Sen-sational

Never before had the Binghamton Senators won a championship of any kind...that is until tonight. The B-Sens beat the Houston Aeros on the road in game 6 of the American Hockey League Finals to capture their first ever title.  The Sens' story is an incredible one. I covered this team for three seasons from 2007-10 while working at the Fox affiliate in Binghamton, New York. I was able to follow the team like no one else while producing and hosting a 30-minute weekly show called appropriately enough "B-Sens Weekly." With some extra free time last week, I even got to serve as a Media Relations assistant during the Sens' homestand in the finals. Never in the depths of my wildest imagination did I think that this moment would come for a team that had to overcome so many hurdles. There's definitely no squad more deserving.


Somehow the stars aligned this season for Binghamton. They were able to field a perfect blend of young up-and-comers with established veterans. Their biggest move was signing free agent center Corey Locke who was named the AHL's regular season MVP.  Locke led the team to the 5th and final seed from the Eastern Conference's East Division. They were the underdogs in all four series they played in. They overcame a three games to one deficit in the first round, only to turn it around and blast Manchester in three straight overtime games (an AHL record). After dispatching of Portland and Carolina in the next two rounds, Binghamton once again trailed 2-1 in the finals before finishing off Houston three consecutive times to take home the Calder Cup Trophy.

The silver statuette is awarded to each yearly champ of the AHL, the top feeder system for the NHL (think of it as AAA for baseball.) The league is comprised of 30 teams ranging from medium cities to major markets. The squad the Sens topped from Houston isn't even the biggest. That distinction goes to the Chicago Wolves. Binghamton had to plow through larger teams all year long. In fact, the B-Sens are by far the smallest city represented in the league.

 Obviously, resources are harder to come by for a smaller market squad like the Sens. Even their NHL affiliate in Ottawa is known as one of the more frugal franchises in hockey. So top talent is almost always at a premium. This lack of elite players on the roster made it tough on Binghamton in recent years. They failed to make the playoffs in each of their previous five seasons (unfortunately that included all three years that I covered the team.)

 In other cities like Houston, you've got the Astros and Rockets to fall back on, but that clearly isn't the case in Binghamton where there are few other sports teams to root for. The other local pro franchise, the AA affiliate of the New York Mets has been known as one of their leagues' doormats and has never won a title. So you can imagine how important this championship is for the population of the tiny upstate New York city. I'm proud of the place I used to live in and the team I used to cover. You couldn't ask for a better winner.

 by Andy Adamson