The fans in Binghamton have learnt to expect the unexpected when it comes to hockey teams and franchises.

The city of Binghamton, New York, has played host to many hockey teams who’ve either ceased to exist or moved on.

The latest to depart is the Binghamton Devils, with the New Jersey Devils moving the team almost a hundred miles north to Utica.

The Broome Dusters were the first professional team in Binghamton and competed in the North American Hockey League.
The Dusters competed from 1973-77 until the NAHL folded.

Broome was the inspiration for the film ‘Slapshot’ after a tumultuous game against Syracuse Blazers on January 15, 1975.

In front of a capacity crowd the teams combined for 192 penalty minutes and in the first period alone there were ten fighting majors, six 10 minute majors and four game misconducts.

Before the game even started there was a scrap during the warm-ups after some trash talk.
This was facilitated by a cheap shot the last time the teams played resulting in Broome wanting revenge for a cheap shot hit on their already injured goaltender.

What didn’t help was that legendary goon Bill Goldthorpe, who last played for the Blazers, joined the altercation, jumping onto the ice in civilian clothes to attack the Dusters.

If the name seems familiar, he was the inspiration for the infamous “Slap Shot” character, Ogie Ogilthorpe, and yes Goldthorpe did have a blond afro!

The Binghamton Dusters would play in the same building as Broome, take the same logo and colour scheme. They competed in the American Hockey League from 1977-80 but failed to record a winning record in three seasons.

Next to call the Broome Country Veterans Memorial Arena home were the Binghamton Whalers.
The Whalers’ logo was simply the Hartford Whalers logo turned on its side.

During their decade in existence, the Binghamton Whalers were affiliated with Hartford and for four years with the Washington Capitals as a secondary affiliate.
The team was fairly successful for the most part, reaching the Calder Cup finals in their second season and on two other occasions reached the second round (semi-final).

The last two campaigns were terrible with the final season proving an absolute disaster.

After losing 46 of 80 games during the 1988-89 season, the following year Binghamton mustered just eleven wins and 31 points through eighty games. That’s a points percentage of .194 which at the team was a league-worst.

The franchise was sold that summer to the New York Rangers, whilst Hartford took their affiliate to Springfield. The following season in Springfield, with seven players remaining from the disastrous campaign before, the Indians won their seventh and final Calder Cup Championship.

Binghamton adopted the same goal song as their NHL affiliate, Brass Bonanza!

The New York Rangers didn’t put much time or thought into naming their affiliate the Binghamton Rangers.

The logo was identical as were the colours, with Binghamton barely having an identity of their own.

That being said, the Rangers of Binghamton proved successful on the ice from 1990-97, albeit without a championship to their name.

They made the playoffs in six of seven seasons and owned a winning record on five occasions.
Binghamton won a single regular-season title and four divisional titles from 1991-96.

The final year saw Binghamton win just 27 of eighty games and the New York Rangers opted to shift the franchise to Hartford, Connecticut.

The gap in Binghamton was immediately filled by the B.C Icemen.

The ‘Broome County’ Iceman played in the United Hockey League from 1997-2002.
Their logo was created by cartoonist Johnny Hart, creator of the comic strip B.C.; the logo featured a stylized caveman, similar to those depicted in his comic strip, playing ice hockey.

The Icemen won two divisional championships but failed to make it past the second round of the playoffs in five seasons.

In 2001 the franchise was sold to David Wright who initiated a move to bring an AHL team back to Binghamton.

Wright went bankrupt but a new ownership group followed through on his plan and the Binghamton Senators were created.

The Senators would have the longest tenure of any team in Binghamton, a fixture from 2002-2017.
Ottawa’s AHL affiliate was largely a disappointment bar for two seasons.

A conference final appearance during their inaugural campaign and a Calder Cup championship in 2011.
They failed to qualify for the post-season in nine of fifteen seasons and were a bottom-five team in the league during the last two years of existence.

Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk purchased the team and moved it to Belleville beginning the 2017-18 season.
The dominoes fell in such a way that Binghamton retained an AHL team with New Jersey moving their team from Albany to Binghamton, retaining the Devils name.

The latest incarnation of an AHL club in Binghamton was largely a disaster as the Binghamton Devils struggled.

Two losing seasons were followed by the campaign in which the Devils soared after an awful beginning and looked like attaining a playoff berth before the pandemic curtailed the season.

The 2020-21 shortened campaign was certainly strange for many clubs but for Binghamton it was shambolic. Seven wins in 35 games for New Jersey’s affiliate was terrible but cast under the shadow of the news that the NHL organisation had already looked into moving the franchise else.

The rumours were true and with Vancouver moving their affiliate from Utica to Abbotsford B.C, New Jersey chose to move the Devils to Utica, whilst keeping the Comets name.

The fans in Binghamton were yet again left without a hockey team to root for and this time the landscape looked rather bleak, at least as far as the AHL was concerned.

Andreas Johansson (majority owner of Watertown Wolves) moved fast, creating a new team for the Federal Prospects Hockey League and slotting them into Binghamton to become the Black Bears.

It may not be the quality of the American League but once again Binghamton will continue to host a hockey team in their city.

Two junior teams also called Binghamton home.

Binghamton Jr. Senators
The Binghamton Jr. Senators were a U.S. Junior A hockey team based in Binghamton, NY playing in the Atlantic Junior Hockey League from 2006 to 2010.

Binghamton Barons
The Binghamton Barons were a U.S. Junior A hockey team based in Binghamton, NY playing in the New York-Penn Major Hockey League from 1976 to 1979.

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