The Danbury Hat Tricks are a professional

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 h ...

team based in Danbury, Connecticut. The team is a member of the

Federal Prospects Hockey League The Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league with teams in the Midwestern, Southern, and Northeastern United States. The FPHL began operations in November 2010 as the Federal Hockey League. D ...

and plays at the

Danbury Ice Arena The Danbury Ice Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Danbury, Connecticut, that can seat about 3,000. It was built in 1999 with renovation and expansion in 2004. The Danbury Arena was the home of the Danbury Trashers of the United Hockey League f ...

History

The Danbury Hat Tricks were announced as a member of the Federal Prospects Hockey League on May 7, 2019. Former FHL player Billy McCreary was announced a general manager and head coach. The team is owned by DP 110 LLC, the same group that had recently purchased the Danbury Ice Arena. The first signings by the team were

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

Jordan Brant and

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

Kruz Listmayer. Listmayer is the nephew of Hat Tricks co-owner and former NHLer

Colton Orr Colton "Bobby" Douglas Orr (born March 3, 1982) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Having played nearly 500 games in the NHL, Orr was known as an enforcer for his physical style of play and for regularly fighting. In 2019, he ...

. The Hat Tricks are the third FHL/FPHL team to have played in Danbury, the previous being the Whalers and

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Gai ...

. The five stars in the Hat Tricks logo refer to the five previous professional teams to have played in the city; the others being the Trashers,

Stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

and Mad Hatters. Besides the obvious reference to the players that score three goals in a single game, the team's name pays tribute to

Danbury Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

being known as 'Hat City' due to its history at the center of the American hat industry. During the team's inaugural season, Danbury was in first place in the Eastern Division when the league cancelled the rest of the season due to 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 identi ...

. Billy McCreary stepped down as head coach after winning Coach of the Year to take the head coaching job with the North American Hockey League's (NAHL) Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks, but kept the general manager position with the FPHL team. Former Maine Mariners assistant coach Anthony Bohn was named head coach. The team opted out of the 2020–21 season entirely due to capacity restrictions in the arena during the pandemic. Before returning in the 2021–22 season, Bohn left to become the head coach of the NAHL's

El Paso Rhinos The El Paso Rhinos are a junior ice hockey organization based in El Paso, Texas. Their home games are played at the County Events Center located within the El Paso County Coliseum complex. The Rhinos are members of the South Division of the Tie ...

and the Hat Tricks hired former

Danbury Trashers The Danbury Trashers were a United Hockey League (UHL) professional ice hockey team located in Danbury, Connecticut, first established in 2004 as an expansion team. The team was named for its owner's business in waste management; James Galante ...

captain Dave MacIsaac as head coach. In the 2021-22 season, the Hat Tricks were among the league's best, but were swept in the second round to Columbus. Following the season, McCreary was named Head Coach a second time, while also adding on President of Hockey Operations, replacing MacIsaac who went on to future endeavors.

Season-by-season results

Source:

Awards

Forward of the Year

* 2019–20: Carter Shinkaruk * 2021–22: Jonny Ruiz

Defenseman of the Year

* 2019–20: Aaron Atwell * 2021–22: Steve Brown

Goaltender of the Year

* 2019–20: Tom McGuckin

Coach of the Year

* 2019–20: Billy McCreary

Founders' Award

* 2019–20: John Krupinsky * 2021–22: Billy McCreary

Broadcasters of the Year

* 2019–20: Casey Bryant, Jack O'Marra, Zak McGinniss

Goaltender of the Month

* February 2019–20: Tom McGuckin

Franchise Leaders

All-time and season leaders:

All-time regular season

* Games played: Jonny Ruiz, 102 * Goals scored: Jonny Ruiz, 74 * Assists: Jonny Ruiz, 60 * Points: Jonny Ruiz, 134 * Penalty minutes: Dustin Jesseau, 154

All-time postseason

* Games played: 13 different players, 5 * Goals scored: Steve Mele, 6 * Assists: Dmitry Kuznetsov, 4 * Points: Steve Mele & Jonny Ruiz, 7 * Penalty minutes: Dustin Jesseau, 34

All-time (including regular season & postseason)

* Games played: Jonny Ruiz, 107 * Goals scored: Jonny Ruiz, 79 * Assists: Jonny Ruiz, 63 * Points: Jonny Ruiz, 141 * Penalty minutes: Dustin Jesseau, 188

Season records

* Goals scored: Jonny Ruiz, 49 (2021-22) * Assists: Carter Shinkaruk, 38 (2019-20) * Points: Jonny Ruiz, 85 (2021-22) * Penalty minutes: Dustin Jesseau, 154 (2021-22)

Postseason records

* Goals scored: Steve Mele, 6 (2022) * Assists: Dmitry Kuznetsov, 4 (2022) * Points: Steve Mele & Jonny Ruiz, 7 (2022) * Penalty minutes: Dustin Jesseau, 34 (2022)

References

External links

Danbury Hat Tricks
{{NYC Metro sports Federal Prospects Hockey League teams Ice hockey clubs established in 2019 Ice hockey teams in Connecticut 2019 establishments in Connecticut Danbury, Connecticut Sports in Fairfield County, Connecticut