Watertown Daily Times
By CRAIG FOX
TIMES STAFF WRITER

WATERTOWN, NY  — Local hockey fans will be rooting for the Watertown Wolves when the city’s new Federal Hockey League team season starts next month.

On Friday, the owners of Watertown’s semiprofessional hockey league team announced the results of a team-naming contest.

After over 1,000 nominations and votes, the team’s owners, Top Shelf Hockey LLC, chose the Wolves from five finalists — the others were Blizzard, Ice Storm, Vortex and Whiteout. The owners could not be reached for comment.

Shawn M. Travers, a board member for the Watertown Hockey Association youth hockey organization, said likes the name.

“I guess it has relevancy to the area,” he said. “It has some ties to the area.”

Mr. Travers noted that the there are new wolf cubs at the New York Zoo at Thompson Park. A pack of nine pups were born at the zoo last March.

The unidentified winner of the team-naming contest who came up with “Watertown Wolves” will receive a pair of season tickets for the team’s 2014-15 season. Their identity will be announced pending their notification.

The Wolves will play in the Federal Hockey League, which is entering its fifth season. Opening night is scheduled for Oct. 17. They replace the Watertown Privateers, and before that, the Thousand Islands Privateers, based in Alexandria Bay. That franchise lasted four seasons.

The Wolves will play at the city-owned Watertown Municipal Arena at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds.

Top Shelf announced that the team’s colors will be black, silver and white. The Wolves logo and uniform, and team mascot will be revealed in an upcoming news conference.

Top Shelf Hockey LLC is a local group of area residents who want to keep professional hockey in the area and has been awarded a FHL franchise.