Fresno Fighting Falcons
| Fresno Falcons | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| City | Fresno, California |
| League |
Pacific Coast Hockey League (1946–50) Pacific Coast Senior League (1952–53) Cal-Neva Hockey League (1968–72) Pacific Southwest Hockey League (1972–95) Sunshine Hockey League (1994–95) West Coast Hockey League (1995–2003) ECHL (2003–08) |
| Home arena |
Selland Arena Save Mart Center |
The Fresno Falcons are a defunct minor league hockey team. They were charter members of several long standing leagues in the western United States including the Pacific Southwest Hockey League and the West Coast Hockey League. In their final years, they were members of the ECHL (formerly East Coast Hockey League). They were located in Fresno, California.
The Fresno Hockey Club, originally known as the Flyers, was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the Pacific Coast Hockey League, where they played until the league folded in 1950. The all time goal leader is Adrian Marin with 40 goals in a season
The team picked up in 1952 for a season in the Pacific Coast Senior League. Following just one season, hockey was dormant in Fresno until 1968, when the Fresno Aces were introduced for a season in the short-lived Cal-Neva Hockey League.
Cal-Neva was a loosely linked group of professional and semi-pro teams from around the West Coast. The league lacked structure, and played games for a selection of regional championships rather than a league championship. In the 1970–71 season, the Las Vegas Gamblers club was expelled from the league, following numerous rules violations. The Gamblers were in first place at the time, and all records of games involving them were voided. The league was dissolved following the 1971-72 season, as league commissioners cited the need for more structure, and without a Nevada team, a need for a new name.
During the 1968–69 season, Fresno's team was officially known as the Fresno Aces. For 1969–70, the name was changed back to the Fresno Falcons.
The Pacific Southwest Hockey League was founded in 1972 following the dissolution of the Cal-Neva Hockey League. and the Falcons were one of the league's staples, as the only franchise in the league that was present from its beginning, throughout to the 1995–96 merger that formed the West Coast Hockey League.
The Falcons were the PSHL's signature franchise largely due to convenience and the availability of a then-relatively new showcase arena, Selland Arena in Fresno's Convention Center. At times throughout the league's history, some games even if not involving the Falcons were held at Selland Arena, including several Championship Finals series throughout the 1970s.
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