AHL Releases 2017-’18 Schedule

October 7th might be a day to circle on the calendar and for Binghamton fans, you should also add Dec 16th.

The AHL has released the upcoming 76 game schedule for the 2017-’18 season it was announced on Tuesday. The Binghamton Devils will host the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for their inaugural home opener on Saturday, Oct 7th.

This will be the first season for the BDevils with the New Jersey Devils as their prime affiliate after 15 years with the Ottawa Senators. Previously, Albany was the host city in two separate stints (1993-’06, River Rats & 2010-’17 as the Devils) for New Jersey.

On Dec 16th the Belleville Senators will make their very first appearance in Binghamton for one of their eight games on the schedule in their second game of the season, as the first meeting will be held in Belleville on Nov 8th.

Some notable dates included according to Binghamton’s website are;

• Saturday, October 7 – Inaugural Home Opener
• Friday, November 17 - TBA
• Saturday, November 18 - TBA
• Saturday, November 25 – First Responders’ Night
• Sunday, December 31 – New Year’s Eve Bash
• Saturday, February 3 - TBA

Besides Belleville, there are also eight games on tap with the Utica Comets, ten with the Rochester Americans and Syracuse Crunch and six against the Lehigh Valley Comets, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pens, Toronto Marlies and the Laval Rockets in their new home at Place Bell Arena in Laval, Quebec, (who replaced the St. John’s IceCaps) for the parent club Montreal Canadians.

One team the home fans won’t see as much as in the past (at least for the BSens side), is the club in Hershey with oddly only two meetings slated between the Bears and the Devils, yet six with the Pens and Phantoms.

Binghamton will once again play in the North Division along side of Belleville, Laval, Rochester, Syracuse, Toronto and Utica as part of the Eastern Conference for the 30 team league.

One thing Binghamton fans will have is an “extra” home game this season as in past Ottawa played host to sparse crowds which left us a game short at our barn.

Personally, I would much rather faceoff against the old/new team in Belleville in the home opener. Build an early rivalry. Guaranteed sellout (still plausible I suppose with Bridgeport). As with the off-season hype it would’ve generated, how can you not resist the temptation to buy a ticket? Instead, we’ll have to wait until Dec 16th as I feel the AHL schedule makers laid an egg on this one.

Although I suppose we have enough rivalries as it is to fill one’s beer mug across the Southern Tier region with Syracuse, Rochester and Wilkes/Barre as the main components, with Albany and Utica a close second.

Still would've been nice though.