The Fayetteville Marksmen are a professional

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

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 based in

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...

. They currently play in the

Southern Professional Hockey League The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the southeastern United States as well as Illinois and Indiana in the mid ...

(SPHL) and play their home games in the

Crown Coliseum The Crown Coliseum (originally the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum) is a multi-purpose arena in Fayetteville, North Carolina, that is part of the Crown Complex. The stadium broke ground in 1995 and opened in 1997, and is currently home to the Fa ...

. The team, originally known as the Fayetteville force then the Cape Fear FireAntz, began play in the

Atlantic Coast Hockey League The Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) was a minor league hockey organization that operated between 1981 and 1987. The league was founded by Bill Coffey. The Bob Payne Trophy was awarded to the team who won the league playoff championship. Acco ...

in the 2002–03 season. After the league's collapse, they joined the

South East Hockey League South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

for the 2003–04 season and then what would become the SPHL in 2004 as the Fayetteville FireAntz. Since their inception, they have won the 2007 SPHL championship and made a number of playoff appearances. Due to the effects of 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 identif ...

, the Marksmen are one of several SPHL teams to not participate in the 2020–21 season.

History

ACHL and SEHL years

The team, then known as the Cape Fear FireAntz, joined the fledgling

for the 2002–03 season. Their first coach was Shawn Ulrich. After the season David Waronker announced he was withdrawing his four teams from the unstable league to form the

World Hockey Association 2 The World Hockey Association 2 was a minor professional ice hockey league created at the instigation of the organizers of the proposed recreated World Hockey Association to serve as its development league. The WHA2 teams — some of which had ...

. The FireAntz and other remaining ACHL teams formed the

. They played the SEHL for the 2003–04 season, with Scott Rex serving as coach.

SPHL

Fayetteville FireAntz

In 2004, teams from the SEHL and WHA2 joined together to form the league now known as the

. The FireAntz joined the new league, changing their name to Fayetteville FireAntz, abandoning the reference to the nearby

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Carol ...

. Derek Booth took over as head coach in 2004 and after two seasons behind the bench, he left to coach the

Bloomington Prairie Thunder The Bloomington PrairieThunder were a minor professional ice hockey team based in Bloomington, Illinois. They were a member of the Central Hockey League in the Turner Conference. The team was originally a member of the United Hockey League (later ...

of the

United Hockey League The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league, with teams in the Unite ...

. In the 2006–07 season, under the guidance of head coach John Marks, the FireAntz advanced to the finals of the league's post-season playoffs for the first time in team history. The first two games of the best-of-five finals were won by Fayetteville on the FireAntz' home ice, before the series returned to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

, where the

Jacksonville Barracudas The Jacksonville Barracudas were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They were established in 2002, and played in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (2002–2003), the World Hockey Association 2 (2003–2004), ...

won game three of the series by a 3–2 score. The FireAntz won the fourth game of the series by a score of 5–3 to win the

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

. It was the first championship for the FireAntz, and Fayetteville's first professional sports championship in 51 years. Head coach Marks resigned after the team's championship run to take the head coach position with the Pensacola Ice Pilots 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 ...

. Shortly after Marks' resignation the FireAntz announced that former

Florida Seals The Florida Seals were a minor league ice hockey franchise, a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). Originally based in Orlando, Florida, as the Orlando Seals, they later moved to Kissimmee, Florida, a suburb thirty miles so ...

coach, Tommy Stewart, had been hired to coach the team for the 2007–2008 season. Tommy Stewart was let go after the 2010–11 season and was soon replaced by Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees' assistant coach,

Sean Gillam Sean Gillam (born May 7, 1976) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He was selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the third round (75th overall) of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. On June 13, 2011, Gillam was announced as the new h ...

. Gillam would only last partway through the season; on February 17, 2012, the FireAntz replaced him with

Todd Bidner Richard Todd Bidner (born July 5, 1961) is a Canadian retired ice hockey centre. Bidner was born in Petrolia, Ontario. Drafted in 1980 by the Washington Capitals, Bidner played a dozen games with the Capitals. He spent most of his playing care ...

. Mark DeSantis was hired prior to the 2012–13 season. He led the team to regular season record in the league and won William B. Coffey Trophy and the SPHL's Coach of the Year. However, he left the team after only one season to become the head coach of an expansion team in his hometown, the

Brampton Beast The Brampton Beast were a professional ice hockey team based in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. The team originally played in the Central Hockey League for one year during the 2013–14 season prior to the league's folding before joining the ECHL f ...

. Greg McCauley was then hired to replace DeSantis for the 2013–14 season but resigned for personal reasons after 32 games. He was replaced by Emery Olauson, who was then kept on until the end of the 2014–15 season. On May 26, 2015,

Jeff Bes Jeff Bes (born July 31, 1973) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played several seasons with the Laredo Bucks. Bes has played for many minor league teams such as the Dayton Bombers, Chicago Wolves, Mississippi Sea Wolves, Orl ...

was hired as the head coach prior to the 2015–16 season.

Fayetteville Marksmen

On February 13, 2017, Jeffrey M. Longo was hired as the general manager. Later in the 2016–17 season, Longo and local entrepreneur Chuck Norris purchased the FireAntz from the seven-person ownership group, Cape Fear Pro Hockey. At the end of the season, the new owners changed the name of the FireAntz to the Fayetteville Marksmen. The change reflects the city of Fayetteville's relationship with the local

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

post,

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...

, as well as the native Carolina

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

. In June 2017, head coach Jeff Bes decided to not re-sign with the team to be closer to his family. He was replaced by Nick Mazzolini but only lasted until November 23 when he was replaced by Phil Esposito, the recent head coach of 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 ...

. Esposito would also last less than a season and was relieved of duties on February 21, 2018, after a 5–19–4 record and in last place in the SPHL. John Bierchen took over as head coach on an interim basis for the remainder of the season. The Marksmen then hired Jesse Kallechy as the permanent head coach for the 2018–19 season where the Marksmen finished the season with the final playoff spot. In the 2019–20 season, Kallechy had led the team to competing for the President's Trophy for the regular season championship until the season was curtailed by the onset of the

in March 2020. Kallechy win the 2020 SPHL Coach of the Year and was then hired by the

Florida Everblades The Florida Everblades are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Estero, Florida, in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area. They play in the ECHL and are affiliated with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (N ...

in the

as an assistant coach. Kellechy was replaced by Marksmen assistant coach Cory Melkert during the 2020 offseason. The Marksmen were then one of five SPHL teams to opt out of participating in the 2020–21 pandemic-delayed season due to capacity restrictions at their home arena.

Championships

Honors

References

External links

Fayetteville MarksmenSouthern Professional Hockey League
{{North Carolina Sports Southern Professional Hockey League teams Ice hockey teams in North Carolina Sports in Fayetteville, North Carolina Ice hockey clubs established in 2002 2002 establishments in North Carolina