Binghamton Senators The Binghamton Senators are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League ( AHL ) . Nicknamed the B - Sens , they play in Binghamton , New York at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena . Along with the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL , the B - Sens are minor league affiliates of the Ottawa Senators . They are the AHL ' s 2011 Calder Cup champions . The Senators main rivals are the Syracuse Crunch ( located an hour north on Interstate 81 ) , the Wilkes - Barre / Scranton Penguins ( located an hour south on Interstate 81 ) , and the Hershey Bears ( located about 3 hours south via Interstate 81 & Pennsylvania Route 743 ) . History . Inception and first seasons ( 2002 – 2005 ) . The arrival of the B - Sens marked the return of the AHL to the area after a five - year absence . The area had previously been represented by the Binghamton Dusters ( 1977 – 1980 ) , the Binghamton Whalers ( 1980 – 1990 ) , and the Binghamton Rangers ( 1990 – 1997 ) , all of the AHL . While no AHL team played in Binghamton between 1997 and 2002 , the market was served by the B . C . Icemen of the United Hockey League . The Binghamton Senators enjoyed a successful 2002 – 03 , freshman season , going 43 – 26 – 9 with 100 points . They breezed by their first three playoff rounds , but were easily defeated by the Hamilton Bulldogs in 5 games . By contrast , the 2003 – 04 season was not as successful as the loss of both Antoine Vermette and Jason Spezza weakened the team . They went 34 – 34 – 9 and quietly exited the playoffs thanks to a 2 – 0 sweep at the hands of the Norfolk Admirals . The 2004 – 05 NHL lockout meant Binghamton got a return visit from their recent graduates and several other NHL players , including Jason Spezza , Antoine Vermette , Anton Volchenkov , Chris Neil , Josh Langfeld and Brian Pothier , making the Senators a legitimate Calder Cup contender . Jason Spezza lead the way with a league high 117 points ( earning the AHL MVP ) and brought the team back to contender form . The Senators ended the regular season with only 21 regulation losses , tied for 2nd fewest in the league , taking the division title with a league high 276 goals scored . The Senators entered the playoffs on a roll , winners of 11 of their last 13 games , and continued their dominance by cruising through the first 2 games of their first round best of 7 series against the Wilkes - Barre / Scranton Penguins , scoring 9 goals . But the offense inexplicably stalled and the Sens scored only 5 goals in the remaining 4 games as the Penguins answered back with the next 4 wins , crushing the hopes of bringing the Calder Cup to Binghamton for the first time . Recent activity ( 2009 - Present ) . On 17 July 2009 it was announced that Don Nachbaur was named head coach of the Binghamton Senators . During the 2009 – 10 AHL season , Nachbaur coached the Senators to a 36 - 35 - 6 - 3 record and 81 points to finish fifth overall in the AHL ' s East Division . On 22 June 2010 , after only one season behind the bench , Nachbaur announced that he was resigning as head coach citing personal reasons as the cause . On August 6 , 2010 the Ottawa Senators announced that Kurt Kleinendorst was appointed the head coach of the Binghamton Senators as part of a two - year contract . Kleinendorst had spent the previous year leading the USA Hockey National Team Development Program ' s Under - 18 team to a gold medal at the 2010 IIHF World U18 Championships in Belarus . In 2011 , the Binghamton Senators made the playoffs . The came back to beat the Manchester Monarchs 4 - 3 in the first round . In the second round , The Senators upset the Portland Pirates 4 - 2 . They beat the Charlotte Checkers 4 - 0 to advance to their first ever Calder Cup Finals . In the finals , the Senators were against the Houston Aeros . The Senators fell behind 2 - 1 in the series , but a two game home ice winning streak gave them the 3 - 2 lead . The Senators won game 6 in Houston on June 7 , 2011 to capture their first ever Calder Cup . In the 2011 – 12 season , the Senators faced a completely revised lineup as several free agents left to join other NHL organizations , and several players became full - time Ottawa Senators . The team finished fifth and out of the playoffs . Head Coach Kurt Kleinendorst resigned after the season to pursue other opportunities . He was replaced by former NHL player and Ottawa Assistant Coach Luke Richardson . Richardson is the team ' s seventh head coach . In the 2012 - 13 offseason , the Senators made several moves in free agency , including bringing back former player Andre Benoit to be the Senators captain . The NHL lockout also allowed several Ottawa top prospects , such as Jakob Silfverberg and Mika Zibanejad to start the season in Binghamton . The Senators stormed out to a 27 - 10 - 4 start by the All - Star break , holding the best record in the AHL at one point . The Senators then lost many players , including Benoit , Silfverburg , Zibanejad , and Patrick Wiercioch to Ottawa as the NHL regular season started . The Senators went 17 - 14 - 4 the rest of the way to finish 2nd in the East Division , claim the fourth seed for the playoffs , and finish with a 44 - 24 - 8 record overall . However , the Senators offense struggled against the physical play of the Wilkes - Barre / Scranton Penguins and the Penguins swept the Senators out of the playoffs , 3 - 0 . The Senators returned almost the entire team from the previous year for the 2013 - 14 season ; the most notable exception being goaltender Robin Lehner , who became Ottawa ' s regular # 2 goalie . The Senators contended for the division lead for the entire season . Despite goaltender Nathan Lawson having an injury - filled year , Andrew Hammond filled in nicely in his spot with 25 wins and a 2 . 81 GAA . Despite the Senators losing leading scorers Mike Hoffman and Stephane Da Costa along with Mark Stone , Cody Ceci , and Jean - Gabriel Pageau , among others to Ottawa during the second half of the year , the Senators clinched their 3rd division after nearly a ten - year drought since the 2004 - 05 season . The division title came on a 5 - 4 win over the Wilkes - Barre / Scranton Penguins in the second - to - last game of the season to clinch the third seed in the Eastern Conference . For the second year in a row , the Senators played the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs . The first three games of the series were close , all of them going to overtime , but the Senators found themselves down 2 - 1 in the series . Facing a must - win Game 4 in Wilkes - Barre , the Sens were routed by the Penguins 5 - 1 , bowing out in the first round once again . The Future . The team ' s time as an affiliate of the Senators will be coming to an end after the 2016 - 17 season . The Senators have made no secret about wanting to have their AHL affiliate closer to Ottawa . Reports have indicated that the Senators are looking to relocate the team to Belleville , Ontario which lost its ' Ontario Hockey League franchise to Hamilton prior to the 2015 - 16 season . The ride from Belleville to Ottawa is about 2 . 5 hours . If the team does move speculation is that the New Jersey Devils could relocate their AHL affiliate presently based in Albany , New York to Binghamton . The Ottawa Senators announced that they purchased the AHL team on September 26 , 2016 The team will be moved to Belleville , Ontario for the 2017 - 18 season . Eugene Melnyk had already been in negotiations with the city of Belleville to work on renovations to Yardmen Arena . The team will become the Belleville Senators when the relocate