The complete Elmira Jackals history: UHL, ECHL and First Arena
The Elmira Jackals UHL era ran from 2000 to 2007 and the ECHL era from 2007 to 2017. A franchise that arrived with a building and left when the building was sold: two leagues, two championship-series appearances, and one very good year that nobody saw coming.
Section one
The beginning
The Elmira Jackals history begins with a building
The Elmira Jackals history begins with a building rather than a team. The club exists because Elmira built an arena. Officials announced the First Arena project on 2 March 1998, with a county deadline of 1 December to secure a tenant. The building was costed at 11.6 million dollars, a further 7.25 million was raised, and ground was broken on 24 November 1999. The United Hockey League awarded the expansion franchise on 27 March 2000, and the mascot was announced two months later.
The arena was not ready when the season was. The Elmira Jackals UHL era therefore opened with ten straight road games, starting on 14 October 2000 at the B.C. Icemen — a 4-1 defeat in which Jeremy Vanin scored the franchise's first goal, David Bernier recorded its first assist, and Brad Domonsky had its first fight. The first home game came on 11 November against the Knoxville Speed: 3,378 people, a sellout, and a 5-2 win. Those three dates — the award, the first game and the first home game — are the opening entries in the Elmira Jackals history.
The UHL years, 2000 to 2007
Todd Brost took the first team to second place in the Northeast Division on the back of seven wins in the last ten games, and the league named Elmira its franchise of the year. The Elmira Jackals UHL record improved sharply in year two: 45-21-8, the best in the Eastern Conference, two playoff series won, and a Colonial Cup Finals defeat in six games to the Muskegon Fury.
The 2003-04 run was stranger. A 33-34-9 regular season produced another Colonial Cup Finals appearance, and Muskegon won again, this time in four. After four seasons of finals runs and division contention, the last three UHL seasons produced no playoff hockey at all.
Section two
A step up
The ECHL years, 2007 to 2017
In the summer of 2007 the club joined the ECHL, a level above the UHL, and marked it with a new logo that lasted the rest of the franchise's life. Steve Martinson was named head coach that June. It is the clearest dividing line in the Elmira Jackals history, and the point where the Elmira Jackals seasons start to be documented properly. Steve Martinson took over as head coach, the affiliation with the Columbus Blue Jackets was re-established alongside the AHL's Syracuse Crunch, and the three-year playoff drought ended immediately: 41-24-3-4, and a Conference Quarterfinal defeat to the Reading Royals.
The Elmira Jackals ECHL run then produced six consecutive playoff seasons. The affiliations moved around — Ottawa and Binghamton from 2008, Anaheim and Syracuse added in 2010, New Jersey and Albany for a single year in 2013-14, Buffalo and Rochester from 2014 — but the results held until they did not — Ottawa in 2008, Anaheim and Syracuse in 2010, New Jersey in 2013. The Elmira Jackals ECHL seasons are the better-documented half of the record, which is why the published figures thin out the further back you read.
The best season came in 2011-12 under Pat Bingham: 45-22-2-3 for 95 points, more than any other club in the Eastern Conference. Elmira beat Reading in five to open the playoffs and went out in the second round to the Florida Everblades, who won the Kelly Cup that year. It was the high point of the Elmira Jackals seasons and the franchise never matched it.
Twenty-one road wins, a franchise record, and a season that still finished three points outside the playoffs.2015-16
The last three seasons
2013-14 ended a six-year playoff streak with a 24-40-3-5 record. 2014-15 was better and still short. 2015-16 was better again — 37-30-3-2 for 79 points, and twenty-one road wins, a franchise record — and finished three points outside the last playoff place.
Section three
The end
First Arena, and how it finished
The building and the team had the same lifespan. First Arena opened in 2000 as the Coach USA Center, took its later name in 2004, and seated 3,784 for hockey across two ice surfaces at the corner of North Main and West Gray. On 10 March 2017 it was sold, and the club announced that the season then in progress would be its last. Professional hockey in Elmira ended with it.
The building is still on North Main Street and has carried other names since. The franchise was not relocated and was not replaced.
Questions
About the franchise
Common questions about the Elmira Jackals
Why did the Elmira Jackals fold?
First Arena was sold in March 2017. The club announced that the season then in progress would be its last, and professional hockey in Elmira ended with it. The franchise was not relocated and was not replaced.
What leagues did the Jackals play in?
The United Hockey League from 2000 to 2007, then the ECHL from 2007 to 2017. Seven seasons in one, ten in the other.
Did the Jackals ever win a championship?
No. They reached the Colonial Cup Finals twice, in 2002 and 2004, and lost both series to the Muskegon Fury — in six games and then in four.
Which NHL teams were the Jackals affiliated with?
Five over seventeen years: Columbus at the start and again from 2007, Ottawa from 2008, Anaheim from 2010, New Jersey for a single season in 2013-14, and Buffalo from 2014 to the end.
What was the best season?
2011-12 under Pat Bingham. Forty-five wins and ninety-five points, more than any other club in the Eastern Conference that year, and a second-round exit against the team that went on to win the Kelly Cup.
Is First Arena still standing?
Yes, on North Main Street in downtown Elmira. It has carried other names since the club stopped playing.
Elsewhere
Where the same ground is covered
- Elmira JackalsThe encyclopaedia article on the club.
- United Hockey LeagueThe league of the first seven seasons, folded in 2007.
- ECHLThe league of the last ten.