Binghamton vs. Wilkes-Barre; will a rivalry be reborn?

When looking at the start of the American Hockey League‘s Calder Cup playoffs, there are a couple things you have to think about immediately. First the regular season means nothing anymore, the standings all start back at zero. And thankfully there are no shootouts, no ROW (regulation & overtime wins) or points to have to be figured out. Instead, it’s all about winning games, winning series, beating your most hated rival and moving on to the next round of the playoffs.

The Binghamton Senators (44-24-1-7) finished the season with 96 points, just 1 point behind the Syracuse Crunch (43-22-6-5). And though you can look at losses all throughout a season and pick apart which games could have given the B-Sens a point here and a point there that would have pushed them past the Crunch to win an East Division title; it seems almost historically fitting that the B-Sens are positioned in the Calder Cup playoffs right where they are; 4^th in the conference.

4^th place in the Eastern Conference will match up the B-Sens vs. the 5^th seeded Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (42-30-2-2) in a re-match of the 04-05 Calder Cup opening round. In that NHL locked out season, the B-Sens finished with what is still a franchise record of 106 points & 47 wins. The team was loaded with now NHL regulars like Jason Spezza, Ray Emery, Antoine Vermette, Chris Kelly & Anton Volchenkov and cruised to a 2-0 lead in the series very easily. And why wouldn’t they, the B-Sens (7-1 14pts vs. the Pens) dominated the Penguins all season long only losing 2-0 in the first game of the series on Halloween night just south of Binghamton in Penguins home arena.

But then came that game that no Binghamton Senators fan will ever forget. It was April 25^th, 2005, the third game of the opening round of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup playoffs at the then named Wachovia Arena at Kasey Plaza where the series momentum changed to the side of the baby penguins and never turned back. As I sat in that arena, I remember saying to myself, I have never been present for something like this. A playoff game now into its 3^rd OT period. Sure it’s happened before in the NHL, other AHL playoff games and this was only going to end up being at the time the 9^th longest in AHL history however just not one that I had ever been present for. The goal of one Colby Armstrong at the 12:26 mark of that 3^rd OT will be the one that I will remember for the rest of my life and it lives still in the minds of many Binghamton Senators fans today.

After that goal by Armstrong to win game 3, the Penguins went on to win 3 straight games  to defeat the B-Sens 4 games to 2 & knock out the heavily favored NHL laded team upsetting and shocking a Cup craving fan base that had suffered with no championship since 1973.

Yes, the B-Sens have since hoisted the Calder Cup in 2011, but all four of those playoff series didn’t have that foe, that the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins has been to the Binghamton Senators and it’s fans over the last 11 years. The epic series vs. the Manchester Monarchs was truly one that fans will always remember, but there is no rivalry there. Portland and Charlotte put up two outstanding goaltenders but with Binghamton winning the 1st two games in each of those series, there wasn’t that same flare. And yes the Houston Aeros put up a great fight in the 2011 Calder Cup finals, but Assistant Coach Steve Sterling’s near death experience pushed the destined B-Sens over the top in an emotional Cup victory in Houston and what became an even more emotional parade down Main Street. Though feeling magical and no one would ever trade it in for the world the 2011 Calder Cup run as gratifying as it was, could have had just that little bit of extra hockey magic, if the collapse of 2005 could have been avenged with series win over the Penguins.

At least to this traditional rivalry loving author.

Over the years that Binghamton & Wilkes-Barre/Scranton have been members of the American Hockey League, the rivalry, though soft as of late, has always burned between the two organizations. From fights on the ice; to disagreements in stands, even a bus rocking moment and a legendary dispute between two broadcasters, the B-Sens and baby penguins were even more destined to play in this series that will start this Saturday in the Broome Country Veterans Memorial Arena.

And with the B-Sens once again dominating the season series (6-2-0-2  14pts), will the outcome be the same in a shortened 5 game series, as it was in 2005? Will Nathan Lawson out duel one of the AHL’s best goaltender’s from this season, Jeff Zatkoff? Will the fans of both teams travel to each other’s barn as was the case in the only other meeting for the two teams in the Calder Cup playoffs? Will a once torrid rivalry be reborn?

All these questions will be answered in just about 2 weeks; however for this author it’s been a long eight years waiting for the moment when Binghamton & Wilkes-Barre/Scranton hit the ice in playoffs for only a second time.