by Kevin Earley, Alfred University intern
Hockey in Elmira has a storied history
to it that most people wouldn’t really think about. From going to the domes in
Pine Valley to watch the Elmira College teams play to weekend nights down at
First Arena cheering on the professionals, there have been some memorable times
for the sport in our neck of the woods.
Elmira College introduced the sport to
its athletic program starting in the 1973-1974 season, and it was a very
successful program in those early days. In six of their first 16 seasons, they
made NCAA Tournament appearances and reached the finals twice, which is no small
feat for any college program. In the entire history of the men’s ice hockey
program, however, they have never been crowned National Champions despite
having multiple years of success. In the 2001-2002 season, the women’s ice
hockey program came into existence, and they started their history by winning
back-to-back NCAA Division III National Championships in the first two years of
the program. They have only missed the NCAA Tournament in 3 out of their 21
years, and they have been one of the most dominant powerhouses in Division III throughout
their entire history.
Professional hockey officially came to
Elmira in 2000, when the United Hockey League (UHL) awarded a franchise to the
city that would be known as the Elmira Jackals. The brand new First Arena, then
known as Coach USA Center, had just been completed with the Jackals beginning
play in the 2000-2001 season. After an early exit in that year’s playoffs, the
Jackals earned a spot in the Colonial Cup Finals in two of the next four seasons,
losing both times. Eddy Lowe was a leading player on most of those playoff
teams, and eventually got his number 26 retired by the Jackals in 2007, an
honor that has not been given to any other professional player for any Elmira
team. For their final few years in the UHL, the Jackals missed the playoffs,
and never reached a championship series again.
The UHL began to struggle in the
mid-2000s, and in April of 2007 the Jackals joined the ECHL, which is the
league two levels down from the National Hockey League and is the NHL’s
Double-A affiliate league. The Jackals enjoyed some early success in the ECHL,
making the playoffs for their first six years in the league while serving as
the primary AA affiliate of teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets, Anaheim
Ducks, and Ottawa Senators of the NHL. There was a lot of instability, however,
due to ownership changes and financial struggles for the team come 2013. In
2014, things seemed to be looking up when the Jackals became the ECHL affiliate
of the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL, but those good vibes did not last long as
most of Elmira’s talent didn’t really stick around long enough to create a
solid team that could compete for a championship, let alone a playoff spot at
all. Come 2017, they were owned by the Chemung County Industrial Development
Agency (IDA), and as a result of low attendance and arena issues the Jackals
folded after playing their final game on April 8th, 2017.
First Arena was pretty much closed
throughout the 2017-2018 hockey season, with the exception of the youth hockey
programs playing on the recreational rink. In the summer of 2018, it was
announced that a new team would come in and play in a league called the Federal
Prospects Hockey League, which is a level below the ECHL. The team, owned by
Elmira Pioneers baseball team owner Robbie Nichols, became known as the Elmira
Enforcers out of tribute to law enforcement. The 2018-2019 season was very good
for the new team, but they failed to capture the league championship as they
lost in the finals that year. 2019-2020 seemed to be going decently for the
Enforcers until the COVID-19 Pandemic hit the United States, causing all sports
leagues to shut down and ending the Enforcers’ quest for redemption. The
following season was shortened because of the pandemic, and the Enforcers once
again did not get the job done as they did not win the title. After the
2020-2021 season, it was announced that the Enforcers would not play in the
upcoming season due to Nichols and the Chemung County IDA failing to come to an
agreement on a new lease for the arena. The Elmira Enforcers effectively ceased
to exist.
Once again, the future of hockey in
Elmira was in a cloud of uncertainty. With an arena that had not been properly
maintained and with a lack of consistent management, it looked as if
professional hockey was done here. However, the arena was leased out and taken
over by Steve Donner. It re-opened in December of 2021 under his management for
public skating and recreational hockey and it was announced in April of this
year that a new FPHL team, the Elmira Mammoth, will be beginning play this
coming fall.
Elmira’s hockey history has had many
great moments as well as moments that were not so great, and it’s very
interesting to look at how much hockey has impacted Chemung County as a whole.
It has given the community a lot of exciting memories from the thrilling fights
and goals to simply being able to take the family out to the hockey game on a Friday
or Saturday night. It’ll be very interesting to see what the future holds for
the sport in Elmira.
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