The Federal Prospect Hockey League (the FPHL) is in professional hockey’s unofficial third tier. They’re below the main developmental leagues the AHL and ECHL and lack any affiliation to the NHL. They’re in the same grouping as the Southern Professional Hockey League, although slightly newer (the SPHL started in 2004 while the FPHL was founded as the FHL in 2009). Still the league is growing and currently has 14 teams (not including one inactive franchise).
The FPHL announced this season they will be playing a neutral site game in New Jersey. Mennan Arena in Morris Township, New Jersey will host the March 21st matchup between the Danbury Hat Tricks and Watertown Wolves. Danbury’s captain Johnny Ruiz is a New Jersey native and this will be his first professional game in his home state.
Does this mean the FPHL is ready to expand into New Jersey? New Jersey currently has no professional minor league hockey teams but has the three-time Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils. ECHL hockey is slated to return to Trenton next year, a market originally home to the ECHL’s Trenton Titans/Trenton Devils franchise.
There was another previous ECHL team, the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies, that played in the famous seaside resort city. An ownership group wanted to bring an FPHL expansion team to the Atlantic City area. The FPHL’s decision of New Jersey hosting a neutral site game might seem like good news for that prospect, but then again Morris Township is in an entirely different region of the state so it would not be a good indicator of market viability.
It’s common practice for the FPHL to have neutral site games in markets they are considering for expansion. Last season they held neutral site games in Topeka, Kansas and this season the Topeka Scarecrows entered the league. In 2021-2022 the league held neutral site games in Biloxi, Mississippi that shattered their then attendance record. The next year the Biloxi Breakers joined the league. In the 2022-2023 season the league held three neutral site games in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that attracted over 7,000 fans per game. The Baron Rouge Zydeco would join the league in 2023.
New Jersey once had its own FPHL team. The New Jersey Outlaws played in Wayne, New Jersey from 2011 to 2012 and won the league championship in 2012. They would move to Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 2013 and would fold at the end of that year.