Danville Dashers (FPHL)

Dashers Hockey
CityDanville, Illinois
LeagueFederal Prospects Hockey League
Founded2011
Home arenaDavid S. Palmer Arena
ColorsBlack, orange, white
     
Owner(s)Barry Soskin
General managerDiane Short[1]
Head coachAJ Tesoriero
Websitehttps://www.dashershockey.com/
Franchise history
2011–2021Danville Dashers
2024–present[2][3]Dashers Hockey
Championships
Regular season titles1 (2016–17)
Playoff championships1 (2017)

The Danville Dashers are a hockey team from Danville, Illinois, in the Federal Prospects Hockey League. The team is now known as Dashers Hockey during their second incarnation from 2024. The Dashers were named in honor of the original Danville Dashers.[4] From 2011 to 2020, the team played their home games at David S. Palmer Arena, which was also home to the original Dashers that played in the Continental Hockey League from 1981 to 1986, but were voted out of the arena in 2021.[5] On February 28, 2024, it was announced that the David S. Palmer Arena board had accepted the lease from Barry Soskin and Diane Short to bring the Danville Dashers back for the 2024-25 season. [6]

History

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The new Dashers were announced as a Federal Hockey League (FHL) expansion team in June 2011 to begin play in the 2011–12 season.[7] The team was owned by Barry Soskin, who also had owned several junior and professional teams in the region,[8] and was led by head coach and general manager Scott Beneke. On April 10, 2012, the Dashers announced an affiliation agreement with the Central Hockey League's Bloomington Blaze.[9]

On December 20, 2013, it was announced that the Dashers would play the Watertown Privateers in a neutral site game in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, on March 22, 2014. The goal of the game was to test local interest in hockey with the idea of an expansion team being awarded to Connellsville if successful.[10] The next season, the league awarded an expansion team in nearby Belle Vernon, but it was quickly folded.

After three seasons as head coach and winning the league championship, Steve Harrison left the Dashers to become head coach of the Dallas Blackhawks of the North American Prospects Hockey League, a U18 youth league. Former captain Brent Clarke was hired to replace Harrison for the 2017–18 season. Clarke had previously won coach of the year while with the Watertown Wolves when they won the FHL championship. Clarke left after one season to be closer to his family[11] and took the head coaching job with the 2018 expansion team, the Elmira Enforcers.[12] Clarke was replaced by Paul MacLean, a coach that had most recently been in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.[13] MacLean was fired on December 19, 2018, after a 9–8 start.[14] After a month with Dustin Henning acting as player-coach, the Dashers hired former CHL Indianapolis Ice head coach Rod Davidson on January 22, 2019, who stayed until the end of the season.[15][16] The Dashers then hired another former Dashers' player Ray Tremblay as the head coach for the 2019–20 season.[17]

In 2018, the FHL began calling itself the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) and fully rebranded before the 2019–20 season. The FPHL was then among the many leagues that had to prematurely end their seasons in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the shutdown, the Palmer Arena's operators looked to terminate the Dashers' contract with the venue,[18] but the arena's board upheld the contract in the Dashers' favor.[19] Subsequently, the Dashers were one of several FPHL teams that did not immediately return to play in the delayed 2020–21 season when it commenced in February 2021. On March 9, 2021, the arena again held a meeting to determine whether to keep the Dashers as a tenant or give a contract to a new team,[20] ultimately deciding to go forward with a new team called the Vermilion County Bobcats in the Southern Professional Hockey League.[21][22] The Dashers' management stated they might pursue relocation or other forms of keeping the team active, but the Dashers will not be returning to Palmer Arena.[5][23]

On November 21, 2023, the David S. Palmer Arena board agreed to work with Barry Soskin on returning the Dashers to Danville for the 2024-2025 professional hockey season with a conference call scheduled to work out the terms of a lease on November 27. Diane Short was once again named the team's GM. [2][24] On February 28, 2024, it was announced that the David S. Palmer Arena board had accepted the lease from Barry Soskin and Diane Short to bring the Danville Dashers back for the 2024-25 season.[25] On May 30, 2024, it was made official, that the Dashers were back for the 2024-25 season. AJ Tesoriero will be the team's head coach and the team will be known as Dashers Hockey.[26]

Season-by-season record

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Season GP W L OTL Pts[a] GF GA PIM Finish Playoffs
2011–12 43 6 34 3 20 152 238 977 7th of 8, FHL Did not qualify
2012–13 54 21 28 5 65 220 268 1120 5th of 6, FHL Lost Semifinals, 0–2 vs. Dayton Demonz
2013–14 57 16 36 5 47 181 300 1351 4th of 4, FHL Did not qualify
2014–15 56 31 20 5 92 238 193 959 3rd of 6, FHL Lost Finals, 2–3 vs. Watertown Wolves
2015–16 56 33 16 7 103 225 185 816 3rd of 6, FHL Lost Semifinals, 1–2 vs. Port Huron Prowlers
2016–17 56 40 9 4 129 229 121 597 1st of 7, FHL Won Finals, 3–2 vs. Berlin River Drivers
2017–18 56 22 29 5 68 182 193 863 5th of 7, FHL Lost Semifinals, 0–2 vs. Port Huron Prowlers
2018–19 59 19 36 4 58 197 263 1241 6th of 6, FHL Did not qualify
2019–20 47 26 18 3 79 174 150 806 3rd of 5, Western Season cancelled[b]
  1. ^ 3 points for a Win, 2 points for an Overtime Win, and 1 point for an Overtime Loss
  2. ^ League cancelled season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

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  1. ^ "DASHERS APPOINT NEW GM". FHL. May 11, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Soskin, Short Set to Return Professional Hockey to Palmer Arena in 2024-25; HVAC Issue Continues". November 22, 2023.
  3. ^ "HOCKEY: Dashers ready to return". Commercial-News. November 25, 2023.
  4. ^ "Danville's New Team Will Be The Dashers". OurSportsCentral.com. June 6, 2011.
  5. ^ a b "Danville Dashers out, Bobcats take over at Palmer". Commercial-News. March 9, 2021.
  6. ^ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  7. ^ "New hockey team to use classic name". Commercial-News. June 8, 2011.
  8. ^ "FHL expands west". ProHockeyNews. March 28, 2011. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  9. ^ "Dashers Announce Affiliation with Blaze". Danville Dashers. April 10, 2012. Archived from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  10. ^ "Federal Hockey League | Connellsville, PA to Host Federal Hockey League Game | Pointstreak Sites". Archived from the original on 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  11. ^ "Clarke, Dashers Part Ways". OurSportsCentral.com. April 23, 2018.
  12. ^ "Elmira hockey team chooses Enforcers as nickname, Brent Clarke as head coach". Star-Gazette. August 2, 2018.
  13. ^ "Dashers Announce New Head Coach MacLean for 2018-19". Dashers. August 6, 2018.
  14. ^ "Maclean out as Dashers head coach". Commercial-News. December 19, 2018.
  15. ^ "Rod Davidson Hired as New Dashers Head Coach". OurSportsCentral.com. January 22, 2019.
  16. ^ "DAVIDSON DEPARTS DASHERS". FHL. April 17, 2019.
  17. ^ "DASHERS NAME RAY TREMBLAY AS NEW HEAD COACH". Danville Dashers. May 23, 2019.
  18. ^ "Sports team contract in question". WCIA. March 29, 2020.
  19. ^ "Palmer Arena Board upholds contract with Danville Dashers". Commercial-News. April 15, 2020.
  20. ^ "Arena Could End Relationship with Dashers". Vermilion County First. March 8, 2021.
  21. ^ ""Vermilion County Bobcats" Are New Hockey Team at Palmer Arena". Vermilion County First. March 9, 2021.
  22. ^ "Update: Despite best efforts by the Dashers organization, owner Barry Soskin, GM Diane Short, and Danville's hockey community—- the David S. Palmer Arena has elected to replace the Danville Dashers with a new hockey team. We'll have more details for you tomorrow. Thank you all for your attention, help, love and support. We are #DasherNation". Danville Dashers Facebook. March 9, 2021.
  23. ^ "A Message to Dasher Nation". OurSports Central. March 12, 2021.
  24. ^ "HOCKEY: Dashers ready to return". Commercial-News. November 25, 2023.
  25. ^ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  26. ^ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
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