Well, the season is over. The 2023-24 FPHL season had plenty of drama, on the ice and off, but it was truly entertaining. I make fun of the league, sometimes the jokes write themselves, but the FPHL is good hockey.
Congratulations to the Binghamton Black Bears, the 2024 FPHL Commissioner’s Cup Champions. The Black Bears pulled off the sweep of the Carolina Thunderbirds. Yes, I was wrong and the Empire Division is still King. Technically this would be 3 straight for the division with Watertown, Danbury and now Binghamton on top. It was an exciting series, but the ending was, you could say, bizarre. With 2:45 left in the 3rd and down 3-2, Carolina pulled goaltender Mario Cavaliere. A little over 10 seconds later, Austin Thompson would put the puck into the empty net sending the sellout crowd into a frenzy……..but wait, with 1:53 left, Carolina would go on the power play. Once again they pulled the goalie and what do you know, Carolina scores a power play goal. It wouldn’t be enough though as Binghamton would hold off the late rush, meaning the Cup clinching goal, was the empty net goal. Don’t let that discount what Binghamton did though, they played an almost flawless series against an always tough Thunderbirds club and earned the right to call themselves Champion.
My season ending edition has a semi rant
Now the question has to be, when will the Continental Division break out of this slump? Columbus was almost unbeatable this season, Carolina behind Cavaliere seemed unbeatable in the playoffs, but neither team were able to translate that success when it counted. Is the Continental Division overrated or Empire Division really that good? I’m leaning towards the latter. Watertown in 2022, Danbury last season, Binghamton this season, all 3 had everything you needed at this level to bring it home in the end. I honestly believe that Columbus and Carolina had the talent and were better teams, but I think they suffered from playing in a weak division. The only real competition they faced during the regular season was playing against each other. Both teams would have benefitted from playing more teams in the Empire Division. Carolina played Danbury and Binghamton early in the season, while Columbus played Elmira and Motor City. That’s just not enough. Unless teams like Mississippi, Baton Rouge and Blue Ridge get tougher, it’ll be another cake walk though the regular season and with Athens, GA and more potential expansion this season, who knows how the divisions will look. But I believe at this level you have to play everybody at least once to see if the top teams in the division really are the contenders and not pretenders.
There is some news here during the early post season. Starting with the loss of Elmira. The arena announced that they will not renew the lease for the Elmira River Sharks, instead they are moving on to the Elmira Aviators who will be joining the North American Hockey League. Also, Binghamton will have a second team as the Binghamton Buzz will be joining the NA3HL as Elmira’s affiliate team. Now this still gives me a connection to both cities. As some of you know, I am the PA Announcer for the NA3HL New Mexico Ice Wolves here in Albuquerque and the fill in PA Announcer for the NAHL Ice Wolves.
The league has almost announced expansion. The newest team will be in Athens, GA and they have narrowed their nickname down to 2 names, the Classic City Panic or the Rock Lobsters. The name will be announced Wednesday. We still have not heard anything from Barry Soskin about Danville on the return of the Dashers or his rumored team in Beaumont, TX. There were also rumblings about Monroe, LA but as of now, nothing has been confirmed and it may just be a rumor. In other news, it appears that the Watertown Wolves have found new owners. But, is it good news? It appears that league commissioner Don Kirnan is minority owner along with Don Lewis and Barry Soskin is majority owner in yet another team. While Soskin owning yet another team in the league isn’t, ideal, their loyal fanbase can find relief in knowing they do at least have stable ownership with Soskin behind the wheel. Let’s be honest though, almost anything is better than the dumpster fire their fans had to put up with the last two seasons.
Thank you to everyone who has read Federal Offenses this season and shared my writing. I truly enjoyed getting back into covering the sport I love. Special thank you to Lou Lafredo for inviting me back to PHN. I don’t know what my future holds, whether it’s continuing with Federal Offenses next season, diving deeper with the New Mexico Ice Wolves or a mixture of both, but I will most definitely be back. Thank you again, enjoy your summer.
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