2020-21 FPHL season

This is the 2020-21 Federal Prospects Hockey League season. This is the league's 11th season.
The league was originally planning on beginning play on December 18th. The start date has been pushed back a few times and is now tentatively scheduled to start on February 3rd with only Elmira and Waterbury being cleared to play.https://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/commissioner-announces-commencement-of-play/n-5660297 A schedule will be planned out as teams are cleared to compete by local authorities.
==Membership Changes==
On November 20, 2019 the league announced an expansion team for the 2020-21 season to be based out of the Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington, Illinois replacing the departed Central Illinois Flying Aces of the United States Hockey League.https://www.pantagraph.com/sports/hockey/back-in-the-game-hockey-returning-to-bloomington-normal-with/article_f1dfd581-14e3-5a1a-98f2-c2cbf5df8716.html The team would later be pushed back to 2021-22 as a result of hte COVID-19 pandemic.
The Battle Creek Rumble Bees would quietly fold during the off season. The first word on the folding would be the league announcing results of a dispersal draft.https://www.federalhockey.com/news/fphl-dispersal-draft-results
On July 16, 2020 the league announced the addition of a new franchise to be based out of Fraser Hockeyland in Fraser, Michigan.http://fraserfphl.hockeyshift.com/news/fraser-michigan-official-as-fphl-s-10th-city On August 11th the team name was announced as the Motor City Rockers.http://fraserfphl.hockeyshift.com/news/fraser-fphl-team-set-to-launch
In mid-October 2020, the league held a dispersal draft when the Delaware Thunder and Motor City Rockers announced they were going dormant for the 2020-21 season.https://www.federalhockey.com/news/breaking-news-fphl-announces-tentative-starting-da
On November 16th, the league announced that the Mentor Ice Breakers had ceased operations permanently due to the COVID-19 pandemic preventing revenue necessary to continue operations.https://www.mentoricebreakers.com/news/mentor-ice-breakers-to-cease-operations
On February 11th, the league announced that the league was now planning on a February 19th start with four teams beginning play at that time, Carolina Thunderbirds, Columbus River Dragons, Elmira Enforcers, and Port Huron Prowlers. More teams may be joining play as local circumstances allow.https://www.federalhockey.com/news/fphl-announces-plan-to-restart-on-february-19-with Another report indicated that the Danville Dashers and Danbury Hat Tricks were unable to start due to local COVID-19 restrictions. The Watertown Wolves appear unlikely to play due to local restrictions and the unavailability of their arena after mid-April. Carolina is going to be playing all road games.https://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/weekly-sports-league-and-franchise-report/n-5667112
On March 2nd, the Danbury Hat Tricks announced they would opt out of the 2020-21 playing season as the team had hoped for the easing of restrictions would be announced by the beginning of March and they had not in the state of Connecticut.https://www.danburyhattricks.com/news/open-letter-danbury-hat-tricks-opt-out-of-2021-sea?fbclid=IwAR0A42X6kNXcw4yJ_fiFaZPQkBn8LUboBSiOJEgpQxqGJkv7Q_M7JwMKEGg
On March 10th the Southern Professional Hockey League announced the addition of the Vermilion County Bobcats to their league for the 2021-22 season. The team will be based out of the David S. Palmer Arena in Danville, Illinois.https://www.thesphl.com/sphl-expanding-to-danville-il-for-2021-2022-season The arena had been home to the Danville Dashers of the Federal Prospects Hockey League since the 2011-12 season but the team was siting out the 2020-21 season. The city of Danville had recently voted to cancel the FPHL team's lease.https://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/weekly-sports-league-and-franchise-report/n-5674157
On May 12th the league announced the addition of the Binghamton Black Bears as an expansion team for the 2021-22 season. The team replaces the former Binghamton Devils of the American Hockey League as the city's team based out of the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena.
On July 31, 2021 the Elmira Enforcers announced that they would reluctantly be taking a leave of absence from the league due to issues involving the management of and the arena being open at all for the 2021-22 season.https://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/enforcers-address-2021-2022-season/n-5727433
==Teams==
===Active Teams===
Team 	Home arena 	Capacity	City
Carolina Thunderbirds 	LJVM Coliseum Annex 	4,000 	Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Columbus River Dragons	Columbus Civic Center	10,000 	Columbus, Georgia
Elmira Enforcers 	First Arena 	3,700 	Elmira, New York
Port Huron Prowlers 	McMorran Place 	3,400 	Port Huron, Michigan
===Inactive Teams===
Team 	Home arena 	Capacity	City 	Status
Bloomington Illinois Expansion team	Grossinger Motors Arena 	7,000 	Bloomington, Illinois	Delayed until 2021-22 season
Danbury Hat Tricks 	Danbury Ice Arena 	3,005 	Danbury, Connecticut 	Sitting out due to local restrictions
Danville Dashers 	David S. Palmer Arena 	2,350 	Danville, Illinois 	Opted out of playing for 2020-21; team then loses lease at arena
Delaware Thunder 	Centre Ice Rink 	 	Dover, Delaware 	Team opted out of 2020-21 season
Motor City Rockers 	Fraser Hockeyland 	 	Fraser, Michigan 	Expansion team delayed to 2021-22 season
Watertown Wolves 	Watertown Municipal Arena	2,000 	Watertown, New York 	Sitting out due to local restrictions
==Standings==
Due to only four teams playing the league used a single division format for 2020-21.
Team 	GP	W 	L 	OW	OL	GF	GA 	Pts	%
Columbus River Dragons	23	11	8 	3 	1 	97	82 	40 	.580
Elmira Enforcers 	25	11	7 	3 	4 	96	77 	43 	.573
Carolina Thunderbirds 	20	8 	9 	2 	1 	75	61 	29 	.483
Port Huron Prowlers 	24	8 	14	0 	2 	77	122	26 	.361
Note: Three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime win, one for an overtime loss, none for a regulation loss.
==Post Season==
The league's post season will consist of a tournament that will not be for the Commissioner's Cup. Eligibility will be determined by point percentage (the league uses a three point system for each game). To qualify teams must hit a 16 games played threshold. The format is to be determined.https://www.federalhockey.com/news/fphl-announces-plan-to-restart-on-february-19-with With only four teams the league decided upon a best-of-five series between the top two teams. The teams will play for the Ignite Cup.
===Ignite Cup===
*Columbus River Dragons defeated Elmira Enforcers 3 games to none
==References==
Category:2021 in hockey
Category:Federal Hockey League seasons