Maine Mariners (ECHL)

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For the former American Hockey League team that played from 1977 to 1992, see Maine Mariners (AHL).
Maine Mariners
2022–23 ECHL season
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City Portland, Maine
League ECHL
Conference Eastern
Division North
Founded 1989 (in the PSHL)
Home arena Cross Insurance Arena
Colors Blue, green, silver, white
                   
Owner(s) Comcast Spectacor
General manager Daniel Briere
Head coach Ben Guite
Affiliates Boston Bruins (NHL)
Providence Bruins (AHL)
Website marinersofmaine.com
Franchise history
1989–2003 Anchorage Aces
2003–2017 Alaska Aces
2018–present Maine Mariners

The Maine Mariners are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL that began play in the 2018–19 season. Based in Portland, Maine, the team plays their home games at Cross Insurance Arena. The team participate in the North Division of the Eastern Conference. The team replaced the American Hockey League's Portland Pirates after the franchise became the Springfield Thunderbirds in 2016.

History

On May 23, 2016, the Portland Pirates' franchise was sold and relocated to Springfield, Massachusetts,[1][2] and became the Springfield Thunderbirds.[3] A team of investors headed by former Pirates executives W. Godfrey Wood and Brad Church—the latter a former Portland player as well—announced their intentions to put an ECHL team in Portland to fill the void, joining as early as 2017.[4] However, progress to attain a franchise by the Portland group stalled[5] until four groups, none of which involved Wood, submitted their own proposals at the end of February 2017.[6] By March 8, the arena owners had narrowed their choices to the proposals submitted by Spectra and National Sports Services, with both groups having been involved with managing ECHL teams in their past.[7]

In June 2017, Comcast Spectacor, Spectra's parent company and the operators of the Cross Insurance Arena and the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers – the founders and NHL affiliate for years of the original Maine Mariners AHL franchise in Portland – purchased the franchise rights of the recently dormant Alaska Aces of the ECHL. The league approved of the sale and relocation of the franchise to Portland on June 15.[8] Philadelphia Flyers president Paul Holmgren will serve as the team's governor with former player Danny Briere overseeing the day-to-day operations.[9] In August 2017, the team announced their five finalists for a team name: the Mariners, Watchmen, Lumberjacks, Puffins, and Wild Blueberries.[10] The name was announced as the Mariners on September 29.[11] On November 29, the Mariners' logo and color scheme were revealed.[12] On February 17, 2018, the Mariners hired Riley Armstrong as head coach. On April 9, 2018, the Mariners announced they would be affiliated with the NHL's New York Rangers.[13]

The new Mariners played their first game on October 13, 2018, a 6–3 loss to the Adirondack Thunder. Their inaugural game was at home with a reported attendance of 5,291.[14]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mariners voluntarily suspended operations for the 2020–21 ECHL season.[15] On June 30, 2021, the Mariners entered an affiliation agreement with the NHL's Boston Bruins and their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, beginning with the 2021–22 season. The Bruins were the affiliate of the original AHL Mariners from 1987 to 1992 when they relocated the Mariners' franchise to Providence.[16] In August 2021, head coach Armstrong was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers as an assistant coach with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL[17][18] and was replaced by the University of Maine men's hockey assistant coach and former NHL player Ben Guite.[19]

On April 16, 2022, the Mariners clinched their first-ever playoff berth after Worcester Railers lost to the Trois-Rivières Lions in OT in their afternoon game, dropping their winning percentage to .500%, the Mariners needing only one point to clinch and did so in stunning fashion as they beat the Newfoundland Growlers after Can Askew and Matthew Santos scored in the shootout and Stefanos Lekkas stopped both Newfoundland shots. Santos scored the OT winner the night before to set up the control of their own destiny in terms of clinching the final playoff spot in the North Division. [20]

In their first-ever playoff game in team history, the Mariners lost to the Reading Royals with a final score of 3-2, being down 3-0 heading into the final period. The second game of the playoff series against Reading was the same as the first, Reading jumping out to a 3-0 lead before the end of the second period, this time holding on to shut out the Mariners 3-0. With the Mariners finding themselves down 2 games to coming back to the Cross Insurance, the Mariners knew what they were up against. The Mariners came back to win Game 3, 5-4, and Game 4, 4-0, and Matthew Santos got the winning goal in game 3 with 2:26 remaining in the 3rd. The royals would then come back to win the series, winning game 5 in the Cross Insurance by a final score of 3-2 and game 6 at Santander by a final score of 2-1. The 2021-22 season was the best that the Mariners had in franchise history.

Season-by-season records

Regular season Playoffs
Season GP W L OTL SOL Pts GF GA Standing Year 1st round 2nd round 3rd round Kelly Cup
2018–19 72 37 32 2 1 77 221 247 6th, North 2019 Did not qualify
2019–20 62 32 26 3 1 68 182 186 4th, North 2020 Season cancelled
2020–21 Opted out of participating due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Did not participate
2021–22 72 33 31 5 3 74 230 236 4th, North 2022 L, 2–4, REA — — —

Players

Current roster

Updated June 12, 2022.[21][22]
# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
22 United States Cameron Askew RW R 27 2021 Boston, Massachusetts Mariners
21 Canada Conner Bleackley C R 28 2021 High River, Alberta Mariners
28 United States Connor Doherty (C) D L 31 2021 Holden, Massachusetts Mariners
24 Canada Marc-Olivier Duquette D L 26 2021 Chateauguay, Quebec Mariners
20 Canada Tyler Hiram F R 25 2022 Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia Mariners
6 Canada Jason Horvath D L 24 2021 Russell, Ontario Mariners
9 Canada Keltie Jeri-Leon RW R 24 2021 Kelowna, British Columbia Mariners
7 United States Nick Jermain F L 28 2022 Cos Cob, Connecticut Mariners
26 United States Nate Kallen D R 26 2021 San Diego, California Mariners
8 Canada Michael Kim D L 29 2021 Toronto, Ontario Mariners
29 Canada Pascal Laberge (A) C R 26 2021 Chateauguay, Quebec Mariners
– United States Michael Lackey G L 27 2022 Washington, D.C. Mariners
42 United States Zachary Malatesta D L 27 2021 Boston, Massachusetts Mariners
10 United States Nick Master C L 29 2021 Broomall, Pennsylvania Mariners
11 Belgium Metis Roelens F L 23 2021 Roeselare, Belgium Mariners
15 United States Brendan Robbins RW R 28 2021 Nashua, New Hampshire Mariners
16 Canada Mathew Santos RW R 29 2021 Etobicoke, Ontario Mariners
27 United States Patrick Shea C R 27 2021 Marshfield, Massachusetts Mariners
7 Canada Lewis Zerter-Gossage (A) RW R 29 2021 Montreal, Quebec Mariners

References

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External links

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