San Jose Sharks Renew Affiliation with Falcons

August 24, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Fresno Falcons News Release


FRESNO, Calif. - The National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks have renewed their secondary player development affiliation with the Fresno Falcons. The Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League are San Jose's top development affiliate.

This will be the third consecutive season that the Falcons have been selected to help develop prospects for the Sharks, who are the NHL's defending Pacific Division champions and advanced to the Western Conference Finals in the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Last season, San Jose and Cleveland assigned three players to Fresno, including forward Scott Dobben, defenseman Scott Ford, and forward Glenn Olson, who is still under contract with the Sharks after signing with the team as a free agent in 2003.

In 2003-04, Sharks goaltending prospect Nolan Schaefer began his professional career in Fresno and played 12 games with the Falcons (5-5-0, 3.12 GAA, 91.0%) before earning a call-up to the Barons. The Sharks' 5th round draft choice in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft compiled a combined 31-32-4 record and 2.54 goals against average with Cleveland the past two seasons, which led him to signing a new one-year contract with San Jose on Aug. 15.

"We have greatly enjoyed our affiliation with the Fresno Falcons," said Wayne Thomas, San Jose's vice president/assistant general manager and Cleveland's general manager. "They have done a great job in helping us prepare and develop several players for the Sharks organization, most recently Nolan Schaefer and Glenn Olson. We are excited to have them back on board for the 2005-06 season."

"I'm excited to work with a franchise as strong as San Jose," said Falcons head coach and general manager Matt Thomas. "They've had great success the past few seasons going far into the playoffs, and to create the opportunity for some of their NHL prospects to play on our team is not only beneficial to us on the ice, but also exciting for our fans."

Falcons season tickets are currently available for the 2005-06 ECHL campaign, beginning with the club's season opener on Oct. 21 against the Victoria Salmon Kings at Save Mart Center. Both full season packages (36 games) and 24-game packages include seats to the 2006 Bud Light ECHL All-Star Game and Skills Competition to be held at Save Mart Center on Jan. 24 and 25. For complete ticket information and an arena map of Save Mart Center, please visit the Falcons website at www.fresnofalcons.com/tickets.html.



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