Danbury Hat Tricks

The Danbury Hat Tricks are a professional ice hockey team based in Danbury, Connecticut. The team is a member of the Federal Prospects Hockey League and plays at the Danbury Ice Arena.

History
The Danbury Hat Tricks were announced as a member of the Federal Prospects Hockey League on May 7, 2019. Former FHL player Billy McCreary was announced as general manager and head coach. The team is owned by DP 110 LLC, the same group that recently purchased the Danbury Ice Arena. The first signings by the team were goaltender Jordan Brant and defenseman Kruz Listmayer. Listmayer is the nephew of Hat Tricks' co-owner and former NHL player Colton Orr.

The Hat Tricks are the third FHL/FPHL team to have played in Danbury, the previous being the Whalers and Titans. The five stars in the Hat Tricks' logo refer to the five previous professional teams to have played in the city; the others being the Trashers, Stars and Mad Hatters. Besides the reference to the players that score three goals in a single game, the team's name pays tribute to Danbury being known as "Hat City" due to its history at the center of the American hat industry.

During the team's inaugural season, Danbury was in first place in the Eastern Division when the league cancelled the rest of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. McCreary stepped down as head coach after winning Coach of the Year to take the head coaching job with the North American Hockey League's (NAHL) Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks, but kept the general manager position with the FPHL team. Former Maine Mariners assistant coach Anthony Bohn was named head coach.

The team opted out of the 2020–21 season entirely due to capacity restrictions in the arena during the pandemic. Before returning in the 2021–22 season, Bohn left to become the head coach of the NAHL's El Paso Rhinos and the Hat Tricks hired former Danbury Trashers captain Dave MacIsaac as head coach.

In the 2021-22 season, the Hat Tricks were among the league's best, but were swept in the second round by Columbus.

Following the season, McCreary was named Head Coach a second time, while also adding on president of hockey operations, replacing MacIsaac.

In the 2022-23 season, the Hat Tricks won the league's regular season championship, and made it into the team's first Commissioner's Cup finals where they came from behind winning the series 3-2 in five games, and winning on a Michael Marchesan goal at 11:58 of overtime.

On April 12th, 2024 in the final regular season home game of the 2023-24 season against the division rivals, the Black Bears, the Hat Tricks became the first team in professional hockey history to have a full African-American starting line-up (goalie included). They would go on to lose the game 4-3 in a shootout.

Season-by-season results
Source:

Awards
Forward of the Year Defenseman of the Year Goaltender of the Year Coach of the Year Founders' Award Broadcasters of the Year Goaltender of the Month
 * 2019–20: Carter Shinkaruk
 * 2021–22: Jonny Ruiz
 * 2022–23: Jonny Ruiz (All FPHL 2nd Team)
 * 2019–20: Aaron Atwell
 * 2021–22: Steve Brown
 * 2019–20: Tom McGuckin
 * 2022–23: Brian Wilson
 * 2019–20: Billy McCreary
 * 2019–20: John Krupinsky
 * 2021–22: Billy McCreary
 * 2022–23: Dave Smith
 * 2019–20: Casey Bryant, Jack O'Marra, Zak McGinniss
 * February 2019–20: Tom McGuckin
 * February 2022–23: Brian Wilson

Franchise leaders
All-time and season leaders as of the 2023-24 season:

All-time regular season All-time postseason Season records Postseason records
 * Games played: Jonny Ruiz, 201
 * Goals scored: Jonny Ruiz, 147
 * Assists: Jonny Ruiz, 121
 * Points: Jonny Ruiz, 268
 * Penalty minutes: Daniel Amesbury, 370
 * Games played: Jonny Ruiz, 18
 * Goals scored: Jonny Ruiz, 10
 * Assists: Lucas Debenedet & Jonny Ruiz, 8
 * Points: Jonny Ruiz, 18
 * Penalty minutes: Tobias Odjick, 58
 * Goals scored: Jonny Ruiz, 49 (2021-22)
 * Assists: Carter Shinkaruk, 38 (2019-20)
 * Points: Jonny Ruiz, 85 (2021-22)
 * Penalty minutes: Daniel Amesbury, 298 (2022-23)
 * Goals scored: Michael Marchesan & Jacob Ratcliffe, 8 (2023)
 * Assists: Lucas Debenedet, 8 (2023)
 * Points: Michael Marchesan, 13 (2023)
 * Penalty minutes: Tobias Odjick, 53 (2023)