The 2016–17 Federal Hockey League season is the seventh season of the
Federal Hockey League
The Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league with teams in the Midwestern, Southern, and Northeastern United States. The FPHL began operations in November 2010 as the Federal Hockey League. ...
. The regular season ran from October 28, 2016 to April 2, 2017, with an unbalanced 56-game schedule between the seven teams. The
Danville Dashers won their first Commissioner's Cup.
League changes
The
Watertown Wolves completed renovations to their ice rink and signed a new one-year lease agreement with the city of Watertown in order to return after one season off.
In May 2016, the league expanded to
St. Clair Shores, Michigan
St. Clair Shores is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, St. Clair Shores is located roughly northeast of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,874.
History ...
(
Metro Detroit
Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the officia ...
), with the new
St. Clair Shores Fighting Saints
The St. Clair Shores Fighting Saints were a minor professional ice hockey team in the Federal Hockey League that began play in the 2016–17 season based in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. The Fighting Saints played their home games at the St. Clai ...
, playing out of the
St. Clair Shores Civic Arena.
On July 13, 2016, the "Dayton Pro Hockey" team, formerly known as the
Dayton Demolition before removing references to the Demolition name in March 2016, announced it would go dormant for the 2016–17 season. Owner Joe Pace, Sr. claimed that
Hara Arena
Hara Arena was a 5,500-seat multi-purpose arena located in the Trotwood, Ohio suburb of Dayton. The facility began as a ballroom in 1957, added an arena in 1964 and grew to a six-building complex which closed in August 2016.
At various times, it ...
could not sign leases to tenants and he did not believe he could put together a team without a proper lead up time and secured arena. He also stated he would look to keep the team in Dayton in 2017 even if Hara Arena is still not available.
Hara Arena would end up closing permanently in August 2016.
In June 2016,
Brewster Bulldogs owner, Bruce Bennett mentioned to ''
The News-Times
''The News-Times'' is a daily newspaper based in Danbury, Connecticut, United States. It is owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation.
The paper covers Danbury, a city in Fairfield County in southwestern Connecticut, as well as, portion ...
'' that he would solely focus on his
Danbury Titans team and would no longer be involved with the Bulldogs. Without finding new ownership, Bennett decided to suspend Bulldogs operations on July 14, 2016.
On September 14, the city of
Cornwall, Ontario
Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the U.S. state of New York (state), New York converge. It is Ontario's easternmost city. Although it is the seat of the United ...
, approved a team called the
Cornwall Nationals to begin play for the 2016–17 season out of the
Ed Lumley Arena. On September 16, the FHL approved of the addition to the league for the upcoming season. The new team replaced the recently folded
Cornwall River Kings and led by Mitch Gagne and Rodney Rivette. Midway through their first season, Rivette bought out Gagne's share of the team and Gagne left his position of general manager on 18 December. On December 21, the Nationals announced that it had secured another local investor, Will Beauvais, to help support the team, while Nationals forward, Basem Awwad, also took over general manager duties at that time.
Standings
Final standings
: Advance to playoffs
Playoffs
References
External links
Federal Hockey League website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 FHL season
FHL
Federal Prospects Hockey League seasons