Binghamton Senators

Binghamton Senators
2016–17 AHL season
City Binghamton, New York
League American Hockey League
Conference Eastern
Division North
Founded 1972
Home arena Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena
Colors Red, black, antique gold, white
                   
Owner(s) multiple
General manager Randy Lee
Head coach Kurt Kleinendorst
Captain Mike Blunden
Media Press & Sun-Bulletin
WICZ, WENE, WINR, WBBI
Affiliates Ottawa Senators (NHL)
Wichita Thunder (ECHL)
Franchise history
1972–1992 New Haven Nighthawks
1992–1993 New Haven Senators
1993–1996 Prince Edward Island Senators
2002–present Binghamton Senators
beginning in 2017 Belleville Senators
Championships
Division Championships 3 (2002–03, 2004–05, 2013–14)
Conference Championships 1 (2010–11)
Calder Cups 1 (2010–11)

The Binghamton Senators are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Nicknamed the B-Sens, they play in Binghamton, New York, at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. The B-Sens are minor league affiliates of the Ottawa Senators of the NHL and Wichita Thunder of the ECHL.

They were the AHL's 2010-11 Calder Cup champions. The Senators' main rivals are the Syracuse Crunch (located an hour north), the Rochester Americans, the Albany Devils, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (located an hour south), and the Hershey Bears (located about three hours south).

History

Inception and first seasons (2002–2005)

The arrival of the B-Sens marked the return of the AHL to the area after a five-year absence. The area had previously been represented by the Binghamton Dusters (1977–1980), the Binghamton Whalers (1980–1990), and the Binghamton Rangers (1990–1997), all of the AHL. While no AHL team played in Binghamton between 1997 and 2002, the market was served by the B.C. Icemen of the United Hockey League.

The Binghamton Senators enjoyed a successful 2002–03, freshman season, going 43–26–9 with 100 points. They breezed by their first two playoff rounds, but were easily defeated by the Hamilton Bulldogs in 5 games. By contrast, the 2003–04 season was not as successful as the loss of both Antoine Vermette and Jason Spezza weakened the team. They went 34–34–9 and quietly exited the playoffs thanks to a 2–0 sweep at the hands of the Norfolk Admirals.

The 2004–05 NHL lockout meant Binghamton got a return visit from their recent graduates and several other NHL players, including Jason Spezza, Antoine Vermette, Anton Volchenkov, Chris Neil, Josh Langfeld and Brian Pothier, making the Senators a legitimate Calder Cup contender. Jason Spezza lead the way with a league high 117 points (earning the AHL MVP) and brought the team back to contender form. The Senators ended the regular season with only 21 regulation losses, tied for 2nd fewest in the league, taking the division title with a league high 276 goals scored. The Senators entered the playoffs on a roll, winners of 11 of their last 13 games, and continued their dominance by cruising through the first 2 games of their first round best of 7 series against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, scoring 9 goals. But the offense inexplicably stalled and the Sens scored only 5 goals in the remaining 4 games as the Penguins answered back with the next 4 wins, crushing the hopes of bringing the Calder Cup to Binghamton for the first time.

Recent activity (2009–present)

On July 17, 2009, Don Nachbaur was named head coach of the Binghamton Senators. During the 2009–10 AHL season, Nachbaur coached the Senators to a 36–35–6–3 record and 81 points to finish fifth in the AHL's East Division. On June 22, 2010, after only one season behind the bench, Nachbaur announced that he was resigning as head coach citing personal reasons.[1]

On August 6, 2010, Kurt Kleinendorst was appointed the head coach of the Binghamton Senators as part of a two-year contract.[2] Kleinendorst had spent the previous year leading the USA Hockey National Team Development Program's under-18 team to a gold medal at the 2010 IIHF World U18 Championships in Belarus.

In 2011, the Senators were up against the Manchester Monarchs in the first round of the playoffs. They fell behind 3–1 in the series, but won games five and six in overtime to force a game seven. The Senators fell behind 5–4 in game seven but Erik Condra tied the game with 1:45 to go in the game. Ryan Potulny then scored 3:07 into overtime to send the Senators to the second round. Next, the Senators faced the Portland Pirates. The Senators won the first two games in Portland to go up 2–0 in the series. They then lost two of the next three games at home to the Pirates and had their series lead cut to 3–2. The Senators shut out the Pirates in game six, 3–0 to go to the Eastern Conference final. In the Eastern Conference final, the Senators faced the Charlotte Checkers. The Senators dominated the series, outscoring the Checkers 21-8, 11-4 at home and 10-4 on the road. In game four, Ryan Keller got the game-winning goal in overtime to send the Senators to the Calder Cup finals.

In the finals, the Senators played the Houston Aeros. The Senators fell behind 2–1 in the series, but a two-game home-ice winning streak gave them the 3–2 lead. The Senators won game six in Houston on June 7, 2011, to capture their first ever Calder Cup, with Ryan Keller scoring the game-winning goal 9:09 into the third period of the deciding game.

In the 2011–12 season, the Senators faced a completely revised lineup as several free agents left to join other NHL organizations, and several players became full-time Ottawa Senators. The team finished fifth and out of the playoffs. Head coach Kurt Kleinendorst resigned after the season to pursue other opportunities. He was replaced by former NHL player and Ottawa assistant coach Luke Richardson as the team's seventh head coach.[3]

In the 2012-13 offseason, the Senators made several moves in free agency, including bringing back former player Andre Benoit to be the Senators' captain. The NHL lockout also allowed several Ottawa top prospects, such as Jakob Silfverberg and Mika Zibanejad to start the season in Binghamton. The Senators stormed out to a 27-10-4 start by the all-star break, holding the best record in the AHL at one point. The Senators then lost many players, including Benoit, Silfverburg, Zibanejad, and Patrick Wiercioch to Ottawa as the NHL regular season started. The Senators went 17-14-4 the rest of the way to finish second in the East Division, claim the fourth seed for the playoffs, and finish with a 44-24-8 record overall. However, the Senators offense struggled against the physical play of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Penguins swept the Senators out of the playoffs, 3-0.

The Senators returned almost the entire team from the previous year for the 2013-14 season; the most notable exception being goaltender Robin Lehner, who became Ottawa's regular backup goalie. The Senators contended for the division lead for the entire season. Despite goaltender Nathan Lawson having an injury-filled year, Andrew Hammond filled his spot with 25 wins and a 2.81 GAA. Despite the Senators losing leading scorers Mike Hoffman and Stephane Da Costa along with Mark Stone, Cody Ceci, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and others to Ottawa during the second half of the year, the Senators clinched their third division after nearly a ten-year drought since the 2004-05 season. The division title came on a 5-4 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the second-to-last game of the season to clinch the third seed in the Eastern Conference. For the second year in a row, the Senators played the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs. The first three games of the series were close, all of them going to overtime, but the Senators found themselves down 2-1 in the series. Facing a must-win game four in Wilkes-Barre, the Sens were routed by the Penguins 5-1, bowing out in the first round once again.

After the end of the 2015–16 season, head coach Luke Richardson resigned from his position with the organization. Richardson was replaced by the coach he took over for in 2012, Kurt Kleinendorst, on June 8, 2016.[4]

In July 2016, Broome County officials stated that the Ottawa Senators intend to relocate their franchise closer to the parent club in Canada for the 2017–18 season, but that the "AHL has committed to staying in Binghamton and Broome County" due to the B-Sens having three more years left on their lease in 2017.[5] Most reports have conjectured that the relocated Senators franchise would be in Belleville, Ontario, due to plans to renovate Yardmen Arena announced in June 2016. On September 26, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk confirmed that he had purchased the Binghamton team and will be relocating it to become the Belleville Senators for the 2017–18 season.[6] After the Ottawa Senators' announcement of the relocation, the Binghamton organization reconfirmed that they are working towards keeping AHL hockey in Binghamton for 2017–18.[7]

Season-by-season results

Players

Current roster

Updated December 3, 2016.[8] [9]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
19 Canada Akeson, JasonJason Akeson RW R 26 2016 Orleans, Ontario Binghamton
25 United States Bailey, CaseyCasey Bailey C R 25 2016 Anchorage, Alaska Ottawa
14 Canada Blunden, MikeMike Blunden (C) RW R 29 2016 Toronto, Ontario Ottawa
7 United States Carlisle, ChrisChris Carlisle D L 21 2015 Fort Lee, New Jersey Binghamton
33 Canada Driedger, ChrisChris Driedger G L 22 2014 Winnipeg, Manitoba Ottawa
26 Canada Dunn, VincentVincent Dunn C L 21 2015 Hull, Quebec Ottawa
11 Canada Erkamps, MacoyMacoy Erkamps D R 21 2016 Delta, British Columbia Ottawa
8 United States Flanagan, KyleKyle Flanagan LW L 27 2015 Canton, New York Binghamton
18 Canada Gagne, GabrielGabriel Gagne RW R 20 2016 Sainte-Adèle, Quebec Ottawa
24 Canada Harpur, BenBen Harpur D L 21 2015 Hamilton, Ontario Ottawa
21 Canada Kostka, MichaelMichael Kostka (A) D R 31 2015 Ajax, Ontario Ottawa
9 United States Krushelnyski, AlexanderAlexander Krushelnyski LW L 26 2016 Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Binghamton
28 Canada Lepine, GuillaumeGuillaume Lepine D L 29 2014 Montreal, Quebec Binghamton
17 United States McCormick, MaxMax McCormick LW L 24 2014 De Pere, Wisconsin Ottawa
16 Canada Nehring, ChadChad Nehring C R 29 2016 Springside, Saskatchewan Ottawa
29 Canada O'Connor, MattMatt O'Connor G L 24 2015 Toronto, Ontario Ottawa
13 Canada Paul, NickNick Paul C L 21 2015 Mississauga, Ontario Ottawa
27 Canada Perron, FrancisFrancis Perron LW L 20 2016 Laval, Quebec Ottawa
12 Canada Rodewald, JackJack Rodewald RW R 22 2016 Winnipeg, Manitoba Binghamton
15 United States Rumble, ChrisChris Rumble D L 26 2016 Chesapeake, Virginia Binghamton
20 Canada Rupert, RyanRyan Rupert C L 22 2015 Grand Bend, Ontario Ottawa
23 United States Sieloff, PatrickPatrick Sieloff D L 22 2016 Ann Arbor, Michigan Ottawa
45 Canada Stortini, ZackZack Stortini RW R 31 2015 Elliot Lake, Ontario Ottawa
22 Canada Varone, PhilipPhilip Varone (A) C L 26 2016 Vaughan, Ontario Ottawa

Team captains

Notable players

Team records

Single season

Goals: Denis Hamel, 56 (2005–06)
Assists: Jason Spezza, 85 (2004–05)
Points: Jason Spezza, 117 (2004–05)
Penalty minutes: 551 Brian McGrattan, 551 (2004–05)
GAA: Robin Lehner, 2.12 (2012–13)
SV%: Robin Lehner, .938 (2012–13)

Career

Career goals: Denis Hamel, 203
Career assists: Denis Hamel, 189
Career points: Denis Hamel, 392
Career penalty minutes: Brian McGrattan, 1051
Career goaltending wins: Ray Emery, 67
Career shutouts: Ray Emery, 11
Career games: Denis Hamel, 528

Franchise Scoring Leaders

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game average;

Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G
Denis Hamel LW 438 203 189 392 0.89
Josh Hennessy C 289 99 114 213 0.74
Cole Schneider RW 263 83 108 191 0.73
Jason Spezza C 123 54 117 171 1.39
Mike Hoffman C 242 71 98 169 0.62
Shane Prince LW 206 67 81 148 0.72
Derek Smith D 272 33 109 142 0.52
Jeff Heerema RW 155 63 78 141 0.91
Antoine Vermette C 161 62 73 135 0.84
Stéphane Da Costa C 159 44 88 132 0.83

Totals contain only games played for Binghamton.

References

  1. "Bulletin: Senators announce the resignation of Nachbaur as head coach of Binghamton". senators.nhl.com. June 22, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  2. "Bulletin: Senators name Kurt Kleinendorst head coach of AHL affiliate in Binghamton". senators.nhl.com. August 6, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  3. Panzeri, Allen (May 24, 2012). "Richardson sent to minors - to coach Binghamton". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
  4. "Kleinendorst returning to Binghamton". AHL. June 8, 2016.
  5. "Binghamton Sens moving north to Belleville say Broome County officials". Ottawa Citizen. July 9, 2016.
  6. "Sens Owner Purchases AHL Team Partners W/ Belleville". Ottawa Senators. September 26, 2016.
  7. "A Statement from the Binghamton Senators". OurSports Central. September 26, 2016.
  8. "Binghamton Senators - Roster". Binghamton Senators. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  9. "TheAHL.com - Binghamton Senators". AHL. Retrieved December 3, 2016.

External links

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