San Jose Sharks

The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises. Beginning play in the 1991–92 season, the Sharks initially played their home games at the Cow Palace, before moving to their present home, now named SAP Center at San Jose, in 1993; the SAP Center is known locally as "the Shark Tank". The Sharks are affiliated with the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL. The Sharks were founded in 1991 as the first NHL franchise based in the San Francisco Bay Area since the California Golden Seals relocated to Cleveland in 1976. The Sharks have advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals once, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016. They have won the Presidents' Trophy once, as the team with the league's best regular season record in the 2008–09 season. They have also won six division titles as a member of the Pacific Division since 1993. History Formation Professional hockey in the Bay Area can be traced to the San Francisco Shamrocks of the Pacific Coast Hockey League from 1944 to 1950. The Sharks origins began with the San Francisco Seals of the Western Hockey League (WHL) when they were awarded an expansion franchise for San Francisco on April 23, 1961, to former Vancouver Canucks owner Coleman (Coley) Hall, on the condition that an ice surface is installed in the Cow Palace. The Seals won three WHL championships and renamed to the California Seals in 1966, playing their games at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.