacksonville.com
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