Worcester ECHL hockey team vote set for Friday

Courtesy Worcester has had success with hockey at the DCU Center and a new professional hockey team could soon return to the center's ice.

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By Sam Bonacci

Confirmation of a new Worcester hockey team seems likely as the ECHL’s Board of Governors prepares to meet Friday to discuss a new franchise set to play at the DCU Center.

While the vote has not officially gone through, a celebratory announcement has already been scheduled by Worcester Pro Hockey for Monday. Attendees are to include Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tim Murray, ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna, City Manager Ed Augustus, DCU Center General Manager Sandra Dunn, local and state government officials, business leaders, and area college athletic directors.

Worcester Pro Hockey Principal Cliff Rucker will present his plan to the ECHL board in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Friday where he will need a yes vote from 21 out of the 28 existing teams. A successful outcome for the Worcester membership application would bring the AA hockey team to the DCU Center for the 2017 to 2018 season.

The new team would replace the Worcester Sharks, the American Hockey League affiliate of the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League that played its last season in Worcester in 2015. The Sharks began playing in Worcester in 2006, after the Worcester Ice Cats left the city in 2004. The team won a division title in the 2009-10 season.