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Belleville Senators

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Belleville Senators
CityBelleville, Ontario
LeagueAmerican Hockey League
ConferenceEastern
DivisionNorth
Founded1972
Home arenaCAA Arena
ColoursRed, black, white
     
Owner(s)Michael Andlauer
General managerRyan Bowness
Head coachDavid Bell
CaptainGarrett Pilon
MediaAHL.TV (Internet)
CJBQ
AffiliateOttawa Senators (NHL)
WebsiteOfficial website
Franchise history
1972–1992New Haven Nighthawks
1992–1993New Haven Senators
1993–1996Prince Edward Island Senators
2002–2017Binghamton Senators
2017–presentBelleville Senators
Championships
Division titles1 (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 (NHL)'s Ottawa Senators. Based in Belleville, Ontario, the Senators play their home games at CAA Arena. The franchise was previously based out of Binghamton, New York, as the Binghamton Senators.

History

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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 in 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 B-Sens were leading the North Division when the 2019–20 season was cancelled on May 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team had amassed a 38–20–4–1 record and were the best road team in the league having won 23 games and a .790 road win percentage. The B-Sens' 234 goals were the most in the AHL.

The start for the following 2020–21 season was delayed due to the ongoing pandemic. In December 2020, the Senators agreed to a seven-year lease extension with the city of Belleville through the 2026–27 AHL season.[6] In January 2021, the league announced a temporary realignment due to the pandemic border restrictions and the B-Sens were placed in an all-Canada division, but had no set start date due to venue usage and restrictions in the province of Ontario. The league eventually announced a start for the teams in Canada for one week after the rest of the league, but without any games initially scheduled in Ontario.[7] The Belleville Senators started on the road before announcing their home games would be played in Ottawa at the Canadian Tire Centre for the entire season.[8]

During the 2022–23 season, Belleville fired Troy Mann as coach on February 2, 2023, while sitting sixth in the AHL's North Division. Assistant coach David Bell was named new head coach.[9]

After the departure of captain Dillon Heatherington in the offseason, on October 8, 2024, Belleville named Garrett Pilon the sixth captain in franchise history.[10]

Broadcasting

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The official broadcasting partner of the Belleville Senators is radio station 800 CJBQ. Commentators David Foot and Tim Durkin cover all games. David Foot also has a weekly podcast featuring news on the Belleville Senators and the AHL.

Season-by-season results

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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 Prelims 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 the COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 35 18 16 1 0 37 .529 102 111 3rd, Canadian 2021 No playoffs were held
2021–22 72 40 28 4 0 84 .583 219 218 4th, North 2022 L, 0–2, ROC — — — —
2022–23 72 31 31 6 4 72 .500 233 258 7th, North 2023 Did not qualify
2023–24 72 38 28 3 3 82 .569 209 211 4th, North 2024 W, 2–1, TOR L, 1–3, CLE — — —
Totals 466 231 196 23 16 501 .538 1,419 1,489 2 playoff appearances

Players

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Current roster

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Updated November 27, 2024.[11]

Team roster
No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
5 United States Wyatt Bongiovanni C L 25 2024 Birmingham, Michigan Ottawa
16 United States Tyler Boucher LW R 21 2022 Scottsdale, Arizona Ottawa
13 Canada Xavier Bourgault C R 22 2024 L'Islet, Quebec Ottawa
18 Canada Jake Chiasson C R 21 2024 Abbotsford, British Columbia Ottawa
9 Canada Angus Crookshank LW L 25 2021 North Vancouver, British Columbia Ottawa
20 Canada Philippe Daoust LW L 23 2021 Barrie, Ontario Ottawa
4 Canada Jeremy Davies (A) D L 27 2024 Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec Ottawa
11 Canada Jorian Donovan D L 20 2023 Calgary, Alberta Ottawa
21 Canada Maxence Guenette (A) D R 23 2021 Sainte-Foy, Quebec Ottawa
34 Canada Stephen Halliday C L 22 2024 Ajax, Ontario Ottawa
15 Canada Matthew Highmore C L 28 2023 Halifax, Nova Scotia Ottawa
42 Canada Hayden Hodgson Injured Reserve RW R 28 2024 Windsor, Ontario Ottawa
24 Czech Republic Jan Jenik Injured Reserve RW L 24 2024 Nymburk, Czech Republic Ottawa
17 Canada Zack MacEwen RW R 28 2023 Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Ottawa
52 Finland Nikolas Matinpalo D R 26 2023 Espoo, Finland Ottawa
35 Finland Leevi Merilainen Injured Reserve G L 22 2023 Oulu, Finland Ottawa
32 Sweden Oskar Pettersson RW R 20 2024 Halmstad, Sweden Ottawa
22 Canada Garrett Pilon (C) C R 26 2023 Mineola, New York Ottawa
19 Canada Jamieson Rees LW L 23 2024 Hamilton, Ontario Ottawa
48 Sweden Filip Roos D L 25 2024 Gothenburg, Sweden Ottawa
31 Canada Michael Simpson G L 21 2024 London, Ontario Belleville
40 Denmark Mads Sogaard Injured Reserve G L 23 2021 Aalborg, Denmark Ottawa
30 Canada Malcolm Subban G L 30 2024 Toronto, Ontario Belleville
33 Canada Djibril Toure D R 21 2023 Dorval, Quebec Ottawa
27 Canada Keean Washkurak C L 23 2024 Waterloo, Ontario Belleville
38 United States Wyatte Wylie D R 25 2024 Everett, Washington Belleville

Team captains

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Team scoring leaders

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

Points
Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G
Egor Sokolov LW 240 76 104 180 0.75
Drake Batherson RW 103 38 78 116 1.13
Angus Crookshank LW 140 55 54 109 0.78
Jake Lucchini LW 133 39 65 104 0.78
Cole Reinhardt LW 225 40 59 99 0.44
Lassi Thomson D 202 24 69 93 0.46
Maxence Guenette D 170 18 75 93 0.55
Filip Chlapik C 146 37 51 88 0.60
Roby Jarventie LW 136 38 48 86 0.63
Jordan Murray D 169 23 60 83 0.49

Notable alumni

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The following players have played both 100 games for the Belleville Senators and 100 games in the National Hockey League:

References

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  1. ^ Miller, Jason (July 8, 2016). "Binghamton Sens moving north to Belleville say Broome County officials". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  2. ^ "Sens Owner Purchases AHL Team Partners W/ Belleville". Ottawa Senators. September 26, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-09-27. Retrieved September 26, 2016 – via NHL.com.
  3. ^ "Ottawa Senators finalize deal to move AHL team to Belleville from Binghamton". Ottawa Sun. September 26, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  4. ^ "Report: Coach K out as Belleville Senators bench boss". Belleville Intelligencer. May 1, 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-05-02. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
  5. ^ "Troy Mann named second head coach in franchise history". Belleville Senators. June 25, 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-06-26. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  6. ^ Tidcombe, Matt (December 9, 2020). "Belleville Senators extend lease with city" (Press release). Ottawa Senators – via NHL.com.
  7. ^ "February schedule set for Canadian Division clubs". American Hockey League. February 9, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-02-09. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  8. ^ "Belleville Senators Announce Temporary Relocation For Home Games for 2020-21 Season". Belleville Senators. February 23, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-02-23. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  9. ^ "Senators fire longtime AHL Belleville coach Troy Mann". Sportsnet. February 2, 2023. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  10. ^ Durkin, Tim (October 8, 2024). "Pilon is the leadership pillar for Belleville". Quinte News. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  11. ^ "Belleville Senators current roster". American Hockey League. November 27, 2024. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  12. ^ "Logan Shaw Named 4th Captain in Franchise History". Belleville Senators. March 1, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-04-13. Retrieved March 1, 2021 – via OurSports Central.
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