| Watertown Wolves | |
 | |
| City: | Watertown, New York |
|---|---|
| League: | Federal Hockey League |
| Founded: | 2010 |
| Home Arena: | Watertown Municipal Arena |
| Colors: | Black, blue, white
|
| Owner(s): | IDHL, LLC |
| Head Coach: | Trevor Karasiewicz (2017-18) |
| Media: | Watertown Daily Times, WNYF-TV |
| Franchise history | |
| 2010-2013: | 1000 Island Privateers |
| 2013-2014: | Watertown Privateers |
| 2014-2015, 2016-present (on hiatus 2015-16): | Watertown Wolves |
The Watertown Wolves are a minor professional hockey team in the Federal Hockey League based in Watertown, New York. A team named the Watertown Privateers played in the FHL representing Watertown before the Wolves. After previously playing home games as the 1000 Islands Privateers at the Bonnie Castle Recreation Center in Alexandria Bay, the Privateers moved to Watertown for the 2012-2013 season, playing home games at the Watertown Municipal Arena at the Alex Duffy Fairgrounds.[1] Starting in the 2014-2015 season, the Watertown team took on the name of the Watertown Wolves after a new ownership group was established.
Nicole Kirnan[]
On March 1, 2013, Privateers owner and president Nicole Kirnan served as the team’s coach for the first time, making her the first woman to coach a professional hockey team in the United States.[2][3]
New Arena, New Team[]
For 2013-14, the Privateers revamped their identity with new jerseys, modeled after the Chicago Blackhawks 1991-92 heritage jersey, with a fresh new logo. Brad Zangs was brought in as new head coach. The team is continued to be broadcast by Chris Ericksen at home games at Watertown Municipal Arena and the team uses the Minnesota Wild goal horn and song.
Watertown's FHL team will return for the 2014-15 with new ownership, after the previous owners decided not to continue.[4] The team rechristened itself as the Watertown Wolves during this season.
In their first season the Wolves have won both the regular season and the playoffs championship. First-year head coach, Brent Clarke, would be named FHL Coach of the Year but would resign after the season.[5]
2015-16[]
On June 23, 2015 Stan Tibbles, a co-owner of the franchise announced that "We're not going away." at a press conference but that "We're going to be a little bit dormant, but we're definitely here and we're going to pick up as soon as the arena's done and make it bigger and better than it ever has been. We want everyone to know we're coming back." He further stated they were unable to find some where else to play within a 70-mile radius (including locations in Southern Ontario).[6]
The team was sold in June of 2017 to the IDHL, LLC.
References[]
- ↑ City Council approves Privateers’ move to fairgrounds
- ↑ http://watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130302/SPORTS01/703029857
- ↑ http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/puck-daddy/nicole-kirnan-first-woman-coach-men-pro-hockey-130716495--nhl.html
- ↑ Privateers Out, New Pro Hockey Team In. WWNY-TV. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
- ↑ Wolves Bench Boss Clarke Resigns. FHL (April 29, 2015).
- ↑ http://www.wwnytv.com/sports/Wolves-Not-Going-Away-Owner-Says-309260471.html
Season-by-season record[]
Federal Hockey League
| Season | GP | W | L | OW | OL | PTS | % | GF | GA | Finish | Playoffs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | 54 | 32 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 111 | .685 | 247 | 185 | 1st | Won Championship | |
| 2015-16 | On hiatus due to arena renovations at Watertown Municipal Arena | |||||||||||
| 2016-17 | 56 | 27 | 23 | 2 | 4 | 89 | .530 | 192 | 176 | 4th | Lost in Semifinals | |
| 2017-18 | 52 | 29 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 104 | .667 | 229 | 163 | 2nd | Won Championship | |
| 2018-19 | 58 | 24 | 26 | 7 | 1 | 87 | .500 | 239 | 256 | 3rd | Lost Semifinals | |
| 2019-20 | 48 | 22 | 21 | 3 | 2 | 74 | .514 | 192 | 182 | 3rd Eastern | Cancelled | |
| 2020-21 | Team unable to play due to local COVID-19 restirctions | |||||||||||
| 2021-22 | 59 | 39 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 129 | .729 | 290 | 181 | 1st | Won Championship | |
| 2022-23 | 56 | 20 | 32 | - | 4 | 57 | - | 160 | 217 | 3rd Empire | Lost Quarterfinals | |
| 2023-24 | 56 | 17 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 61 | - | 193 | 250 | 4th Empire | Lost Division Semifinals | |
External links[]
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Watertown Wolves. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA). |