Danville Dashers (FPHL)

The Danville Dashers are a hockey team from Danville, Illinois, in the Federal Prospects Hockey League. The Dashers were named in honor of the original Danville Dashers.[3] The team plays their home games at David S. Palmer Arena, which was home to the original Dashers that played in the Continental Hockey League from 1981 to 1986.

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–presentDanville Dashers
Championships
Regular season titles1 (2016–17)
Playoff championships1 (2017)

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.[4] The team was owned by Barry Soskin, who also had owned several junior and professional teams in the region,[5] 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.[6]

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.[7] 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[8] and took the head coaching job with the 2018 expansion team, the Elmira Enforcers.[9] Clarke was replaced by Paul MacLean, a coach that had most recently been in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.[10] MacLean was fired on December 19, 2018, after a 9–8 start.[11] 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.[12][13] The Dashers then hired another former Dashers' player Ray Tremblay as the head coach for the 2019–20 season.[14]

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,[15] but the arena's board upheld the contract in the Dashers' favor.[16]

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. "Danville's New Team Will Be The Dashers". OurSportsCentral.com. June 6, 2011.
  4. "New hockey team to use classic name". Commercial-News. June 8, 2011.
  5. "FHL expands west". ProHockeyNews. March 28, 2011. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  6. "Dashers Announce Affiliation with Blaze". Danville Dashers. April 10, 2012. Archived from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2014-03-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Clarke, Dashers Part Ways". OurSportsCentral.com. April 23, 2018.
  9. "Elmira hockey team chooses Enforcers as nickname, Brent Clarke as head coach". Star-Gazette. August 2, 2018.
  10. "Dashers Announce New Head Coach MacLean for 2018-19". Dashers. August 6, 2018.
  11. "Maclean out as Dashers head coach". Commercial-News. December 19, 2018.
  12. "Rod Davidson Hired as New Dashers Head Coach". OurSportsCentral.com. January 22, 2019.
  13. "DAVIDSON DEPARTS DASHERS". FHL. April 17, 2019.
  14. "DASHERS NAME RAY TREMBLAY AS NEW HEAD COACH". Danville Dashers. May 23, 2019.
  15. "Sports team contract in question". WCIA. March 29, 2020.
  16. "Palmer Arena Board upholds contract with Danville Dashers". Commercial-News. April 15, 2020.
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