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Bench Clearers Bench Clearers - Home of the All-Season Lifestyle Hockey Tank Tops. There's no longer an "off-season"

The NHL shows you the finished product. The AHL is where it gets forged. 🏒In 1936, two hockey leagues were running out o...
10/02/2026

The NHL shows you the finished product. The AHL is where it gets forged. 🏒

In 1936, two hockey leagues were running out of money, so they joined forces to survive. Eight teams signed up. Buffalo quit after just 11 games, but the other seven refused to give up, and the American Hockey League was born.

Two years later, a chocolate town in Pennsylvania joined. The Hershey Bears never moved and never changed their name, and today they own a record 13 Calder Cups.

The league grew up loud. Games ended 12-10. Cleveland won nine championships. Johnny Bower stopped pucks there for years before Toronto finally called.

Then the big leagues came for its cities. By 1976-77, NHL and WHA expansion had left the AHL with only six teams. It looked like the end. Instead, new cities stepped up, and the brand-new Maine Mariners won the Calder Cup in each of their first two seasons.

Slowly, the NHL started trusting the AHL with its future. Martin St. Louis went undrafted because he was “too small.” He proved himself in Saint John and finished in the Hall of Fame. In 2005, Anaheim sent Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry to the Portland Pirates to grow up together. Less than two years later, they lifted the Stanley Cup side by side.

Today every NHL team has its own AHL club, and 87% of last season’s NHL players came through the league. The 2026-27 AHL season starts October 2. The Toronto Marlies defend the Calder Cup, and the Hamilton Hammers play their first-ever season.

Every star you love started here.

🎁 Made it to the end? Use code AHLFAN15 at checkout. Available for a limited time only. Link in bio.

RetroHockey BenchClearers HailTheFan

Hockey’s Back face! 🤗
09/29/2026

Hockey’s Back face! 🤗

Puck drops tonight. Carolina's defending. Florida's watching.Who are you repping? 🏒
09/29/2026

Puck drops tonight. Carolina's defending. Florida's watching.
Who are you repping? 🏒

09/27/2026

🏒 Ovi is back, Caps fans! 🎉 Time to rep in style and cheer louder!

Are you ready to watch the Capitals this hockey season? 🙌

Let's get loud and proud! Comment with your favorite Ovi moment! 👇

Everyone remembers the fights. Almost nobody remembers why the Broad Street Bullies actually won.In 1967, the brand-new ...
09/26/2026

Everyone remembers the fights. Almost nobody remembers why the Broad Street Bullies actually won.

In 1967, the brand-new Flyers were the team getting pushed around. Owner Ed Snider made one rule: never again.

So Philly built a machine. Bobby Clarke, the kid every team passed on, led. Bernie Parent came home from the WHA and shut the door. Schultz, Kelly and Dupont made every shift a fight. A 1973 newspaper headline gave them their name.

But the fists were only half the story. Coach Fred Shero was studying the Soviets, running film sessions and building a system years before the rest of the league caught on. They looked like chaos. They played like a machine.

The result: back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975, the first ever for a 1967 expansion team. Then a 4-1 win over the Soviet Red Army.

Every Flyers team since has chased that formula. In the hard years, Gritty kept the building loud. Last spring, the team finally caught up.

Now a new season starts. Back to Broad Street. Back to hockey.

Who’s your all-time Flyer? Drop it below.

Back to Hockey Weekend is on: 25% off all collections through Sunday with code BACKTOHOCKEY. Link in bio.

09/22/2026

Did someone say fall fashion? 🍂
Hockey's back, and so are our epic Windbreakers! 🎉
Style + Comfort = All eyes on you! 😎💥

Get ready for compliments! 😉

09/19/2026

What team are you repping this season? 🏒👇
Gear up, hockey fans! It's time to hit the ice! Rep your team with our Back to Hockey Sale! 🛒

The puck's dropped. For a short time only, snag your favorite fan gear with 25% off.
Use the promo code "BACKTOHOCKEY25" at checkout.

Whether you're repping your team from the stands or getting ready for a backyard rink showdown, now's your moment to shine.
Show off your team pride!

Back in the 90s Disney made a hockey movie for kids. It did so well that Disney bought a real NHL team and named it afte...
09/18/2026

Back in the 90s Disney made a hockey movie for kids. It did so well that Disney bought a real NHL team and named it after the movie. Hockey people rolled their eyes at the name, at the eggplant and jade, at a goalie mask with a duck’s face on it. The kids who grew up on that movie did not care. They were on the driveway with a stick, trying the Flying V on their friends.
Then the team drafted Kariya, traded for Selanne, swept the defending champs in 2003, and in 2007, as the Anaheim Ducks, won the first Stanley Cup in California. In 2024 the mask came back on the jersey. Not as a costume. As history.
Swipe through the whole story. Every Ducks era is in the collection, link in bio.

CODE: MIGHTY25 for $15 USD OFF ON THE DUCKS COLLECTION

NHLHistory BenchClearers RetroRevival

25 years. We remember.
09/11/2026

25 years. We remember.

Everyone knows 1980. That’s one night.Team USA isn’t a miracle. It’s reinvention. Over and over, every generation buildi...
09/10/2026

Everyone knows 1980. That’s one night.

Team USA isn’t a miracle. It’s reinvention. Over and over, every generation building a new team that finds a new way to win.

1920. A silver before the Winter Olympics even existed. 1933. A club team from Massachusetts becomes the first to ever beat Canada. 1960. Gold, unbeaten, forgotten. 1996. No underdog story — just the best beating the best. 2002. A sled hockey team that finished dead last two years earlier wins gold and starts a dynasty that’s still running: six golds, five in a row.

Men. Women. Sled hockey. Three different teams, three different eras, the same result. USA Hockey doesn’t get one shot at greatness. It keeps building teams that win.

2026 proved it in the loudest way possible: men’s gold, women’s gold, Paralympic gold — all in the same year, all over Canada. First time that’s ever happened, to any country, in the history of the sport.

This is what a hundred and six years of owning the ice actually looks like.

Full history on the blog (link in bio). This weekend only: 25% off the entire USA collection with code UNITED25.

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