Fayetteville Marksmen

The Fayetteville Marksmen are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. They currently play in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL).http://www.hockeydb.com/stte/fayetteville-fireantz-5725.html They play their home games in the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum.
The team, originally known as the Cape Fear Fireantz, began play in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League in the 2002–2003 season. After the league's collapse they joined the South East Hockey League for the 2003–2004 season, and joined what would become the SPHL in 2005. Since their inception they won the 2007 SPHL championship and have made a number of playoff appearances. The team would be known as the Fayetteville FireAntz from 2004 to 2017 when they were renamed the Marksmen
==History==
===ACHL and SEHL years===
The team, then known as the Cape Fear Fireantz, joined the fledgling Atlantic Coast Hockey League for the 2002–2003 season. Their first coach was Shawn Ulrich. After the season David Waronker announced he was withdrawing his four teams from the unstable league to form the World Hockey Association 2. The Fireantz and other remaining ACHL teams formed the South East Hockey League. They played the SEHL for the 2003–2004 season, with Scott Rex serving as coach.
===SPHL===
In 2004 teams from the SEHL and WHA2 joined together to form the league now known as the Southern Professional Hockey League. The Fireantz joined the new league, changing their name to "Fayetteville FireAntz", abandoning the reference to the nearby Cape Fear River. Derek Booth took over as head coach in 2004. After two seasons behind the bench, coach Derek Booth left in 2006 to coach the Bloomington Prairie Thunder of the United Hockey League.
In the 2006–2007 season, under the guidance of head coach John Marks, the FireAntz advanced to the finals of the league's post-season playoffs for the first time in team history. The first two games of the best-of-five final series were won by Fayetteville on the FireAntz' home ice, before the series returned to Jacksonville, Florida, where the Jacksonville Barracudas won Game 3 of the series by a 3-2 score. On April 18, 2007 the FireAntz won the fourth game of the series by a score of 5-3 to win the SPHL President's Cup. It was the first championship for the FireAntz, and Fayetteville's first professional sports championship in 51 years. John Marks resigned after the team's championship run to take the head coach position with the Pensacola Ice Pilots of the ECHL. Shortly after Marks' resignation the FireAntz announced that former Florida Seals coach, Tommy Stewart, had been hired to coach the team for the 2007–2008 season.
Tommy Stewart was let go after the 2010–2011 season and was soon replaced by Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees' assistant coach, Sean Gillam.http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/06/13/1101260?sac=Sports Gillam would only last partway through the season; on Feb 17, 2012, the FireAntz replaced him with Todd Bidner.
====Fayetteville Marksmen====
On February 13, 2017, Jeffrey M. Longo was hired as the general manager. Later in the 2016–17 season, Longo and local entrepreneur Chuck Norris purchased the FireAntz from the seven-person ownership group, Cape Fear Pro Hockey. At the end of the season, the new owners changed the name of the FireAntz to the Fayetteville Marksmen. The change reflects the city of Fayetteville's relationship with the local United States Army post, Fort Bragg, as well as the native Carolina red fox.
===Regular season===
Season 	GP 	W 	L 	OL 	Pts 	GF 	GA 	Finish 	Playoffs 	 	 	
Cape Fear Fire Antz 	Cape Fear Fire Antz 	Cape Fear Fire Antz 	Cape Fear Fire Antz 	Cape Fear Fire Antz 	Cape Fear Fire Antz 	Cape Fear Fire Antz 	Cape Fear Fire Antz 	Cape Fear Fire Antz 	Cape Fear Fire Antz 	Cape Fear Fire Antz 	 	
2002–03 	60 	21 	37 	2 	44 	- 	- 	5th of 6 ACHL 	Did not qualify 	 	 	
2003–04 	56 	25 	31 	- 	50 	213 	221 	3rd of 4 SEHL 	L, SF 0-2 (Ice Bears) 	 	 	
Fayetteville Fire Antz	Fayetteville Fire Antz 	Fayetteville Fire Antz 	Fayetteville Fire Antz 	Fayetteville Fire Antz 	Fayetteville Fire Antz 	Fayetteville Fire Antz 	Fayetteville Fire Antz 	Fayetteville Fire Antz 	Fayetteville Fire Antz 	Fayetteville Fire Antz 	 	
2004–05 	56 	32 	24 	- 	64 	226 	158 	4th of 8, SPHL 	
L, QF 2-4 (Columbus Cottonmouths) 	 	 	
2005–06 	56 	31 	19 	6 	68 	224 	175 	4th of 7, SPHL 	L, QF 1-2 (Florida Seals) 	 	 	
2006-07 	56 	32 	18 	6 	70 	246 	205 	T-2nd of 8, SPHL 	W, QF 2-0 (Havoc)W, SF 2-0 (Ice Bears)W, F 3-1 (Jacksonville Barracudas)President's Cup Champions	 	 	
2007–08 	52 	25 	19 	8 	58 	186 	198 	3rd of 7, SPHL 	W, QF 2-0 (Renegades) L, SF 1-2 (Barracudas) 	 	 	
2008-09 	60 	30 	25 	5 	65 	212 	224 	3rd of 6, SPHL 	W, SF 3-2 (Cottonmouths) L, F 2- (Ice Bears) 	 	 	
2009–10 	56 	31 	22 	3 	65 	231 	213 	3rd of 7, SPHL 	L, First Round 1-2 (Ice Bears) 	 	 	
2010–11 	56 	22 	34 	- 	44 	170 	184 	7th of 8, SPHL 	Did not qualify 	 	 	
2011–12 	56 	19 	32 	5 	43 	180 	240 	9th of 9, SPHL 	Did not qualify 	 	 	
2012–13 	56 	35 	18 	3 	73 	195 	154 	T-1st of 9, SPHL 	L, QF 0-2 (Huntsville Havoc) 	 	 	
2013–14 	56 	21 	30 	5 	47 	144 	173 	9th of 10, SPHL 	Did not qualify 	 	 	
2014–15 	56 	21 	27 	8 	50 	143 	193 	7th of 8, SPHL 	Did not qualify 	 	 	
2015–16 	56 	30 	21 	5 	65 	167 	145 	4th of 9, SPHL 	W, QF 2-1 (Ice Bears)L, SF 0-2 (Rivermen) 	 	 	
2016-17 	56 	36 	17 	3 	75 	174 	130 	T-2nd of 10, SPHL 	L, QF 0-2 (Ice Flyers) 	 	 	
Fayetteville Marksmen 	Fayetteville Marksmen 	Fayetteville Marksmen 	Fayetteville Marksmen 	Fayetteville Marksmen 	Fayetteville Marksmen 	Fayetteville Marksmen 	Fayetteville Marksmen 	Fayetteville Marksmen 	Fayetteville Marksmen 	Fayetteville Marksmen 	 	
2017-18 	56 	12 	38 	6 	30 	144 	252 	10th of 10, SPHL 	Did not qualify 	 	 	
2018-19 	56 	25 	23 	8 	58 	172 	201 	T-7th of 10, SPHL 	L, QF 1-2 (Bulls) 	 	 	
2019-20 	46 	31 	6 	9 	71 	163 	120 	T-1st of 10, SPHL 	Season cancelled prior to end of season 	 	 	
2020-21 	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic 	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic	Opted of of play due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021-22 	56 	40 	14 	2 	82 	197 	140 	4th 	Lost Quarterfinals 	 	 	
2022-23 	56 	26 	22 	8 	60 	155 	166 	7th 	Lost Quarterfinals 	 	 	
2023-24 	56 	31 	19 	6 	68 	191 	165 	4th 	Lost Quarterfinals 	 	 	
==Championships==
Year 	League	Trophy
2006–2007	SPHL 	President's Cup
2012–2013	SPHL 	Coffey Trophy
==Honors==
2004–2005	SPHL	Derek Booth 	Coach of the Year
2004–2005	SPHL	Chad Collins 	Rookie of the Year
2005–2006	SPHL	Mike Clarke 	Defenseman of the Year
2006–2007	SPHL	Tim Velemirovich	Rookie of the Year
2006–2007	SPHL	Rob Sich 	SPHL MVP
2006–2007	SPHL	John Marks 	Coach of the Year
2006–2007	SPHL	Chad Collins 	SPHL Playoff MVP
2012–2013	SPHL	Josh McQuade 	SPHL MVP
2012–2013	SPHL	Andrew Smale 	Defenseman of the Year
2012–2013	SPHL	Mark Desantis 	Coach of the Year
2016-2017	SPHL	Sean Bonar 	SPHL MVP and Goaltender of the Year
==References==
*
== External links ==
*Fayetteville FireAntz
*The Southern Professional Hockey League
*PointStreak
Category:Southern Professional Hockey League teams
Category:Established in 2002