The Danbury Trashers were a United Hockey League

United Hockey League

The United Hockey League was a low-level professional ice hockey league , with teams in the United States...

 ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team located in Danbury, Connecticut

Danbury, Connecticut

Danbury is a city in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It had population at the 2010 census of 80,893. Danbury is the fourth largest city in Fairfield County and is the seventh largest city in Connecticut....

. They played their home games at the Danbury Ice Arena

Danbury Ice Arena

The Danbury Arena is a 2,212-seat multi-purpose arena in Danbury, Connecticut. It was built in 1999 and renovated and expanded in 2004. The Danbury Arena was the former home of the Danbury Trashers of the United Hockey League from 2004-2006, and the New England Stars of the North Eastern Hockey...

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The team was first established in the 2004-2005 season, as an expansion team. The team was sponsored by the AWD waste disposal company and owned by A.J. Galante, son of AWD CEO James Galante

James Galante

James Galante is a convicted felon and associate of the Genovese crime family, owner of the defunct Danbury Trashers minor league hockey team, and ex-CEO of Automated Waste Disposal , a company which holds waste disposal contracts for most of western Connecticut and Westchester and Putnam counties...

 and grandson of infamous mob boss Carmine Galante

Carmine Galante

Carmine Galante, also known as "Lilo" and "Cigar" was a mobster and acting boss of the Bonanno crime family...

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The Trashers' first season was fairly successful, ending with elimination in the semi-final round of the Colonial Cup

Colonial Cup

The Colonial Cup was the second highest level of competition within Fijian rugby union and was intended to be a stepping stone for local players into international rugby union...

 Playoffs by the defending champions, the Muskegon Fury

Muskegon Fury

The Muskegon Fury was a International Hockey League ice hockey team located in Muskegon, Michigan.The Fury were established in 1992 after the original Muskegon Lumberjacks of the International Hockey League's previous incarnation relocated to Cleveland, Ohio...

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The Trashers won the UHL East Division in 2005-06. They also went undefeated in regulation during the entire month of December 2005, boasting a record of 11-0-3. The Trashers lost in the 2005-06 UHL Finals 4 games to 1 to the Kalamazoo K-Wings. They were the only team to beat Kalamazoo in the postseason.

Controversy

In June, 2006, twenty-nine people, including James Galante

James Galante

James Galante is a convicted felon and associate of the Genovese crime family, owner of the defunct Danbury Trashers minor league hockey team, and ex-CEO of Automated Waste Disposal , a company which holds waste disposal contracts for most of western Connecticut and Westchester and Putnam counties...

 and former Trashers' coach Todd Stirling, were indicted for various fraud charges which included defrauding the United Hockey League

United Hockey League

The United Hockey League was a low-level professional ice hockey league , with teams in the United States...

 in the Trashers' operation. Among the indictees was Matthew "Matty the Horse," Ianniello

Matthew Ianniello

Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello is a New York mobster with the Genovese crime family mobster who specialized in vice operations. He was acting boss of the family from 1998–2005 and is the owner of numerous nightclubs in the New York City area.-Little Italy:Ianniello got the nickname "Matty the...

 of Old Westbury, NY, a reputed boss in the Genovese crime family

Genovese crime family

The Genovese crime family , is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...

. By June 2008, Galante, Stirling, and Ianniello had all pled guilty to the charges.

Among the allegations, Stirling and Galante allegedly violated the UHL's $275,000/team salary cap by giving several players and their wives no-show jobs with AWD and hiding illegitimate payments as housing allowances, according to the indictment, which stated that the Trashers' real payroll was nearly $750,000. http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2006/06/12/news/news01.txt Stirling faced six counts of wire fraud related to the filing of fraudulent weekly salary-cap reports, for which he was found guilty and received probation. http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-trasher1022.artoct22,0,3737970.story

Amidst these allegations, and with the dissolution of most of the Eastern Division (especially the concurrent suspension of the Adirondack team) the Danbury Trashers suspended operations. They were replaced by the New England Stars, who competed with three other teams in the North Eastern Hockey League

North Eastern Hockey League

The North Eastern Hockey League was a semi-professional ice hockey league from 2003 until 2008. It was created by entrepreneur Jim Cashman, who served as league president. The NEHL was built to focus on giving players that were not quite ready for the ECHL, United Hockey League, and the Central...

.

The UHL never formally revoked the franchise, but the team never returned in the remaining four years of the league's existence.