The Berlin River Drivers were a minor professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team in 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. D ...

that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in

Berlin, New Hampshire Berlin ( ) is a city along the Androscoggin River in Coös County in northern New Hampshire, United States. It is the northernmost city in New Hampshire. The population was 9,425 at the 2020 census, down from 10,051 at the 2010 census. It ...

, the River Drivers played their home games at the

Notre Dame Arena Notre may refer to: *Notre language Nootre, also known as Boulba, is a Gur language of Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country i ...

History

On July 14, 2014, the FHL announced the River Drivers as a new franchise. However, on September 8, 2014, the league announced that the league would expand instead into

North Adams, Massachusetts North Adams is a city in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population was 12,961 as of the 2020 census. Best known as the ...

(with the

Berkshire Battalion The Berkshire Battalion were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the Federal Hockey League that played during the 2014–15 season. Based in North Adams, Massachusetts, the Battalion played at the Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memoria ...

), citing the market to be a better fit but not ruling out Berlin and the River Drivers' return for the 2015–16 season. The following offseason, on May 20, 2015, the FHL announced the River Drivers would begin play in the 2015–16 season at the newly renovated Notre Dame Arena. They initially announced an affiliation with the

Evansville IceMen The Evansville IceMen were a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL in Evansville, Indiana. The franchise was originally a member of the United Hockey League before it merged into the Central Hockey League in 2010. The franchise has won four po ...

of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

for the 2015–16 season, however, sometime before the season began the post and all references to the IceMen had been removed from the website. After making it the championship in the 2016–17 season, the Berlin River Drivers ceased operations due to the increased overhead costs of running the team and not selling enough season tickets for the following season. In order to play the 2017–18 season, the team claimed it needed to sell 1,000 season tickets upfront in order to have enough money to operate. Their arena only had a capacity of 1,680.

References

External links

Berlin River Drivers official website
Federal Prospects Hockey League teams Berlin, New Hampshire Ice hockey teams in New Hampshire 2015 establishments in New Hampshire Ice hockey clubs established in 2015 {{NewHampshire-sport-team-stub