The Oklahoma City Barons (AHL) / How It All Happened

Well, as an Edmonton Oiler fan and a fan of the kids in the AHL, it's sure has been an exciting couple of days around here. Scott over at OilFieldHockey.com has done some great work digging up the dirt on the new AHL team in Oklahoma City. Let's recap on what happened.

It all started with this mysterious tweet from @OKC_Barons, "YOU HEARD IT HERE 1st: The Oklahoma City Barons will be the new Edmonton #Oilers AHL affiliate starting in the 2010/11 season. #AHL #OKC".

That sent the sleuth over at OilFieldHockey.com to investigate it further. There has been grumbling about the Barons name for a while in Oklahoma City and I had disussed this with Scott before. So when this came out, I believed it was possible. It had legs.

As the tweets kept flowing this morning from OKC_Barons, it made things more real. This whole OKC Barons name is looking legit. But it really didn't get that for sure feeling until OilFieldHockey.com discovered two logos at the trademark registry this morning and Derek Zona at the CopperandBlue.com found the third one. (Those two guys are awesome!)

I have to admit. I like the logos. They tie into the Oilers theme well and it appears that the OKC Barons will wear the Edmonton Oilers colors. I can't wait to see the uniforms on them.

A little later in the day, an account called AHLBarons which I looked at this morning, and I was the only follower, became active all of the sudden. They even retweeted one of my tweets about the Barons. I thought that was really cool that they included me. I don't know who you are, but thanks.

So logo's were placed and people started following that account and I guess we will see what comes of it. I personally don't think either of them are the official team accounts, but I don't care. I'll follow both anyways, I'm a nerd for news and information. lol

Later on today at around 6:00pm MST, that same OKC_Barons account laid out another tweet. It said this, "An official announcement by Mr. Bob Funk will be coming soon. Oklahoma City is very proud to be an affiliate with the Edmonton #Oilers. #OKC"

Low and behold a ProdigalHockey twitter account was created and they started tweeting too. They spit this out at about 9:00pm MST, "Official announcement of name & logo for #Oilers new #AHL team May 19 at 4 p.m. in NE Lobby of Cox Center in #OKC. http://bit.ly/avqQhr "

This is a legitimate twitter account. Prodigal Hockey runs the Barons and the twitter page even claims that they are official. Trust me. I believe it.

My big question is, how did the OKC_Barons account know that a press conference was about to be announced without some sort of inside information? I'm very curious about that account. Keep an eye on it.

So that's where we're at now. We know the name of the team. We know the logo's of the team. And I'm sure it's clear on what colors they will use. I guess all we can do is wait till the press conference to see what else is said.

Stay tuned for more updates. With no Oilers in the news, this is pretty damn exciting!

-Smokin' Ray-