Roy Sommer is coming home, and he has brought his minor-league team with him.
The Oakland native is the longest tenured coach in the American Hockey League and is 20 wins away from becoming the winningest coach in league history, but everything else is new again as the San Jose Barracuda on Friday open a new era of pro hockey in the South Bay.
The minor-league team’s westward move has been years in the making and though officials from the parent team certainly see the benefits of its top affiliate — formerly based in Worcester, Mass.