The Danville Dashers were a
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
team from
Danville, Illinois
Danville is a city in and the county seat of Vermilion County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 33,027. As of 2019, the population was an estimated 30,479.
History
The area that is now Danville was once home to the Miami, K ...
, in the
Federal Prospects 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 ...
. The Dashers were named in honor of the original
Danville Dashers.
From 2011 to 2020, the team played their home games at
David S. Palmer Arena, which was also home to the original Dashers that played in the
Continental Hockey League from 1981 to 1986, but were voted out of the arena in 2021.
History
The new Dashers were announced as a
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. Do ...
(FHL) expansion team in June 2011 to begin play in the
2011–12 season. The team was owned by Barry Soskin, who also had owned several
junior
Junior or Juniors may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959
* ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009
* ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010
* ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019
Films
* ''Junior'' (1994 ...
and professional teams in the region, 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
The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...
's
Bloomington Blaze
The Bloomington Thunder were a minor professional ice hockey team that was a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League. Based in Bloomington, Illinois, the Thunder played their home games at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum, located in downto ...
.
On December 20, 2013, it was announced that the Dashers would play the
Watertown Privateers in a neutral site game in
Connellsville, Pennsylvania
Connellsville is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Pittsburgh and away via the Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 7,637 at t ...
, 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. The next season, the league awarded an expansion team in nearby
Belle Vernon
Belle Vernon is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. It is situated along the Monongahela River abutting two other counties, Westmoreland to the north and Washington across the river. As of the 2020 census Belle Vernon had a population of ...
, 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
The Watertown Wolves are a minor professional hockey team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) based in Watertown, New York, and play home games at the Watertown Municipal Arena. The team was on hiatus during the 2015–16 season while ...
when they won the FHL championship. Clarke left after one season to be closer to his family and took the head coaching job with the 2018 expansion team, the
Elmira Enforcers
The Elmira Enforcers were a minor professional ice hockey team located in Elmira, New York, and a member of the Federal Prospects Hockey League. Their home games were played at First Arena. The team folded in 2021 after an arena contract dispu ...
. Clarke was replaced by Paul MacLean, a coach that had most recently been in the
Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. MacLean was fired on December 19, 2018, after a 9–8 start. After a month with Dustin Henning acting as player-coach, the Dashers hired former CHL
Indianapolis Ice
The Indianapolis Ice were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in Indianapolis, Indiana, that played in the International Hockey League from 1988 to 1999 and in the Central Hockey League from 1999 to 2004. Their original home arena ...
head coach Rod Davidson on January 22, 2019, who stayed until the end of the season. The Dashers then hired another former Dashers' player Ray Tremblay as the head coach for the 2019–20 season.
In 2018, the FHL began calling itself the
Federal Prospects 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 ...
(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
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. During the shutdown, the Palmer Arena's operators looked to terminate the Dashers' contract with the venue, but the arena's board upheld the contract in the Dashers' favor. Subsequently, the Dashers were one of several FPHL teams that did not immediately return to play in the delayed 2020–21 season when it commenced in February 2021. On March 9, 2021, the arena again held a meeting to determine whether to keep the Dashers as a tenant or give a contract to a new team, ultimately deciding to go forward with a new team called the
Vermilion County Bobcats in the
Southern Professional Hockey League. The Dashers' management stated they might pursue relocation or other forms of keeping the team active, but the Dashers will not be returning to Palmer Arena.
Season-by-season record
References
External links
Danville Dashers websiteFederal Prospects Hockey League website
{{FHL
Federal Prospects Hockey League teams
Ice hockey teams in Illinois
Dashers FHL
Ice hockey clubs established in 2011
2011 establishments in Illinois