Binghamton Senators

Binghamton Senators
2015–16 Binghamton Senators season
City	Binghamton, New York
League	American Hockey League
Conference	Eastern Conference
Division	North Division
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	Vacant
Captain	Zack Stortini
Media	Press & Sun-Bulletin WICZ, WENE, WINR, WBBI
Affiliates	Ottawa Senators (NHL) Evansville IceMen (ECHL)
Franchise history
1972–1992	New Haven Nighthawks
1992–1993	New Haven Senators
1993–1996	Prince Edward Island Senators
2002–present	Binghamton 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 Evansville IceMen 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 River Rats, 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.

Season-by-season results

Players

Current roster

Updated April 11, 2016.^{[4] [5]}

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace	Contract
18		Akeson, JasonJason Akeson	RW	R	25	2016	Orleans, Ontario	Ottawa
25		Bailey, CaseyCasey Bailey	C	R	24	2016	Anchorage, Alaska	Ottawa
27		Borkowski, MichaelMichael Borkowski	C	L	23	2016	Kanata, Ontario	Binghamton
7		Carlisle, ChrisChris Carlisle	D	L	21	2015	Fort Lee, New Jersey	Ottawa
33		Driedger, ChrisChris Driedger	G	L	22	2014	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Ottawa
22		Dziurzynski, DavidDavid Dziurzynski	LW	L	26	2010	Lloydminster, Alberta	Ottawa
11		Ewanyk, TravisTravis Ewanyk	C	L	23	2015	St. Albert, Alberta	Ottawa
8		Flanagan, KyleKyle Flanagan	LW	L	27	2015	Canton, New York	Binghamton
5		Fraser, MarkMark Fraser (A)	D	L	29	2015	Ottawa, Ontario	Ottawa
6		Gauthier-Leduc, JérômeJérôme Gauthier-Leduc	D	R	23	2016	Quebec City, Quebec	Ottawa
24		Harpur, BenBen Harpur	D	L	21	2015	Hamilton, Ontario	Ottawa
19		Hobbs, DannyDanny Hobbs	C	L	26	2013	Shawville, Quebec	Binghamton
36		Keränen, MichaelMichael Keränen	LW	L	26	2016	Stockholm, Sweden	Ottawa
28		Lepine, GuillaumeGuillaume Lepine	D	L	29	2015	Montreal, Quebec	Binghamton
17		McCormick, MaxMax McCormick	LW	L	24	2014	De Pere, Wisconsin	Ottawa
14		Miller, AndrewAndrew Miller	F		24	2016	West Dundee, Illinois	Binghamton
23		Morris, KevinKevin Morris	F	L	23	2016	Massena, New York	Binghamton
29		O'Connor, MattMatt O'Connor	G	L	24	2015	Toronto, Ontario	Ottawa
9		Puempel, MatthewMatthew Puempel	LW	L	23	2013	Windsor, Ontario	Ottawa
20		Rupert, RyanRyan Rupert	C	L	21	2015	Grand Bend, Ontario	Ottawa
10		Robinson, BuddyBuddy Robinson	RW	R	24	2013	Bellmawr, New Jersey	Ottawa
45		Stortini, ZackZack Stortini (C)	RW	R	30	2015	Elliot Lake, Ontario	Ottawa
4		Tansey, KevinKevin Tansey	D	L	23	2016	Hammond, Ontario	Binghamton
40		Todd, NathanNathan Todd	C	R	20	2016	Kemptville, Ontario	Binghamton
2		Trecapelli, NickNick Trecapelli	D	R	24	2016	Guelph, Ontario	Binghamton
37		Tuzzolino, NickNick Tuzzolino	D	L	30	2015	Buffalo, New York	Binghamton
26		Varone, PhilipPhilip Varone	C	L	25	2016	Vaughan, Ontario	Ottawa

Team captains

• Steve Martins, 2002–2003
• Brian Pothier, 2002–2003
• Chris Kelly, 2003–2005
• Denis Hamel, 2005–2006
• Jamie Allison, 2006–2007
• Denis Hamel, 2007–2010
• Ryan Keller, 2010–2011
• Mark Parrish, 2011–2012
• Andre Benoit, 2012–2013
• Mike Hoffman, 2013–2014
• Mark Borowiecki, 2013–2014
• Aaron Johnson. 2014–2015
• Zach Stortini, 2015–present

Notable players

• Antoine Vermette
• Cody Bass
• Brandon Bochenski
• Bobby Butler
• Patrick Eaves
• Brian Elliott
• Ray Emery
• Denis Hamel
• Ryan Keller
• Chris Kelly
• Robin Lehner
• Chris Neil
• Brian Pothier
• Christoph Schubert
• Jason Spezza
• Anton Volchenkov
• Jeremy Yablonski
• Ben Bishop
• Erik Karlsson
• Cody Ceci
• Mark Borowiecki
• Brian McGrattan
• Jean-Gabriel Pageau
• Mark Stone
• Mike Hoffman
• Rob Klinkhammer
• Eric Gryba
• Patrick Wiercioch
• Kaspars Daugavins
• Mike Mckenna
• Jakob Silfverberg
• Mika Zibanejad

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. "Binghamton Senators - Roster". Binghamton Senators. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
5. "TheAHL.com - Binghamton Senators". AHL. Retrieved March 13, 2016.

External links

• Binghamton Senators Official Website
• binghamtonhockey.net - Hockey history of the Binghamton, New York region
• The Internet Hockey Database - Binghamton Senators