The San Francisco Spiders were a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

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 based in

Daly City 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 ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. They were members of the South Division of the former International Hockey League (IHL). Playing 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 ...

, the Spiders competed for one season, folding at the close of the 1995–96 IHL season.

History

On November 22, 1994, the IHL announced an expansion franchise had been awarded to the Bay Area to begin play for the 1995–96 season at the

. The former president and chief executive officer of the

Jackson National Life Insurance Company Jackson National Life Insurance Company (often referred to as simply Jackson) is a United States, U.S. company that provides annuities for retail investors and fixed income products for institutional investors. Jackson subsidiaries and affiliates ...

Dave Pasant was the owner and paid the $6 million franchise fee to the IHL in becoming the league's 18th team. By December, the Spiders nickname and logo were unveiled. Spiders was selected over Seals, Quakes, Fog and Rush and at the time of its establishment was the lone professional sports team with the Spiders nickname.

Jean Perron Jean Perron (born October 5, 1946) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and sports commentator, best known for being the 16th head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, serving from 1985 to 1988. Perron has more recently served as the head coach for Israe ...

served as both the general manager and head coach and was assisted by

Bruce Boudreau Bruce Allan Boudreau (born January 9, 1955) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach currently serving as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks. He previously served as head coach of the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks, and Minnesota Wild. ...

who later became the head coach of the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division, and play their home games at Honda Center. ...

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 ...

and

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

. The inaugural game was a 5–1 loss to the

Los Angeles Ice Dogs The Long Beach Ice Dogs were an American professional ice hockey team based in Long Beach, California at the Long Beach Sports Arena. They played until the end of the 2006–07 ECHL season. History The Ice Dogs trace their origins to the San Die ...

before 11,415 fans on September 29, 1995. For the one season, the Spiders roster took on a familiar look to the Cow Palace's previous hockey tenant, 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 ...

Dale Craigwell Dale A. Craigwell (born April 24, 1971) is a Canadian former professional hockey player who played professionally for 9 years and played parts of 3 years with the San Jose Sharks in the NHL. He played centre and shot left-handed. Biography Craig ...

Link Gaetz Link Gaetz (born October 2, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars and San Jose Sharks. NHL career Gaetz was drafted in the second round, 40th overall in t ...

Robin Bawa Robin N. Bawa (born March 26, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who spent parts of four seasons in the National Hockey League between 1989 and 1994. Playing career Bawa spent five productive seasons of junior hockey in the ...

, David Maley,

Ed Courtenay Edward Emmett Courtenay (born February 2, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger and head coach. Professional career As a youth, Courtenay played in the 1980 and 1981 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with ...

and

Mike Lalor John Michael Lalor (born March 8, 1963) is an American former professional ice hockey defenceman. Although a U.S. citizen by birth, Lalor spent his youth in Fort Erie, Ontario. Lalor played in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues ...

all played for the IHL expansion team. The most notable NHL player who played briefly for the Spiders was Sandis Ozolinsh. Ozolinsh, who was holding out for a new contract from the Sharks, played two games with the Spiders. He scored one goal, the first goal in team history, shortly before the NHL's

traded him to the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

. The team finished in third place in the South division, winning 40 games and losing only 32. The Spiders lost 3–1 in the first round of the playoffs to the

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

. Goalie Stephane Beauregard won the

James Gatschene Memorial Trophy The James Gatschene Memorial Trophy was awarded annually to the International Hockey League player selected as most valuable through his display of outstanding playing ability and sportsmanlike conduct over the course of the regular season, as ch ...

as league MVP for the season. The Spiders' mascot, Spinner, was widely known as "the hardest working mascot in sports." Spinner was often lowered from the arena rafters by a rope, once being unable to free himself and covering by dancing in place until arena staff freed him. Poor attendance and difficulties with the arena caused the team to suspend operations. On weekends, attendance tended to be respectable, around the 7–8,000 mark, but on weekdays, the Spiders often struggled to draw more than 2,500 in averaging 5,024 fans for each home game. The team filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy in May 1996 in citing losses of $6 million for the season, and would officially cease operations on June 24, 1996. Most of the players were traded away to other IHL teams for "future considerations." The

Kansas City Blades The Kansas City Blades were a professional ice hockey team in the International Hockey League (IHL) from 1990 until 2001, when the league folded. The Blades were based in Kansas City, Missouri, at Kemper Arena. Team history Russ and Diane Pa ...

received eight players from the Spiders. The team was scheduled to move to

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

in 2000, but this move never happened due to failure to replace the aging

Victoria Memorial Arena Victoria Memorial Arena was an ice hockey arena, located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was built in 1949 and demolished in 2003 due to poor acoustics and climbing maintenance costs. Its nickname, the "Barn on Blanshard", was due to it ...

Season-by-season results

Last five seasons: ''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes''

References

{{IHL (1945–2001) International Hockey League (1945–2001) teams Defunct ice hockey teams in California Ice hockey clubs established in 1995 Sports clubs disestablished in 1996

Spiders Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species dive ...