The Boston Gold Kings made it all the way to the finals for the second year in a row in 2025-26, this time falling in the last round. The Watertown-based hockey team will have more competition in 2026-27, as the league expands.
Gold Kings General Manager and Director of Hockey Cameron Labrecque said the team followed its 2024-25 Championship season with another strong performance, falling to the Hudson Valley Reapers in the finals.
“I think this was a very successful year. We came into it being pretty confident. We knew the New York team would be as good as they proved to be, but we thought we had just as fair of a chance at winning the championship as, really, anybody else,” Labrecque said. “They, in the end, obviously, proved to be the better team, but we were definitely in it in the championship series. The score doesn’t necessarily show that, but we had some great opportunities, and we had a great team going into it, and I think out of anybody we probably had the best shot of winning it versus them.”
The Reapers were the new addition to the then Power Play Senior Hockey League. Next season, the league will be rebranded as the Colonial Hockey League and will add some new competition.
“It’s the same league, they’re changing the name. It’s the league is owned by Power Play Enterprise,” Labrecque said. “For several years they’ve run their own adult hockey leagues throughout pretty much Mass and New Hampshire, but they’ve grown to other states.”
This is not the first change for the Senior A level league. The four teams that started as the APHL wanted to go in their own direction, focusing on New England and the Northeast.
“They stepped in and created the Power Play Senior Hockey League,” said Labrecque, who likes the new name.
“As long as that league has been around, there’s been the kind of thought or connotation that it’s just, it’s still just men’s league hockey, it’s beer league, it’s adult hockey, it’s ‘you’re just there to have fun,’ and it’s not legit or anything,” Labrecque said. “It’s pretty far from that. So, they wanted to separate themselves and do a full rebrand as the Colonial Hockey League, and I think it’s already working out pretty well in the league’s favor and the team’s favor.”
Two additional teams will skate with in the Colonial Hockey League, one in Connecticut and one in Rhode Island.
“They just added the Connecticut Nutmeggers. They play out of Northford, Connecticut,” Labrecque said. “They are run by a player that used to be on the Holyoke Paperman for the past two seasons. He played most of the season two years ago, and then this past season he wasn’t around very much, but he’s a big draw for the league because he’s huge on social media.”
The team started as a roller hockey team, but the Nutmeggers took the step into Senior A ice hockey. Joining them will be the South County Platypus, which will be based in the University of Rhode Island’s rink in Kingston, Rhode Island.
Labrecque welcomes the new competition.
“As much as we love playing the teams that have been around for since the PPSHL started, … It’s always nice to have new faces, so you’re not playing the same teams over and over,” Labrecque said. “I think it’ll grow the number of games we played by two to four. We might do an 18- or 20-game season, depending on the final number of teams.”
Before the season starts, the Gold Kings will hold a free agent camp, conduct off-season skates, plus host a golf tournament fundraiser.
The Gold Kings Free Agent Camp gives players the opportunity to compete for roster spots on the team. Three sessions will be held, June 9, 18, and 25 at Babson Skating Center in Wellesley. More information is available by clicking here.
The team also scheduled a couple of road trips to play some preseason games.
“We always do an exhibition series. We started that our second year,” Labrecque said. “The first time we went to Reno, Nevada, and then last year we went to Texas to play the Mansfield Barracudas.”
This season, the Gold Kings will return to the Lone Star State to place the Texas Scorpions, which is an offshoot of the Barracudas started by a couple of goalies. They also started as a roller hockey team that gained a strong social media following.
The Gold Kings will also head to Wisconsin in October to face the Kenosha Knights. The dates of both exhibitions have yet to be confirmed.