With the Federal Hockey League season winding down, expansion is on the way, and it appears that we won’t have to wait long for the first official announcement to come, as this morning the Danbury Ice Arena announced when the FHL’s newest team will be added.

On the DIA Facebook page, they posted that the team name, colors, coach, and basically everything will be announced on Friday, May 3. This will be Danbury’s third attempt at a team in the FHL.

Danbury will be the seventh team in the FHL for this upcoming season, with reports that the league is continuing to talk with Columbus, Georgia (possibly more on this very soon), and a team on the eastern shore in either Maryland or Delaware.

In addition to the FHL team being in town, it was announced last week that there will also be a NA3HL team calling the arena home this fall, the Danbury Colonials, who are moving to the arena after playing as the Niagara Falls Power Hawks this past season.

Danbury and the DIA are certainly no strangers to the Federal Hockey League, with the Danbury Whalers playing from 2010 to 2015 in the arena before they were evicted, and then were replaced by the Danbury Titans, who played from 2015 to 2017, before folding on the eve of the 2017-18 season due to rising worker’s compensation laws in Connecticut.

The Arena first opened in 1999, and was renovated and expanded to its current size in 2004, coinciding with a United Hockey League franchise coming to town.

Geographically, the city is a fit even for the current FHL, with Elmira less than four hours away, and Watertown just under five hours away.

The Whalers were the far more successful of the two FHL franchises, reaching the finals three times, winning the Commissioner’s Cup once in 2013, and never seeing attendance dip below 1,648 fans per game. They were basically the Carolina of the league before Carolina joined the league.

The Titans proved to be not as successful in the stands despite strong teams on the ice, drawing just 734 and 909 fans per game in their two seasons.

Prior to the two FHL coming to town, the arena played host to the New England Stars and Danbury Mad Hatters of the NEHL and EPHL – both of which lasted just one season.

Prior to that, the arena and town gained fame with the Danbury Trashers, who played in the old United Hockey League for two seasons before being basically shut down due to some shady business practices by their owner.

In addition to the FHL team being in town, it was announced last week that there will also be a NA3HL team calling the arena home this fall, the Danbury Colonials, who are moving to the arena after playing as the Niagara Falls Power Hawks this past season.