The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks were a professional ice hockey team based in Cincinnati , Ohio . They were members of the American Hockey League , and played their home games at the Cincinnati Gardens . Throughout their existence they were the primary minor league affiliate of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim of the National Hockey League , with a three-year shared affiliation with the Detroit Red Wings .
18-899: In 1997, the Baltimore Bandits franchise was losing money and accruing debts in Baltimore. Jerry Robinson, owner of the Cincinnati Gardens arena, purchased the Bandits franchise to play at the Gardens, replacing the previous hockey tenant, the Cincinnati Cyclones of the International Hockey League . The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim signed Cincinnati to a five-year affiliate agreement. From 1999 through 2002 team shared its affiliation with
36-532: A $ 100 to $ 200 million arena near Camden Yards in the hopes of also attracting a National Basketball Association franchise. Given the possibility of this proposed arena, Baltimore County Executive Dutch Ruppersberger declined Caggiano's request to help finance the County Coliseum. While Caggiano continued to try to find financing the Coliseum, attendance for Bandits games dropped to second to last in
54-631: A 4–3 loss in Baltimore. The average home attendance for the season was 3,601. During the off-season, head coach Walt Kyle left the team to become an assistant coach with the Mighty Ducks. He was replaced by Moe Mantha , with the Baltimore Bandits making the announcement on July 24, 1996. The Bandits started the 1996-97 season with a 5–3 loss to the Hershey Bears. By the sixth game, they were playing .500 hockey at 2-2-2, but
72-721: A Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2003 before coaching Detroit's championship-winning team in 2008. Baltimore Bandits The Baltimore Bandits were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League in the 1995–96 and 1996–97 seasons. They played in Baltimore, Maryland , at the Baltimore Arena . The Bandits were an affiliate of the National Hockey League 's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim . After two years of minimal on-ice success,
90-618: A coach for USA Hockey as both an assistant and head coach for the World Junior Team . While coaching the national program Kyle left his position at Northern Michigan to become a head coach, first for the Seattle Thunderbirds in 1992. Kyle was an assistant coach, under Ron Wilson , for Team USA at the 1994 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships held in Bolzano , Italy . By the late '90s Kyle worked his way up to
108-602: The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks . The Bandits completed the season with a losing record of 30-37. The team's last game in Baltimore was a 4–2 loss to the Philadelphia Phantoms during the first round of the AHL playoffs in front of 1,031 attendees. The final Bandit goal was by Igor Nikulin at the 19:21 mark of the third period. Philadelphia swept the Bandits 3–0. The logo of the Baltimore Bandits
126-596: The Detroit Red Wings , until the Red Wings affiliated with the Grand Rapids Griffins . Anaheim maintained their affiliation with Cincinnati through the 2004-05 season . The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks were granted a voluntary suspension for the 2005–06 season two days after Anaheim and Cincinnati ended their affiliation, and Cincinnati could not find a replacement NHL affiliate. In October 2005,
144-710: The NHL as an assistant with both the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and New York Rangers sandwiched around a short stint with the Hamilton Bulldogs . In 2002 Rick Comley , the only coach the program at Northern Michigan ever had, left the university. A few months later Walt Kyle returned to Marquette, Michigan to become the second head coach for the team. Kyle's early results with the Wildcats were good, winning 20+ games in each of his first four seasons, but over
162-607: The AHL announced that the team had been purchased, and moved to Rockford , Illinois , to become the Rockford IceHogs . The market was previously served by: The team was replaced in this market by: Affiliates Numerous Cincinnati Mighty Ducks alumni won the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 and Detroit Red Wings in 2008 . In addition, former Cincinnati coach Mike Babcock led Anaheim to
180-399: The AHL. Additionally, the team was in debt $ 3.7 million. As the season ended, a group led by Cincinnati businessman Jerry Robinson purchased the team for $ 2 million. Caggiano estimates the Bandits lost $ 1 million during its time in Baltimore. He blames the failure of the team to take root on the lack of good infrastructure. Upon arrival in its new location, the Baltimore Bandits were renamed
198-617: The Mighty Ducks and $ 100,000 to the AHL. The AHL approved the purchase of the Bandits by Caggiano on March 13, 1996. The Bandits finished the 1995-96 season with a 33-36 record. The team won their first AHL playoff series against the Hershey Bears , three games to two, with the final game a 4-3 overtime victory in Hershey. The second round ended in defeat for the Bandits to the Syracuse Crunch , four games to three, ending in
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#1732790212880216-479: The course of his 15-year tenure the club slowly declined both in the standings and in relevance. Kyle was never able to win either a conference or tournament title in his time behind the bench and only made one NCAA tournament appearance in 2010 . Towards the end of his time with Northern Michigan Kyle got into trouble off the ice. He was put on administrative leave in January 2015 and just over two years later he
234-475: The first season, the team was plagued with rumors about the team being sold or folding. After continuing financial struggles that impacted the team in a range of ways including equipment availability, Teck and Gertner sold the Bandits to a group of local backers led by Michael A. Caggiano, the former owner of the Prince William Cannons . At the time of the deal, Teck and Gertner owed $ 500,000 to
252-677: The franchise was moved to Cincinnati, Ohio , as the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks . The Bandits were the third minor league hockey team to play in Baltimore. Their practice facility was in the suburban Columbia Ice Rink in Columbia, Maryland . The Bandits started play in 1995 with their first game against the Carolina Monarchs , on October 6, 1995. The Bandits lost 3-1 at the Baltimore Arena with 7,293 in attendance. The team's first owners were Bob Teck and Alan Gertner. During
270-461: The off-ice news of the previous season continued. This time it centered around developing a new arena in order to enable the team to stay in the Baltimore area. On October 1, 1996, Caggiano put forth an initial plan for the County Coliseum, a $ 42 million 10,000 seat arena to be built just south of Baltimore in Lansdowne, Maryland . Later that week, Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke announced plans for
288-541: The program before leaving after the Eagles lost the 1978 title game . He spent a year in the USHL while transferring to Northern Michigan and once he got back into the college ranks he found himself a runner-up for a second time in 1980 . After finishing his eligibility in 1981 Kyle turned to coaching with his alma mater first as a graduate assistant and then a full-time assistant. In the early 1990s Kyle started working as
306-477: The team was renamed the Cincinnati RailRaiders, and was seeking an affiliation agreement for a return in 2006-07 season , but failed to reach a goal of 2,000 season tickets sold to become re-active. On October 3, 2006, it was reported that a Windsor, Ontario -based company had been granted conditional approval to purchase and relocate the team, however that deal fell through. On March 19, 2007,
324-691: Was a stylized raccoon developed by Disney Sports Enterprises . The Bandit was intended to resemble the Disney character, Meeko the Raccoon from Pocohontas . The Bandit uniforms were purple, black, and silver. Walt Kyle Walt Kyle (born June 11, 1956) is an American ice hockey coach. He is the former head coach of the Northern Michigan Wildcats , a position he held from June 2002 to March 2017. Kyle started his college career with Boston College , spending two seasons with
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