The 2018–19 Federal Hockey League season was the ninth season of the

Federal 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. ...

. The regular season ran for 58 games for four of the six teams, with the Port Huron Prowlers and Danville Dashers each playing 59. The

Carolina Thunderbirds The Carolina Thunderbirds were a professional ice hockey team located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. The Thunderbirds played their home games at the old Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum before the arena was demolished in 1989. ...

won both the regular season and the playoff championships, the latter being their first league title.

League changes

On July 17, 2018, Robbie Nichols announced he had acquired an expansion team in

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. ...

, called the Elmira Enforcers, one year after the

Elmira Jackals The Elmira Jackals were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Elmira, New York. They were members of the United Hockey League from 2000 to 2007 and the ECHL from 2007 to 2017. The Jackals played their home games at First Arena. ...

had ceased operations. In the same press conference, FHL commissioner Kirnan confirmed that the North Shore Knights—which had ceased to operate back in February and released all its players and staff in March—was formally folded. The following week, the league announced another expansion team in

Mentor, Ohio Mentor ( ) is the largest city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 47,450 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area. Mentor was first settled in 1797. In 1876, James A. Garfield purchased a home in ...

, called the Mentor Ice Breakers to bring the league back to six teams. The league also slightly altered its primary logo, changing the branding from Federal Professional Hockey League to Federal Prospects Hockey League, while still using the FHL abbreviation.

Regular season

On March 10, 2019, Enforcers' owner Nichols assaulted a referee after the first period of a game against the

. The game was immediately cancelled by the officials, and subsequently led the FHL's officiating supervisor resigning from the league and pulling all the referees from the FHL citing the need to protect his personnel. Nichols was issued the league-maximum fine of $25,000. The league then recruited local officials for the remaining games. The Thunderbirds went on to dominate the league standings, shattering single season records for wins and points, while leading the league in scoring despite not having a scorer in the top ten.

Standings

Final standings. : Advanced to playoffs

Playoffs

The Thunderbirds and Enforcers met again in the league championships, with the Thunderbirds opening the series with winning the first two games. In the second game, the Thunderbirds won in overtime with a game-winning goal landing on the back of the Enforcers' goaltender and then fell across the goal line when he got up. The Enforcers heavily contested the call, with team-leading scorer Ahmed Mahfouz verbally confronting the officials and leading to a physical altercation between head coach Brent Clarke and a linesman. Mahfouz then broke his stick over the goalpost and tossed it over the glass into the stands before leaving the ice. Finally, Enforcers' goaltender Passingham was still disputing the goal with the official before leaving for the visitor's locker room, with the walkway passing directly next the fans, and a fan threw a filled cup at Passingham. Passingham then attacked the fan before they were eventually separated. Clarke, Mahfouz, and Passingham were all suspended by the league: Mahfouz for one game, Passingham for two, and Clarke for five games. The Enforcers then won the next game before the Thunderbirds won the championship in game four.

Semifinals

(1) Carolina Thunderbirds vs. (4) Port Huron Prowlers

(2) Elmira Enforcers vs. (3) Watertown Wolves

FHL Finals

(1) Carolina Thunderbirds vs. (2) Elmira Enforcers

References

External links

Federal Hockey League website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 FHL season FHL Federal Prospects Hockey League seasons