Belleville Senators
| Belleville Senators | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Belleville, Ontario |
| League | American Hockey League |
| Conference | Eastern |
| Division | North |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Home arena | CAA Arena |
| Colours | Red, black, white |
| Owner(s) | Eugene Melnyk |
| General manager | Pierre Dorion |
| Head coach | Troy Mann |
| Media | AHL.TV (Internet) CJBQ |
| Affiliates | Ottawa Senators (NHL) Brampton Beast (ECHL) |
| Website | Official website |
| Franchise history | |
| 1972–1992 | New Haven Nighthawks |
| 1992–1993 | New Haven Senators |
| 1993–1996 | Prince Edward Island Senators |
| 2002–2017 | Binghamton Senators |
| 2017–present | Belleville Senators |
| Championships | |
| Division titles | 1 (2019–20) |
 Current season | |
The Belleville Senators are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2017–18 season as the top minor league affiliate of the National Hockey League team, the Ottawa Senators. Based in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, the Senators play their home games at CAA Arena.
The franchise was previously based out of Binghamton, New York, as the Binghamton Senators.
History
In July 2016, Broome County officials stated that the Ottawa Senators intended to relocate their franchise, then known as the Binghamton Senators, closer to the parent club for the 2017–18 season despite still having three more years on their lease.[1] On September 26, 2016, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk confirmed that he had purchased the Binghamton team and would be relocating it to become the Belleville Senators for the 2017–18 season with the Binghamton Devils eventually announced to be taking over their lease.[2] In order to accommodate an AHL team, the City of Belleville approved more than $20 million in upgrades to Yardmen Arena once the Senators agreed to an eight-year lease.[3]
The Senators kept Kurt Kleinendorst as head coach for the franchise's inaugural season in Belleville, but after a 29–42–2–3 record and missing the playoffs, his contract was not renewed.[4] He was replaced by Troy Mann, the recently released coach of the Hershey Bears.[5] The team improved in the 2018–19 season, finishing fifth-place in the North Division behind the play of younger players Drake Batherson, Logan Brown, Rudolfs Balcers, and Erik Brannstrom.
Led by Josh Norris, Alex Formenton and Drake Batherson, the Sens were leading the North Division when the 2019-20 AHL season was cancelled on May 11 due to COVID-19. The team had amassed a 38-20-4-1 record and were the best road team in the league having won 23 games and registering a .790% road win percentage. The Sens' 234 goals were the most in the AHL.
Season-by-season results
| Calder Cup Champions | Conference Champions | Division Champions | League Leader |
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Games | Won | Lost | OTL | SOL | Points | PCT | Goals for |
Goals against |
Standing | Year | 1st round |
2nd round |
3rd round |
Finals | |
| 2017–18 | 76 | 29 | 42 | 2 | 3 | 63 | .414 | 194 | 266 | 6th, North | 2018 | Did not qualify | ||||
| 2018–19 | 76 | 37 | 31 | 3 | 5 | 82 | .539 | 228 | 228 | 5th, North | 2019 | Did not qualify | ||||
| 2019–20 | 63 | 38 | 20 | 4 | 1 | 81 | .643 | 234 | 197 | 1st, North | 2020 | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 | ||||
| Totals | 215 | 101 | 93 | 9 | 9 | 226 | .526 | 656 | 691 | 0 playoff appearances | ||||||
Players
Current roster
Updated March 31, 2020.[6]
Team captains
- Mike Blunden, 2017–18
- Erik Burgdoerfer, 2018–19
- Jordan Szwarz, 2019–present
Broadcasting
The official broadcasting partner of the Belleville Senators is radio station 800 CJBQ. Commentators David Foot and Jack Miller cover all games. David Foot also has a weekly podcast featuring news on the Belleville Senators and the AHL.
References
- ^ "Binghamton Sens moving north to Belleville say Broome County officials". Ottawa Citizen. July 9, 2016.
- ^ "Sens Owner Purchases AHL Team Partners W/ Belleville". Ottawa Senators. September 26, 2016.
- ^ "Ottawa Senators finalize deal to move AHL team to Belleville from Binghamton". Ottawa Sun. September 26, 2016.
- ^ "REPORT: Coach K out as Belleville Senators bench boss". Belleville Intelligencer. May 1, 2018.
- ^ "Troy Mann named second head coach in franchise history". Belleville Senators. June 25, 2018.
- ^ "Belleville Senators current roster". American Hockey League. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
External links
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| Culture and lore | |
