Saginaw Gears (UHL)


The Saginaw Gears were a minor-league ice hockey franchise that played in the United Hockey League. The Gears existed for five seasons and part of one other, from 1994 to December 19, 1999.
One of the charter franchises of the UHL, the club began in 1992 and originally played in Chatham, Ontario as the Chatham Wheels. In 1994, the team moved to Saginaw, Michigan and became the Saginaw Wheels, then the Saginaw LumberKings in 1996. After two poor seasons under the LumberKings monicker, new owner Khaled M. Shukairy decided to re-name the club the Saginaw Gears, after the former IHL team in Saginaw. Attendances remained flat, however, with small crowds coming to see the Gears at Wendler Arena in the Saginaw Civic Center in downtown Saginaw. Local fans were not encouraged by the Gears poor play, with a 20-46-8 record in 1998-99.
On December 20, 1999, with the Gears again in last place at 7-17-3, the Gears abruptly left town in the middle of the night. Breaking their lease with Wendler Arena, the club moved to Massillon, Ohio to finish the season as the Ohio Gears. The move had the blessing of UHL commissioner Richard Brosal after the city of Massillon announced they were to build a new 6,500-seat arena. Playing at a small community rink in Massillon with almost no one in attendance, the Gears completely collapsed on the ice, with a 5-40-5 record for the rest of the 1999-2000 campaign. The franchise went dormant after the season, planning on returning in the 2001-02 season when the new arena in Massillon was built. The arena never happened, forcing the team to remain mothballed for another year. In the end, the Gears folded without playing another game, after an unsuccessful resurrection attempt as the Arctic Xpress.