Fayetteville FireAntz

Fayetteville FireAntz
City Fayetteville, North Carolina
League Southern Professional Hockey League
Founded 2002
Home arena Cumberland County Crown Coliseum
Colors Red, black, white
              
General manager Kevin MacNaught
Head coach Jeff Bes
Media Fayetteville Observer
Franchise history
2002–2003 Cape Fear FireAntz (ACHL)
2003–2004 Cape Fear FireAntz (SEHL)
2004–present Fayetteville FireAntz (SPHL)
Championships
Regular season titles 1 (2012)
Playoff championships 1 (2006)

The Fayetteville FireAntz are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. They currently play in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL).[1] They play their home games in the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum.

The team, originally known as the Cape Fear Fireantz, began play in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League in the 2002–2003 season. After the league's collapse they joined the South East Hockey League for the 2003–2004 season, and joined what would become the SPHL in 2005. Since their inception they won the 2007 SPHL championship and have made a number of playoff appearances.

History

ACHL and SEHL years

The team, then known as the Cape Fear Fireantz, joined the fledgling Atlantic Coast Hockey League for the 2002–2003 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 Fireantz and other remaining ACHL teams formed the South East Hockey League. They played the SEHL for the 2003-2004 season, with Scott Rex serving as coach.

SPHL

In 2004 teams from the SEHL and WHA2 joined together to form the league now known as the Southern Professional Hockey League. The Fireantz joined the new league, changing their name to "Fayetteville FireAntz", abandoning the reference to the nearby Cape Fear River. Derek Booth took over as head coach in 2004. After two seasons behind the bench, coach Derek Booth left in 2006 to coach the Bloomington Prairie Thunder of the United Hockey League.

In the 2006–2007 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 final series were won by Fayetteville on the FireAntz' home ice, before the series returned to Jacksonville, Florida, where the Jacksonville Barracudas won Game 3 of the series by a 3-2 score. On April 18, 2007 the FireAntz won the fourth game of the series by a score of 5-3 to win the SPHL President's Cup. It was the first championship for the FireAntz, and Fayetteville's first professional sports championship in 51 years. John Marks resigned after the team's championship run to take the head coach position with the Pensacola Ice Pilots of the ECHL. Shortly after Marks' resignation the FireAntz announced that former Florida Seals coach, Tommy Stewart, had been hired to coach the team for the 2007-2008 season.

Tommy Stewart was let go after the 2010-2011 season and was soon replaced by Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees' assistant coach, Sean Gillam.[2] Gillam would only last partway through the season; on Feb 17, 2012, the FireAntz replaced him with Todd Bidner.[3]

Championships

Year League Trophy
2006–2007 SPHL President's Cup
2012–2013 SPHL Coffey Trophy

Honors

2004–2005 SPHL Derek Booth Coach of the Year
2004–2005 SPHL Chad Collins Rookie of the Year
2005–2006 SPHL Mike Clarke Defenseman of the Year
2006–2007 SPHL Tim Velemirovich Rookie of the Year
2006–2007 SPHL Rob Sich SPHL MVP
2006–2007 SPHL John Marks Coach of the Year
2006–2007 SPHL Chad Collins SPHL Playoff MVP
2012-2013 SPHL Josh McQuade SPHL MVP
2012-2013 SPHL Andrew Smale Defenseman of the Year
2012-2013 SPHL Mark Desantis Coach of the Year

2013-2014 Roster

# PLAYER POSITION HEIGHT WEIGHT BIRTHDAY HOMETOWN
2 Kavanagh, Mike D 6-2 215 02/09/88 Little Neck, NY
4 Toy, Corey D 6-0 200 08/09/88 Round Hill, VA
5 Kessler, Kevin D 6-3 214 10/28/85 Marshfield, MA
7 Clewlow, John RW 5-9 175 11/16/88 Brampton, ONT
9 Liscomb, Brett LW 5-9 187 01/28/86 Long Sault, ONT
10 Elliott, Derek C 5-10 190 11/20/87 West Des Moines, IA
11 Richardson, Brandon RW 5-11 185 06/07/88 San Clemente, CA
16 Martens, Jeff LW 6-2 215 04/06/84 Maple Ridge, BC
18 McGill, Aaron LW 6-2 215 06/26/89 Salem, OR
19 Reed, Bobby C 6-1 210 11/09/80 Huntsville, ONT
20 Chlanda, Evan RW 6-4 210 05/12/88 Islip, NY
22 McNeil, Kyle RW 6-3 220 07/26/88 Cambridge, ONT
23 Craven, Nick RW 6-3 200 08/18/90 Fort Collins, CO
24 Carriveau, Zach D 6-0 190 08/06/90 Hollis, ME
27 Ridley, Matt D 6-2 210 05/17/90 Kelowna, BC
28 Smyth, Matt RW 5-11 188 06/12/89 Orlando, FL
33 Skoggard, Peter G 5-11 190 04/07/88 Lulea, SWE
41 Fogal, Brad G 5-10 170 02/05/86 Sharon, ONT
44 Greenside, Brandon D 5-11 185 11/28/89 London, ONT
91 Greene, Chris C 6-1 185 09/24/1985 Massena, NY
x Carriere, Evan LW 6-2 201 07/28/88 Ottawa, ONT
x Dunn, Dan G 6-5 215 06/20/88 Oshawa, ONT
x Hopfner, Dustin D 6-2 195 11/20/89 East Pointe, MI
x Janosz, Tom D 6-1 195 06/17/88 Elma, NY
x Rank, Kyle G 5-10 175 08/13/87 Islip, NY
x Rous, Kyle D 6-1 200 12/28/92 Winnipeg, MAN
x Sawyer, Brock D 5-11 200 05/29/87 Toronto, ONT

References

  1. ↑ http://www.hockeydb.com/stte/fayetteville-fireantz-5725.html
  2. ↑ http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/06/13/1101260?sac=Sports
  3. ↑ Pope, Thomas (17 Feb 2012). "Fayetteville FireAntz fire Coach Sean Gillam, bring in Todd Bidner". Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved 28 May 2012.

External links

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