The San Francisco Bulls were a professional minor

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

located in

Daly City, California Daly City () is the second most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, with population of 104,901 according to the 2020 census. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and immediately south of San Francisco (sharing its ...

, serving the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

market. They were an affiliate to the

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 & Entertainm ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

and the

Worcester Sharks The Worcester Sharks were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that played from 2006 to 2015. Affiliated with the National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks and located in Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachu ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

History

Beginning with the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season, the Bulls played their home games at the

Cow Palace The Cow Palace (originally the California State Livestock Pavilion) is an indoor arena located in Daly City, California, situated on the city's northern border with neighboring San Francisco. Because the border passes through the property, a por ...

(former home of their NHL affiliate, the

), which is right on the Daly City/San Francisco border. To accommodate the Bulls, the team spent $2 million installing a new ice system and a custom-made 360-degree wraparound LED video scoreboard with its game presentation system and ten sets of speaker arrays. The center hung video board has a 360 degree view for game presentation and full timekeeping and statistics. The new Colosseo Cube scoreboard had to be custom built by Colosseo USA because of the weight limitations on the 71-year-old building's roof. The Cow Palace made steel support beams and installed them in the rafters to help provide the additional support. On July 11, 2012, the

announced that they had entered into an affiliation agreement with the Bulls. The Bulls were the first ice hockey team to represent San Francisco since the

San Francisco Spiders The San Francisco Spiders were a professional ice hockey team based in Daly City, California. They were members of the South Division of the former International Hockey League (IHL). Playing at the Cow Palace, the Spiders competed for one season, ...

of the International Hockey League played only the 1995-96 season before folding. The team made its debut on October 12, 2012, with a 4-3 loss to the

Bakersfield Condors The Bakersfield Condors are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Bakersfield, California. The team is owned by and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. The Condors play their home g ...

in front of a capacity crowd of 8,277 at the Cow Palace. They finished the regular season eighth in the Western Conference with 25 wins, 38 losses, 2 overtime losses, and 7 shootout losses, falling four games to one to the top-seeded Alaska Aces in the first round of the Kelly Cup playoffs. Due to the

2012–13 NHL lockout The 2012–13 NHL lockout was a labor dispute between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) that began at 11:59 pm EDT on September 15, 2012. A tentative deal on a new collective barga ...

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

forward Torrey Mitchell, who was a former San Jose Shark, signed a standard contract with the Bulls on December 31, 2012. He played his first official game as a Bull two days later and scored the only regulation goal for the team in a 2-1 shootout loss at home. On January 20, 2014, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Bulls might fold or move the next week. The team folded on January 27, 2014. At the time of their folding, the Bulls were eighth in the Western Conference with 15 wins, 20 losses, 4 overtime losses, and 1 shootout loss, and had a next-to-last attendance average of 2,292 fans per game (eclipsing only the

Wheeling Nailers The Wheeling Nailers are a professional ECHL ice hockey team based in Wheeling, West Virginia. They are the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey Lea ...

). San Francisco was the third team in

history to fold mid-season after the

Augusta Lynx The Augusta Lynx were a minor-league professional ice hockey team based in Augusta, Georgia. The Lynx played their home games at the James Brown Arena. The Lynx, who played in the ECHL, had affiliations with the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL and ...

and

Fresno Falcons The Fresno Falcons were a 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 ...

, both of which folded during the 2008–09 season.

Final roster

Updated April 2, 2014. --> {{end

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news , last=Thompson , first=Randy , newspaper=Pro Hockey News , title=Bulls Unveil Multi-Million dollar improvements , url=http://www.prohockeynews.com/hockey/publish/echl/Bulls_unveil_multi-million_dollar_improvements.shtml , accessdate=September 7, 2012 {{cite web , last = Press release , title = Sharks announce affiliation with ECHL's San Francisco Bulls , website =

, date = July 11, 2012 , url = http://sharks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=637695&navid=TW , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140202105949/http://sharks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=637695&navid=TW , url-status = live , archivedate = February 2, 2014 {{cite news , author=Staff report , newspaper=

The San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

, title=Minor league hockey team coming to San Francisco , url=http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/nhl/2011/09/minor-league-hockey-team-coming-san-francisco , date=September 20, 2011 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805230807/http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/nhl/2011/09/minor-league-hockey-team-coming-san-francisco , url-status=dead , archivedate=August 5, 2012 {{cite press release , title=Pro hockey returns to San Francisco after more than 15 years , url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/09/21/prweb8814670.DTL , newspaper=

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

, date=November 29, 2011 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106123514/http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Pro-Hockey-Returns-to-San-Francisco-After-More-2305109.php , url-status=dead , archivedate=November 6, 2012 {{Cite news , title=Bulls Sign Former Sharks Fan Favorite Torrey Mitchell , url=http://sfbulls.com/news/bulls-sign-former-sharks-fan-favorite-torrey-mitchell/ , website=San Francisco Bulls , date=December 31, 2012 , accessdate=January 5, 2013 {{Cite news , title=Torrey Mitchell Scores in Bulls Debut, a 2-1 Shootout Loss to Colorado , url=http://sfbulls.com/news/torrey-mitchell-scores-in-bulls-debut-a-2-1-shootout-loss-to-colorado/ , website=San Francisco Bulls , date=January 2, 2013 , accessdate=January 5, 2013 {{cite news , first=Susan , last=Slusser , authorlink=Susan Slusser, newspaper=

, title=SF Bulls to fold or move as soon as next week , url=http://blog.sfgate.com/sgreen/2014/01/20/sf-bulls-to-fold-or-move-as-soon-as-next-week/ , date=January 20, 2014 , accessdate=January 28, 2014 {{cite news , first=Mike , last=Lerseth , newspaper=

, title=San Francisco Bulls hockey team ceases operations , url=http://blog.sfgate.com/sportsevents/2014/01/27/sf-bulls-cease-operations/ , date=January 27, 2014 , accessdate=January 28, 2014

External links

{{Commons category, San Francisco Bulls
San Francisco Bulls official websiteECHL press release announcing Bulls' membership
{{ECHLdefunct Defunct ECHL teams Daly City, California Ice hockey teams in San Francisco Ice hockey clubs established in 2011 Sports clubs disestablished in 2014 Sports teams in San Francisco Defunct ice hockey teams in California 2011 establishments in California 2014 disestablishments in California San Jose Sharks minor league affiliates