The Barons' main crest via tess2.uspto.gov

Editor's Note:  This article comes to us from Oklahoma City native and isolated Colorado Avalanche fan, Jonathan Hord. 

The official end to the 2009-2010 season has come and gone, and the Hershey Bears, a team familiar to Springfield Falcons' fans, once again won the Calder Cup. As the 2010-2011 season approaches, Oklahoma City hockey fans can start to look to October and the debut of Triple A hockey in Oklahoma.  A new season in the AHL will help fans overcome the bitter feelings surrounding the end of the Blazers, but will not wipe away the history of hockey in Oklahoma City.  The turnover inherent to minor league hockey makes each season completely different, and everyone involved withr the Oklahoma City Barons can only hope that next season doesn't have much in common with 2009-2010, especially the strength of the West Division and the the success of the Texas Stars.

The AHL announced the conference and divisional alignments, and as anticipated, the Barons have been placed in the league's West Division, a division that has been the deepest and strongest in the AHL over the last five years.  The West will play as an eight-team division, including the "The Texas Three".  Texas and Oklahoma have long been part of college football's biggest rivalries and  now the rivalry will cross from field to the ice.

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