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.

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
CaptainDillon Heatherington
MediaAHL.TV (Internet)
CJBQ
AffiliatesOttawa Senators (NHL)
Allen Americans (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 titles1 (2019–20)
Current season

History edit

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]

Broadcasting edit

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 edit

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
Totals 394 193 168 20 13 419 .532 1,210 1,278 1 playoff appearance

Players edit

Current roster edit

Updated March 16, 2024.[10]

Team roster
No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
11   Kyle Betts C L 26 2023 Flesherton, Ontario Belleville
5   Wyatt Bongiovanni C L 24 2024 Birmingham, Michigan Ottawa
16   Tyler Boucher   LW R 21 2022 Scottsdale, Arizona Ottawa
9   Angus Crookshank LW L 24 2021 North Vancouver, British Columbia Ottawa
18   Josh Currie (A) RW R 31 2023 Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Ottawa
20   Philippe Daoust   LW L 22 2021 Barrie, Ontario Ottawa
8   Tarun Fizer F R 23 2023 Chestermere, Alberta Belleville
3   Dillon Heatherington (C) D L 28 2021 Calgary, Alberta Ottawa
12   Bokondji Imama LW L 27 2023 Montreal, Quebec Ottawa
34   Roby Jarventie   LW L 21 2021 Tampere, Finland Ottawa
25   Tyler Kleven D R 22 2023 Fargo, North Dakota Ottawa
4   Jacob Larsson (A) D L 26 2022 Ljungby, Sweden Ottawa
46   Ryan MacKinnon D R 29 2023 Summerside, Prince Edward Island Belleville
31   Kevin Mandolese G L 23 2020 Montreal, Quebec Ottawa
52   Nikolas Matinpalo D R 25 2023 Espoo, Finland Ottawa
27   Graham McPhee LW L 25 2023 Bethesda, Maryland Belleville
32   Oskar Pettersson RW R 20 2024 Halmstad, Sweden Ottawa
22   Garrett Pilon C R 25 2023 Mineola, New York Ottawa
19   Jamieson Rees F L 23 2024 Hamilton, Ontario Ottawa
23   Cole Reinhardt LW L 24 2021 Irricana, Alberta Ottawa
26   Brennan Saulnier F L 30 2022 Halifax, Nova Scotia Belleville
6   Donovan Sebrango D L 22 2023 Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa
39   Jiri Smejkal C L 27 2023 České Budějovice, Czech Republic Ottawa
40   Mads Sogaard G L 23 2021 Aalborg, Denmark Ottawa
13   Egor Sokolov (A) LW R 23 2020 Yekaterinburg, Russia Ottawa
33   Lassi Thomson D R 23 2023 Tampere, Finland Ottawa

Team captains edit

Team scoring leaders edit

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 169 55 79 134 0.79
Drake Batherson RW 103 38 78 116 1.13
Jake Lucchini LW 133 39 65 104 0.78
Filip Chlapik C 146 37 51 88 0.60
Jordan Murray D 169 23 60 83 0.49
Logan Brown C 94 23 56 79 0.84
Cole Reinhardt LW 169 32 44 76 0.43
Cole Cassels C 119 20 56 76 0.64
Jack Rodewald RW 127 37 35 72 0.57
Lassi Thomson D 135 18 54 72 0.53

Notable alumni edit

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

References edit

  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. ^ "Senators fire longtime AHL Belleville coach Troy Mann". Sportsnet. February 2, 2023. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  10. ^ "Belleville Senators current roster". American Hockey League. March 16, 2024. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  11. ^ "Logan Shaw Named 4th Captain in Franchise History". OurSports Central. March 1, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-04-13. Retrieved March 1, 2021.

External links edit