Danville Dashers
CityDanville, Illinois
LeagueFederal Prospects Hockey League
Founded2011
Home arenaDavid S. Palmer Arena
ColorsBlack, orange, white
     
Owner(s)Barry Soskin
General managerDiane Short[1]
Head coachGary Gill[2]
Franchise history
2011–2021, 2024[3][4]Danville Dashers
Championships
Regular season titles1 (2016–17)
Playoff championships1 (2017)

The Danville Dashers were a hockey team from Danville, Illinois, in the Federal Prospects Hockey League. The Dashers were named in honor of the original Danville Dashers.[5] 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.[6]

History

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.[6][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. [3][24]

Season-by-season record

SeasonGPWLOTLPts[lower-alpha 1]GFGAPIMFinishPlayoffs
2011–12436343201522389777th of 8, FHLDid not qualify
2012–1354212856522026811205th of 6, FHLLost Semifinals, 0–2 vs. Dayton Demonz
2013–1457163654718130013514th of 4, FHLDid not qualify
2014–155631205922381939593rd of 6, FHLLost Finals, 2–3 vs. Watertown Wolves
2015–1656331671032251858163rd of 6, FHLLost Semifinals, 1–2 vs. Port Huron Prowlers
2016–175640941292291215971st of 7, FHLWon Finals, 3–2 vs. Berlin River Drivers
2017–185622295681821938635th of 7, FHLLost Semifinals, 0–2 vs. Port Huron Prowlers
2018–1959193645819726312416th of 6, FHLDid not qualify
2019–204726183791741508063rd of 5, WesternSeason cancelled[lower-alpha 2]
  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

  1. ↑ "DASHERS APPOINT NEW GM". FHL. May 11, 2018.
  2. ↑ "DASHERS NAME GILL NEWEST HEAD COACH". Danville Dashers. May 1, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Soskin, Short Set to Return Professional Hockey to Palmer Arena in 2024-25; HVAC Issue Continues". November 22, 2023.
  4. ↑ "HOCKEY: Dashers ready to return". Commercial-News. November 25, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Danville's New Team Will Be The Dashers". OurSportsCentral.com. June 6, 2011.
  6. 1 2 "Danville Dashers out, Bobcats take over at Palmer". Commercial-News. March 9, 2021.
  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.
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