2015-16 USP3HL Season

This is the 2015-16 United States Premier 3 Hockey League  season.  This was the league's third season under the USPHL umbrella and its first season under this name.  The league was previously known as the USPHL Empire Division.  Prior to this the league was known as the Empire Junior Hockey League.
==Franchise changes==
*The Daytona Racers and Charlotte Rush were added as expansion teams.
*The East Coast Eagles were renamed the Carolina Eagles.
*The league membership of the New York Jr. Aviators was transferred to the Rye, New York based New York Dragons organization. The Aviator franchise was attempting to transfer to the North American 3 Eastern Hockey League but the transfer of the franchise ran into problems and fell through for the 2015-16 season.
*The Bay State Breakers, Islanders Hockey Club, P.A.L. Jr. Islanders, Rochester Jr. Americans, and South Shore Kings stopped operating teams in the league.
*On August 27, 2015 the Adirondack Jr. Wings announced they were suspending operations of their junior level team in the USP3HL, but were continuing to operate a team at the midget level.
*The New York Dragons franchise was later dropped from the league
==Member Teams==
The USP3 consists of 17 organizations located along the East Coast spanning from Massachusetts to Florida.
North Division 	North Division 	North Division
Team 	Centre 	Arena
Boston Jr. Bruins 	Marlborough, Massachusetts 	New England Sports Center
Frederick Freeze 	Frederick, Maryland 	Skate Frederick
Islanders Hockey Club	Tyngsborough, Massachusetts 	Skate 3
Jersey Hitmen 	Wayne, New Jersey 	Capital One Bank Ice Vault Arena
Jersey Shore Whalers 	Brick Township, New Jersey 	Ocean Ice Palace
Springfield Pics 	West Springfield, Massachusetts	Olympia Ice Center
South Division 	South Division 	South Division
Team 	Centre 	Arena
Atlanta Jr. Knights 	Marietta, Georgia 	Marietta Ice Center
Carolina Eagles 	Wake Forest, North Carolina 	Polar Ice House
Charlotte Rush 	Indian Trail, North Carolina 	Extreme Ice Center
Daytona Racers 	Daytona Beach, Florida 	Daytona International Skateway
Florida Eels 	Fort Myers, Florida 	Fort Myers Skatium
Florida Jr. Blades 	Estero, Florida 	Germain Arena
Hampton Roads Whalers	Chesapeake, Virginia 	Chilled Ponds Ice Sports Complex
Palm Beach Hawks 	Lake Worth, Florida 	Palm Beach Skate Zone
Potomac Patriots 	Woodbridge, Virginia 	Prince William Ice Center
Richmond Generals 	Richmond, Virginia 	SkateNation Plus
Tampa Bay Juniors 	Ellenton, Florida 	Ellenton Ice
==Standings==
North Division 	North Division	North Division	North Division	North Division	North Division	North Division	North Division	North Division	North Division	North Division
Team 	GP 	W 	L 	T 	OL 	SL 	GF 	GA 	PIM 	P
Jersey Hitmen 	44 	34 	8 	- 	2 	- 	205 	97 	- 	70
Boston Jr. Bruins 	44 	33 	10 	- 	1 	- 	206 	123 	- 	67
Frederick Freeze 	41 	17 	23 	- 	1 	- 	140 	179 	- 	66
Jersey Shore Whalers 	43 	32 	9 	- 	2 	- 	215 	110 	- 	66
Islanders Hockey Club	44 	9 	30 	- 	5 	- 	111 	221 	- 	23
Springfield Pics 	44 	6 	36 	- 	2 	- 	95 	259 	- 	14
South Division 	South Division	South Division	South Division	South Division	South Division	South Division	South Division	South Division	South Division	South Division
Team 	GP 	W 	L 	T 	OL 	SL 	GF 	GA 	PIM 	P
Hampton Roads Whalers	44 	32 	9 	- 	3 	- 	178 	113 	- 	67
Atlanta Jr. Knights 	40 	27 	10 	- 	3 	- 	189 	117 	- 	57
Carolina Eagles 	44 	27 	15 	- 	2 	- 	153 	127 	- 	56
Richmond Generals 	42 	26 	14 	- 	2 	- 	169 	135 	- 	54
Florida Eels 	40 	22 	14 	- 	4 	- 	152 	129 	- 	48
Palm Beach Hawks 	40 	20 	19 	- 	1 	- 	162 	156 	- 	41
Florida Jr. Blades 	40 	19 	20 	- 	1 	- 	158 	142 	- 	39
Tampa Bay Juniors 	40 	17 	22 	- 	1 	- 	138 	175 	- 	35
Charlotte Rush 	44 	10 	32 	- 	2 	- 	107 	189 	- 	22
Daytona Racers 	40 	9 	29 	- 	2 	- 	104 	213 	- 	20
Potomac Patriots 	44 	8 	33 	- 	3 	- 	101 	215 	- 	19
==Playoffs==
===Format===
====South Division====
The top 8 teams in the South Division qualify for the playoffs, which were seeded by winning percentage not points due to an uneven number of games played by the teams.  The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds are best-of-three. The remaining two teams advancing to the 8 team championship tournament also involving the 4 remaining teams from the USPHL Midwest and the remaining 2 teams from the USP3HL's North Division.
====North Division====
The top four teams in the North Divsion qualify for the playoffs. The teams will play a round robin with the top two teams advancing to the 8 team championship tournament also involving the 4 remaining teams from the USPHL Midwest and the remaining 2 teams from the USP3HL's South Division.
===South Division Quarterfinals===
*Hampton Roads Whalers defeated Carolina Eagles 2 games to none (2-1, 5-4 (ot))
*Atlanta Jr. Knights defeated Richmond Generals 2 games to none (6-5 (ot), 4-3 (ot))
*Florida Eels defeated Tampa Bay Juniors 2 games to 1 (6-5 (ot), 3-5, 5-1)
*Florida Jr. Blades defeated Palm Beach Hawks 2 games to none (10-4, 5-0)
===North Division Round Robin===
====Results====
*Jersey Hitmen defeated Frederick Freeze 7-2
*Jersey Shore Whalers defeated Boston Jr Bruins 4-1
*Boston Jr. Bruins defeated Jersey Hitmen 7-4
*Jersey Shore Whalers defeated Frederick Freeze 4-1
*Jersey Hitmen defeated Jersey Shore Whalers 4 to 2
*Frederick Freeze defeated Boston Jr Bruins 5-4
====Standings====
Team 	GP	W	L	T	OL	SL	GF	GA	PIM	P
Jersey Hitmen 	3 	2	1	-	- 	- 	15	14	- 	4
Jersey Shore Whalers	3 	2	1	-	- 	- 	10	6 	- 	4
Boston Jr. Bruins 	3 	1	2	-	- 	- 	12	13	- 	2
Frederick Freeze 	3 	1	2	-	 	- 	11	15	- 	2
Jersey Hitmen and Jersey Shore Whalers advance to USP3HL championship.
===South Division Semifinals===
*Hampton Roads Whalers defeated Atlanta Knights 2 games to none (4-2, 6-2)
*Florida Eels defeated Florida Jr. Blades 2 games to 1 (10-1, 2-5, 3-2)
The semifinal winners in both divisions advance to the USP3HL Championship tournament held March 9-11, 2016 at the New England Sports Center in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
==USP3HL Championship==
===Format===
The four remaining teams from the USP3HL playoffs and the four remaining teams from the USPHL Midwest playoffs were put into a tournament held March 9-11, 2016 at the New England Sports Center in Marlborough, Massachusetts.  The teams were placed in two pools of four teams (2 from each league per pool).  The teams played a single round robin over two days with the top two teams moving the semifinal round with the top team from one pool playing the second place team in the other pool in the single game semifinal round, the semifinal winners met for the championship later that day.
===Round Robin Games===
*Dells defeated Hampton Roads 3-0
*Jersey Shore defeated Tri-City 5-2
*Jersey tied Traverse City 2-2
*Florida defeated Forest Lake 3-1
*Hampton Roads defeated Jersey Shore 3-1
*Dells defeated Jersey Shore 6 to 1
*Hampton Roads defeated Tri-City 5-3
*Jersey defeated Florida 5-4
*Jersey tied Forest Lake 2-2
*Florida defeated Traverse City 3-0
The game between the two Midwest teams in each pool were not played.
===Round Robin Standings===
Team 	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	P
Dells Ducks 	2 	2	0	0	9 	1 	4
Hampton Roads Whalers	3 	2	1	0	8 	7 	4
Jersey Shore Whalers 	3 	1	2	0	7 	11	2
Tri-City Ice Hawks 	2 	0	2	0	5 	10	0
Team 	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	P
Florida Eels 	3 	2	0	1	10	6 	5
Jersey Hitmen 	3 	1	0	2	9 	8 	4
Forest Lake Lakers 	2 	1	0	1	3 	5 	3
Traverse City Hounds 	2 	0	1	1	2 	5 	1
===Semifinals===
*Dells defeated Florida 5-2
*Hampton Roads defeated Jersey 4-3 (ot)
===Final===
*Dells defeated Hampton Roads 5-0
Category:2016 in hockey
Category:USPHL Seasons