Belleville Senators

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Belleville Senators
2021–22 AHL season
Belleville Senators logo.svg
CityBelleville, Ontario
LeagueAmerican Hockey League
ConferenceEastern
DivisionNorth
Founded1972
Home arenaCAA Arena
ColoursRed, black, white
     
Owner(s)Eugene Melnyk
General managerPierre Dorion
Head coachTroy Mann
MediaAHL.TV (Internet)
CJBQ
AffiliatesOttawa Senators (NHL)
Atlanta Gladiators (ECHL)
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 Championships1 (2019–20)

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 team, the Ottawa Senators. Based in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, the Senators play their home games at CAA Arena. The franchise was previously based out of Binghamton, New York, as the Binghamton Senators.

History[]

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 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 AHL 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 AHL 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]

Broadcasting[]

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

Season-by-season results[]

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 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
Totals 250 119 109 10 9 263 .526 758 802 No playoff appearances

Players[]

Current roster[]

Updated January 27, 2022.[9]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
26 Canada Andrew Agozzino LW L 31 2021 Kleinburg, Ontario Ottawa
48 Canada D L 22 2019 Mascouche, Quebec Ottawa
4 Canada D L 21 2021 Mercier, Quebec Belleville
24 Canada Jacob Bernard-Docker D R 21 2021 Canmore, Alberta Ottawa
14 Canada Rourke Chartier C L 25 2021 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Belleville
– Canada  Injured Reserve LW L 22 2021 North Vancouver, British Columbia Ottawa
44 Canada Michael Del Zotto D L 31 2021 Stouffville, Ontario Ottawa
5 United States Jack Dougherty D R 25 2021 St. Paul, Minnesota Belleville
29 Canada Cody Goloubef D R 32 2021 Oakville, Ontario Belleville
28 Canada Tyrell Goulbourne LW L 28 2021 Edmonton, Alberta Belleville
21 Canada D R 20 2021 Sainte-Foy, Quebec Ottawa
30 Sweden Filip Gustavsson G L 23 2018 Skellefteå, Sweden Ottawa
34 Finland Roby Jarventie LW L 19 2021 Tampere, Finland Ottawa
27 Canada Parker Kelly C L 22 2018 Camrose, Alberta Ottawa
8 Canada Zac Leslie D L 28 2021 Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa
9 Canada C L 26 2021 Trail, British Columbia Belleville
31 Canada Kevin Mandolese G L 21 2020 Montreal, Quebec Ottawa
19 Canada C L 23 2021 Levis, Quebec Belleville
23 Canada LW L 22 2021 Irricana, Alberta Ottawa
22 Canada Logan Shaw (C) RW R 29 2020 Glace Bay, Nova Scotia Ottawa
40 Denmark G L 21 2021 Aalborg, Denmark Ottawa
20 Canada C L 22 2021 Edmonton, Alberta Belleville
18 United States RW R 25 2021 Omaha, Nebraska Belleville
25 Canada Colby Williams D R 27 2021 Regina, Saskatchewan Belleville

Team captains[]

  • Mike Blunden, 2017–18
  • Erik Burgdoerfer, 2018–19
  • Jordan Szwarz, 2019–20
  • Logan Shaw, 2021–present[10]

Team 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
Drake Batherson RW 103 38 78 116 1.13
Filip Chlapik C 146 37 51 88 0.60
Jordan Murray D 169 23 60 83 0.49
Jack Rodewald RW 127 37 35 72 0.57
Nick Paul LW 100 31 39 70 0.70
Logan Brown C 81 21 49 70 0.86
Rudolfs Balcers LW 76 33 34 67 0.88
Josh Norris C 56 31 30 61 1.09
Alex Formenton LW 63 27 26 53 0.84
Vitalii Abramov RW 69 22 26 48 0.70

Totals contain only games played for Belleville.

References[]

  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.
  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. ^ "Belleville Senators current roster". American Hockey League. Archived from the original on 2021-10-13. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  10. ^ "Logan Shaw Named 4th Captain in Franchise History". OurSports Central. March 1, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links[]

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