Brampton Beast

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Brampton Beast
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City Brampton, Ontario
League ECHL
Conference Eastern
Division North
Founded 2013 (in the CHL)
Home arena Powerade Centre
Colours Black, Silver, Red, White
                   
Owner(s) Gregg Rosen
General manager Cary Kaplan
Head coach Colin Chaulk
Captain Brandon Marino
Affiliates Montreal Canadiens (NHL)
St. John's IceCaps (AHL)
Franchise history
2013–present Brampton Beast

The Brampton Beast is a professional ice hockey team based in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. An affiliate of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens and the American Hockey League's St. John's IceCaps, the team originally played in the Central Hockey League for one year during the 2013–14 season prior to the league's folding. The Beast play their home games at the Powerade Centre on Kennedy Road. The team is the only active Canadian team in the ECHL since the 2014–15 season.

History

From 1998–2013, the Powerade Centre was home to the Ontario Hockey League's Brampton Battalion, a major junior hockey team. The Battalion relocated to North Bay, Ontario in the 2013 off-season after several years of low attendance and struggling financially. On January 23, 2013, the Central Hockey League announced that it had signed a Letter of Intent with the ownership group led by Gregg Rosen, former Kingston Voyageurs owner, and president of KIMCO Steel in Kingston. Minority owner, Cary Kaplan, would serve as the President & General Manager.[1][2] The lease was officially signed and the agreement executed on March 8, 2013.[3][4]

On April 22, the Beast announced that Brampton native and former Fayetteville FireAntz coach, the 2012 SPHL coach of the year, Mark DeSantis would serve as the team's first head coach.[5] DeSantis shortly named former Brampton Battalion player and his former teammate, Brent Hughes as Beast assistant coach.

In June 2013, the Beast announced its first player signed was Brett Smith, the former assistant captain of the Fort Wayne Komets and member of the CHL Championship team in 2011. Cal Wild and Jason Pitton were announced on July 9, 2013. Defenceman Michael Couch and right winger Tylor Michel were signed on August 16, 2013. On August 30, 2013 the Beast added two forwards, former New York Islander Rob Collins and defending SPHL League MVP Josh McQuade.[6] On September 28, 2013, the Beast Mascot "Boomer" was born.

The 2013–14 schedule was released on July 26, 2013 and featured the Beast playing the first CHL game on Canadian soil against the Arizona Sundogs on October 18, 2013. The Beast would finish the season with 15 of their final 19 games at home, more than any other team. On August 22, 2013, Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman announced that the Lightning of the National Hockey League and the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League would affiliate with the Brampton Beast for the 2013–14 season.[7] The Beast retired #7 in honour of the Brampton Beast fans being "the 7th man" during their first home game vs. the Arizona Sundogs.

For the team's second season in 2014, head coach Mark DeSantis was replaced by his assistant Brent Hughes as the team's new head coach and Cal Wild was named the team's second Captain. Key signings included former Toronto Maple Leaf, Phil Oreskovic, former ECHL MVP and OHL scoring leader Tyler Donati, 2013 Beast scoring leader Jason Pitton, perennial point a game player Chad Painchaud, former Battalion players Stephon Thorne and Jason Dale, former Kalamazoo Wings Captain Elgin Reid, Florida Everblades goaltender Trevor Cann. Mike MacIsaac, Grant Rollheiser, Brayden Rose and Andrew Darrigo returned for their second season with the Beast.

On October 7, 2014, not long before the 2014–15 season was set to begin, it was announced that the Central Hockey League had ceased operations. The Beast, along with the Allen Americans, Quad City Mallards, Missouri Mavericks, Rapid City Rush, Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder, were all approved for expansion membership into the ECHL for the 2014–15 season.[8][9]

The Beast finished their inaugural ECHL season on April 12, 2015 against the Wheeling Nailers. Captain Cal Wild was awarded the ECHL Community Player of the Year,[10] one year after winning the Central Hockey League's Man of the Year award. Jason Pitton second successful season with the Beast made him the all-time franchise scorer, in addition to a number of other statistical categories (all-time goals, assists, points, shots on goal). Chad Painchaud was recognized as February's ECHL Player of the Month after scoring 17 goals - including three hat-tricks and a four-goal game - in addition to three assists for 20 points during the month.[11] However, the team finished 25th out of 28 teams and would fire head coach Brent Hughes after the end of the season.[12]

On May 5, 2015, the Beast announced Colin Chaulk, former Kalamazoo Wings assistant coach and former long time captain of the Fort Wayne Komets, had been hired as the new head coach for the 2015–16 season.[13]

On May 28, 2015, the Beast announced their affiliation with the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens and the American Hockey League's St. John's IceCaps.[14]

For the 2015–16, the Beast had a number of major signings. Significant among them former NHler and prolific Battalion defenseman Mike Vernace, ECHL Scoring Champion (2014) and CHL MVP (2012) Brandon Marino, top ECHL goal scorer and championship winner Chris Auger, AHL veteran and ECHL captain Jordan Henry. Back in the fold are captain Cal Wild (until he retired), the league's top rookie scoring defenseman Matthew Maione, and the return of the Beast first season's points per game leader, Scott Howes. Montreal Canadiens have provided the Beast several players in 2015 through the season, notably veteran standout AHL goalie Eddie Pasquale, and Travis Brown, as well as draft picks Tim Bozon, Dalton Thrower, Josiah Didier, and Stefan Fournier.

After being the only player to appear in all three Beast seasons, as well as being named captain in each season and two-time Brampton Beast's Man of the Year, Cal Wild announced his retirement on November 22, 2015. He retired second in both career and points and games played, behind only Jason Pitton in both categories.

In January 2016, the team asked the Brampton City Council for a financial partnership to operate out of the Powerade Center for the 2016–17 season noting that the City's lack of ownership stake in the building is a significant impediment to running a viable hockey franchise. GM Cary Kaplan stated that if the team and city are unable to come to agreement to help offset the team's financial losses, the team would not play the next season.[15] On March 9, 2016, the city council agreed in an 8-2 vote to a 3 year sponsorship agreement of $1.5 Million to help mitigate the predicted financial losses. This money will be refunded to the City if the team earns a profit.[16]

Team name

On January 30, the team officially announced a name-the-team contest,[17] with the final ten names being announced on March 19, 2013.[18] The final two of ten finalists were Brampton Beast and Brampton Bandits, eliminated April 10, 2013. Other options were Arrows (eliminated March 27), Bengals (eliminated March 22), Blizzard (eliminated April 3), North Stars (eliminated April 4), Renegades (eliminated March 28), Smash (eliminated March 21), Vipers (eliminated April 5), and Wolverines (eliminated March 29).

The Brampton Beast name was announced as the winner on April 10. The name was submitted by four fans[19] including Joseph Stephen and his son Alexander. The team logo and colours were released at City Hall in front of 350 fans on Saturday April 27. Team colours are Silver, Black, Red & White.[20]

Season-by-season record

Season GP W L OTL SOL PTS GF GA PIM Standings Playoffs
Central Hockey League
2013–14 66 33 26 3 4 73 209 226 1000 6th of 10, CHL Lost in Quarterfinals, 1–4, vs. Allen Americans[21]
ECHL
2014–15 72 23 46 3 0 49 181 298 1144 7th of 7, Central Did not qualify
2015–16 72 23 38 7 4 57 179 255 932 4th of 4, North Did not qualify

Current roster

Updated March 17, 2016.[22][23]
# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
4 Canada Tim Billingsly D R 34 2015 Ottawa, Ontario Beast
27 Canada Luc-Olivier Blain LW/C L 34 2015 Longueuil, Quebec Beast
19 Canada Jeff Brown Injured Reserve RW R 34 2015 Toronto, Ontario Beast
34 Canada Trevor Cann Injured Reserve G L 35 2014 Oakville, Ontario Beast
16 Canada Tim DiPretoro F R 31 2016 Montreal, Quebec Beast
10 Canada Mike Hammond C R 34 2016 Victoria, British Columbia Beast
26 Canada Jordan Henry D L 38 2014 Milo, Alberta Beast
8 Canada Scott Jacklin LW L 34 2015 Kimberley, British Columbia Beast
12 Canada David Ling RW R 49 2016 Halifax, Nova Scotia Beast
9 United States Steven Kaunisto D L 37 2015 Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Beast
25 Canada Zach McCullough D L 36 2015 Barrie, Ontario Beast
23 Canada Nick McParland LW L 36 2015 Schreiber, Ontario Beast
14 United States Steve Mele RW R 34 2016 Bronx, New York Beast
2 Canada Colin Murray RW R 34 2016 Oshawa, Ontario Beast
11 Canada Luke Pither Injured Reserve C L 35 2015 Oshawa, Ontario Beast
29 Canada Bryan Pitton Injured Reserve G L 36 2015 Brampton, Ontario Beast
36 Canada Kyle Rankin C L 31 2016 Kanata, Ontario Beast
34 United States Kenny Reiter G L 37 2016 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Beast
29 Canada Jordan Ruby G L 33 2016 Tavistock, Ontario Beast
17 Canada Jesse Stoughton C L 33 2016 Bobcaygeon, Ontario Beast
77 Canada Stephon Thorne Injured Reserve LW L 34 2014 Mississauga, Ontario Beast
23 Canada Dalton Thrower D R 30 2014 Squamish, British Columbia Montreal Canadiens
13 Canada Daniel Vernace RW R 32 2016 North York, Ontario Beast
18 Canada Michael Vernace (A) D L 38 2015 Toronto, Ontario Beast
24 Canada Christian Weidauer D R 30 2016 Keswick, Ontario Beast
24 Canada Jamie Wise Injured Reserve LW L 33 2015 Stouffville, Ontario Beast
3 United States Joe Zarbo LW L 32 2016 Grand Island, New York Beast

Team franchise records

  • Games Played (regular season): Jason Pitton 136
  • Goals: Jason Pitton 49
  • Assists: Jason Pitton 51
  • Points: Jason Pitton 100
  • Plus/Minus: Scott Howes +12
  • PIM: Mike MacIsaac 182
  • Shots on Goal: Jason Pitton 382
  • Wins: Grant Rollheiser 23

Single season records

  • Games Played: Jason Pitton 70 (14/15)
  • Goals Andrew Fournier 29 (13/14)
  • Assists Jamie Vanderveeken 38 (13/14)
  • Points Jason Pitton 55 (13/14)
  • Plus/Minus Scott Howes +12 (13/14)
  • PIM: Tyler Michel 134 (13/14)
  • Points Per Game Scott Howes 1.25 (45 points in 36 games 13/14)
  • Most Points (D) Matthew Maione 43 (14/15)
  • Wins Kris Westblom 18 (13/14)
  • Goals Against Kris Westblom 3.22 (13/14)
  • Save Percentage Grant Rollheiser 0.906 (13/14)

Retired numbers

7 - Fans (In honour of the Fans of Brampton - being the "7th Man").

References

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External links

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