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31-758: The Detroit Vipers were a professional ice hockey team that competed in the International Hockey League (IHL). Originally founded in 1969 as the Salt Lake Golden Eagles in Salt Lake City , the team was purchased by Palace Sports & Entertainment and relocated to Auburn Hills, Michigan in 1994. The rebranding to the Vipers was influenced by a sponsorship deal with the Chrysler Corporation , aligning

62-528: A Canadian team again until 1996. Bill Beagan served as commissioner of the IHL from 1969 to 1978. The Canadian Press cited him for turning around the league's financial situation and making it a top-tier development system for future NHL talent. Starting in the late 1960s, the IHL's quality of play significantly improved. By the mid-1970s it was on par with the American Hockey League (AHL),

93-637: A brief time while he was locked in a holdout with Washington management. The Vipers finished the season in second place in the Central Division. In the first round of the playoffs, they defeated the Indianapolis Ice in five games, but the Vipers lost their second round playoff series to the Orlando Solar Bears in seven games. During the off-season, Steve Ludzik succeeded Rick Dudley as head coach. This off-season also saw

124-535: A strain on relationships between the leagues. There was some speculation that the IHL was intending to compete directly with the NHL, especially when a lockout in 1994–95 threatened to wipe out the NHL season. However, in the 1995–96 season, the IHL's "soft" salary cap was just $ 1.5 million, while the lowest NHL team payroll that season was $ 11.4 million. A Fall 1994 article in Sports Illustrated praising

155-480: A team from Toledo, Ohio , joined the league, and the following year the IHL expanded significantly, with teams in four additional U.S. cities. The expansion did not take hold, and for 1949–50, the league was back down to teams in Detroit and Windsor as well as two nearby Canadian cities, Sarnia, Ontario , and Chatham, Ontario . Windsor dropped out in 1950, and expansion into the U.S. began again, with Toledo rejoining

186-673: Is a Serbian - Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League for the Vancouver Canucks , Dallas Stars , Pittsburgh Penguins and the Tampa Bay Lightning . Drafted 95th overall by the Canucks in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft , Kesa played 139 regular season games, scoring 8 goals and 22 assists for 30 points and collecting 66 penalty minutes. Previously to

217-639: The 1962–63 season, the IHL played an interlocking schedule with the NHL-owned Eastern Professional Hockey League , which itself folded after its 1962–63 season. After 11 seasons as a strictly U.S.-based league, the IHL admitted two Canadian teams in 1963, with the Windsor Bulldogs and the return of the Chatham Maroons. Both teams dropped out after one season, however, and the league would not have

248-764: The 1994–95 IHL season. A sponsorship deal with Chrysler led to the naming of the team after their Dodge Viper . A similar deal was in place with another Palace Sports-owned team, the Detroit Neon of the Continental Indoor Soccer League , which switched its sponsorship to GMC in its final year and renamed the team the Detroit Safari after yet another vehicle, the Safari . The team hired former Buffalo Sabres coach Rick Dudley as head coach and general manager. Their first season

279-770: The AHL as expansion teams for the 2001–02 season. Between them, they have played for the AHL Calder Cup seven times, winning four—including three in a row after their arrival. As well, the Cincinnati Cyclones was readmitted to the East Coast Hockey League , which hosted the team from 1990 to 1992 before it moved to the IHL. The Orlando Solar Bears (the final IHL playoff champions) and the Kansas City Blades were not admitted into

310-698: The AHL because their owner, Rich DeVos , who also owned the Griffins, was allowed to own only one AHL franchise. The league's other two teams, the Cleveland Lumberjacks and Detroit Vipers , ceased operations along with the league. Two former IHL teams that moved to the AHL have since relocated: the Utah Grizzlies moved to Cleveland, Ohio , to become the Lake Erie Monsters (rebranded as Cleveland Monsters in 2016) in 2007 and

341-715: The ECHL when they moved, and the Orlando Solar Bears restarted as an ECHL expansion team. The Peoria Rivermen have had three more franchises with an expansion team in the East Coast Hockey League from 1996 to 2005, a relocated Worcester IceCats in the American Hockey League from 2005 to 2013 , and a fourth incarnation of the Peoria Rivermen subsequently launched in the Southern Professional Hockey League in 2013. Dan Kesa Dragan " Dan " Kesa (born November 23, 1971)

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372-575: The Eastern Conference Finals against the Orlando Solar Bears. The Vipers became the first and only team in IHL history to lose a best-of-seven playoff series after being up 3–0. During the off-season, Palace Sports & Entertainment purchased the Tampa Bay Lightning and made the Vipers their top minor league affiliate. As a result, Steve Ludzik was promoted as Lightning head coach in an effort by ownership to rebuild

403-633: The Houston Aeros moved to Des Moines, Iowa , to become the Iowa Wild in 2013. A third team, the Manitoba Moose, temporarily relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador to become the St. John's IceCaps from 2011 to 2015. Three former franchises have been relaunched in lower-tier leagues since the IHL's demise. The Utah Grizzlies name was revived by the former Lexington Men O' War of

434-588: The IHL and mocking the NHL only fueled the fire. In said article, IHL officials detailed plans to continue expanding the league to large markets in North America, as well as, "a six-team European league with franchises in England, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Sweden and France." In response, many NHL clubs shifted their affiliations to the AHL , and by 1997–98, only four of 18 IHL teams had NHL affiliations. With

465-800: The NHL he played for a short period for the Detroit Vipers. Kesa had spells in the Russian Super League for Avangard Omsk and the Austrian Hockey League for the Vienna Capitals before hanging up his skates. Kesa was born in Vancouver , British Columbia . He is the uncle of Milan Lucic who is currently playing in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins , Jovan Lučić who

496-739: The Norton Palmer Hotel in Windsor, Ontario . In attendance were Jack Adams (coach of the Detroit Red Wings), Fred Huber (Red Wings public relations), Frank Gallagher (amateur hockey organizer in Detroit and Windsor), Lloyd Pollock (Windsor hockey pioneer), Gerald McHugh (Windsor lawyer), Len Hebert, Len Loree and Bill Beckman. The league began operations in the 1945–46 IHL season with four teams in Windsor and Detroit , and operated as semi-professional league. In 1947,

527-723: The Turner Cup Finals against the Chicago Wolves . After going up 3–2, the Vipers would only score one goal in the final two games, losing the series 4–3. The season also saw a one-shift comeback from Gordie Howe , making him the only person to play hockey in six different decades as a professional. Following the season, Rick Dudley left the team to become the general manager of the Ottawa Senators . The 1998–99 season saw John Torchetti hired as general manager. The Vipers won another division title and advanced to

558-524: The Vipers became their top minor league affiliate. However, the team struggled over the next two seasons before both the Vipers and the IHL ceased operations in 2001. The Vipers were originally founded as the Salt Lake Golden Eagles in 1969. In 1994, the franchise was purchased by Palace Sports & Entertainment , owners of the Detroit Pistons and the Palace of Auburn Hills , and relocated for

589-470: The Vipers finished dead last in the league in standings and attendance. The impending demise of the IHL, combined with the plummeting attendance, led Palace Sports to find a new affiliate for the Lightning. On June 4, 2001, both the IHL and the Vipers ceased operations. Affiliates International Hockey League (1945%E2%80%932001) The IHL was formed on December 5, 1945, in a three-hour meeting at

620-676: The arrival of Russian phenom Sergei Samsonov and IHL All-Star Stan Drulia to the Vipers. Samsonov would win Rookie of the Year honors as the Vipers won another division title. They advanced to their first appearance in the Turner Cup Finals against the Long Beach Ice Dogs . Led by Samsonov and Peter Ciavaglia , the Vipers won the series 4–2. That championship allowed Detroit to become the first city to capture two cups in

651-406: The defunct World Hockey Association or abandoned by the NHL. The IHL also entered markets that had existing NHL teams, such as Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles . In 1996, the IHL moved its Atlanta and Minneapolis–Saint Paul franchises to Quebec City and Winnipeg , respectively, restoring the league's Canadian presence and filling the void left by the departure of the NHL's Quebec Nordiques and

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682-400: The late 1980s and continuing into the mid-90s, the IHL expanded or re-located existing franchises into major U.S. markets such as Atlanta , Cincinnati , Cleveland , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Kansas City , Las Vegas , Minneapolis–Saint Paul , Orlando , Phoenix , Salt Lake City , San Antonio , San Diego , and San Francisco . Many of these markets had been previously served by

713-551: The league and new teams in Grand Rapids, Michigan (1950), Troy, Ohio , (1951), Cincinnati (1952), Fort Wayne, Indiana (1952), and Milwaukee (1952). At the same time, the last Canadian team left the league in 1952, when the Chatham Maroons pulled out. Three new U.S. cities were added in 1953. The league would expand and shrink between five and nine teams through the 1950s, with another major expansion in 1959. In

744-494: The longtime top feeder league for the National Hockey League . Many IHL teams became the top farm teams of NHL teams. In 1984, the league swallowed up a few surviving members of the Central Hockey League , which had ceased operations. In 1985, the league adopted the shootout to determine tie games in place of traditional overtime. The NHL would begin using the shootout to avoid tie games in 2005. Beginning in

775-470: The loss of subsidized salaries, high expansion fees (by the end the league was charging as much as $ 8 million US for new teams), exploding travel costs and the NHL itself moving back into some of its markets, the league's rapid expansion proved a critical strain, and it folded after the 2000–01 season. Six IHL franchises (the Chicago Wolves , Grand Rapids Griffins , Houston Aeros , Utah Grizzlies , Milwaukee Admirals and Manitoba Moose ) were admitted into

806-410: The original Winnipeg Jets . The minimum requirements for an IHL expansion team in 1995 were "a 10,000-seat arena, a population base of one million, and a $ 6 million franchise fee." As the league expanded into larger markets, many of the smaller-market teams (such as Fort Wayne, Peoria, Muskegon, Kalamazoo and Flint) left the IHL and joined lower-level leagues. The IHL's expansion into NHL markets put

837-593: The same calendar year as the Detroit Red Wings also won the Stanley Cup . Samsonov would go on to be selected by the Boston Bruins with the eighth overall pick in the 1997 NHL entry draft , but the slack was picked up in 1997–98 by Dan Kesa , who scored 40 goals, as the Vipers won their third division title in four seasons. They also became the first professional hockey team to have 100 points in each of their first four seasons. The Vipers advanced to

868-440: The second-best record a season prior to being dead last in the league. The Vipers' woes were nothing, however, compared to the worsening health of the IHL as the league was experiencing high travel costs, salary issues, and an inability to establish a sustainable relationship with the NHL. By the 2000–01 season, the Vipers were only one of eleven IHL teams still remaining. That season saw Brad Shaw take over as head coach. However,

899-478: The struggling NHL club. Paulin Bordeleau took over as Vipers head coach. The Lightning remained barely competitive, prompting a mass transfer of talent from Detroit to Tampa throughout the season. This drained the Vipers of the strength and stability that they had experienced through the first five seasons of their existence. It also led to a swift, sudden and near-total collapse; the Vipers plummeted from having

930-433: The team's name with the company's popular Dodge Viper sports car, though the team’s logo featured a venomous snake rather than the vehicle. In their first five seasons, the Vipers were highly successful, achieving 100 points each year and making two appearances in the Turner Cup Finals, winning the championship in 1997 . In 1999, Palace Sports acquired the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL), and

961-499: Was during the 1994–95 NHL lockout . During said lockout, the Vipers took on the Ninety-Nines , an all-star team of locked-out National Hockey League players led by Wayne Gretzky . The Vipers won, 4–3. The team won the IHL's Central Division but were eliminated by the Kansas City Blades in five games in the first round of the playoffs. The 1995–96 season saw the notable signing of Washington Capitals star Peter Bondra for

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