Berkshire Battalion

The Berkshire Battalion was a minor league professional ice hockey team in the Federal Hockey League that began play in the 2014-15 season. Based in North Adams, Massachusetts, the Battalion played at the Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Skating Rink.

The team began the season owned by the league, but had since been purchased by New Jersey businessman William Dadds; who had his son Andrew Dadds already playing on the team.

Its leading scorer for its first season was Michael Dolman, with 28 goals and 52 assists for 80 points. Among its prominent players is Vlad Gavrik, who has played for the Ukraine men's national ice hockey team.

Dan Farrell was the Battalion's inaugural coach, but was fired mid-season after 19 games and replaced by general manager Darin Lane, who had been the rink's manager, and who eventually won the league's coach of the year award. Lane was subsequently fired from the rink for embezzling $2,200, but has stated that he intends to remain as the team's coach and general manager. Lane announced his resignation as coach and general manager on June 18, 2015 citing not wanting to stand in the way of a healthy relationship between Battalion owner Willam Dadds and the City. The criminal larceny charge against him was subsequently continued without a finding and dismissed upon payment of resitution. The mayor of North Adams stated that he would have been fine with Lane as general manager and coach.

A report in the Berkshire Tribune on June 26, 2015 indicates that the owner was working on merging his franchise with the Danbury team (which is homeless as of the article being written) and playing games in both Danbury, CT and Brewster, NY (which is the home of a new franchise that replaced the Danbury franchise). The move may have been brought about by a reduction in the number of Friday night games (from 10 to 3) as the ownership of the rink was claiming financial losses caused by the lack of public skating on Friday nights. A new article the next day indicated that the Danbury team mentioned was to be a new franchise that would be co-owned by Dadds with another person with deep roots in Danbury.