For the third straight year, the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers are playing against each other in the NBA Final. Given the frequent play, the players on the two teams are very familiar with each other by now.
The historic sports connections between the Bay Area of California and Cleveland, however, are not limited to this basketball matchup. They are also present in the hockey annals. The California Golden Seals were a team in the NHL from 1967 until 1976. The franchise then moved to Cleveland, where they played as the Barons for two seasons.
After this, there was a significant time where the hockey ties between these two cities were no longer active. This connection was reborn when the San Jose Sharks moved their AHL franchise from Kentucky to Cleveland in 2001. The new version of the Cleveland Barons played for five seasons before moving to Worcester, Mass.
These various hockey franchises have resulted in numerous connections in various eras between the Bay Area and Cleveland. Keeping with the theme introduced on this site before the Super Bowl, and followed up before the Stanley Cup Final, here are the 10 greatest Bay Area-Cleveland Barons connections.
10. Jim Neilson
Neilson played two seasons with the Seals, appearing in 98 games. The defenseman scored 27 points during that time. He moved with the franchise to Cleveland, where he played his final two NHL seasons.
He played in 115 games with the NHL Cleveland Barons, tallying 43 points. This points total ranks 10th in franchise history, and third among defenseman.
9. Walt McKechnie
Unlike most players on this list, McKechnie played on the Seals well before the move to Cleveland, but ended up re-joining the franchise after the move. He played in California from 1971 to 1974, scoring 137 points in 197 games. This total ranks seventh in Seals history.
After stints with the Bruins, Red Wings and Capitals, he spent 1977-78 with the Barons, playing in 53 games and scoring 34 points.
8. Bob Murdoch
Murdoch played in the Seals’ final season, scoring 49 points during as an NHL rookie. This was his highest single-season point total in his NHL career. In Cleveland, he played in both seasons of the franchise’s existence. He scored 82 points in 128 games, which ranks fourth in franchise history.
Christian Ehrhoff logged 106 productive AHL games with Cleveland before becoming a permanent presence with the parent San Jose Sharks. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
7. Christian Ehrhoff
Ehrhoff was a fourth-round draft pick of the Sharks in 2001. After coming over from Europe, he split the 2003-04 season between the Sharks and Barons. He then spent the 2004-05 season in the AHL during the lockout. That year, he led the AHL Barons in scoring among defenders, with 35 points in 79 games. In total, he had 49 points in 106 games in Cleveland.
In San Jose, Ehrhoff scored 132 points in 341 games. Ehrhoff was a member of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Sharks’ gifted two-way defensive corps in 2008-09. That year, the Sharks led the NHL with 117 points in the regular season, and he had 42 points. That impressive total ranked third on the team that year among defensemen.
6. Gilles Meloche
Meloche is the all-time games-played leader among goalies for both the Seals and Barons. He played his first full NHL season in 1971-72 with the Golden Seals, earning 16 wins. He went on to play 250 games over five seasons with the Seals franchise, winning a franchise-best 58 games.
In Cleveland, Meloche played in 105 games, winning 35. He was by far the most reliable of the three goalies to play for the Barons over the two seasons of existence, and holds the franchise records in all major goaltending categories.
5. Rick Hampton
Hampton was a very high draft pick of the Seals. They selected him with the third overall pick in the 1974 draft. The defenseman tallied 25 points in his rookie season, and then a career-best 51 in his sophomore campaign.
Hampton played the last two solid seasons of his NHL career with the Cleveland Barons. He scored 76 points, the same total he had with the Seals, and this was in just 134 games. This total ranks sixth overall, and first among defenseman in team history.
4. Ryane Clowe
Clowe was a sixth-round pick of the Sharks in 2001. He began his pro career with two full season and part of another one with the AHL Cleveland Barons. He scored 136 points in 181 games, including a team-leading 62 in the 2004-05 season.
In San Jose, Clowe proved to be a solid NHL player over his eight seasons. In total, he played 423 games and tallied 291 points. His NHL career-best 62 points came in the 2010-11 season, which he then followed up with 15 points in 17 playoff games.
Jonathan Cheechoo quickly graduated from the AHL Barons, and within four years, he was leading the NHL goal-scoring race as a Shark. (Photo by Don Smith/Getty Images)
3. Jonathan Cheechoo
San Jose selected Cheechoo in the second round of the 1998 draft. After his time in the OHL, he spent two full seasons in the Sharks’ AHL system, including the first season for the AHL Barons. That year (2001-02), he scored 46 points in 53 games. He also appeared in nine games for the team the following season, but spent most of that year in the NHL.
He played six seasons with the Sharks, appearing in 440 games and recording 291 points, which currently ranks eighth in franchise history. This included a career-best 93 points in the 2005-06 season, which led the team that year. His 56 goals that season led the entire NHL.
2. Al MacAdam
MacAdam spent two seasons with both the Seals and the Barons. In California, he scored 106 points in 160 games. This is the 11th-best points total in franchise history, and the highest among players who only spent two seasons with the team.
After the move to Cleveland, MacAdam continued to produce at a similar rate. He again played 160 games over two seasons, scoring 111 points. This puts him second on the NHL Barons’ all-time points list. His 160 games played is the most among all players to appear for the franchise.
1. Dennis Maruk
Maruk was drafted by the Seals in 1975, and made his NHL debut during the franchise’s final season. He tallied 62 points in an impressive rookie campaign.
He then moved with the team to Cleveland, playing both years of the Barons existence. He managed to score 149 points in 156 games, which makes him the NHL franchise’s all-time points leader. His 64 goals and 85 assists also rank best.
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