P.E.I.'s Bennett MacArthur named captain of ECHL's Jacksonville Icemen

Bennett MacArthur feels like he’s found a home in Florida.

And so do the Jacksonville Icemen.

The Icemen recently named the 25-year-old MacArthur, from Summerside, P.E.I., as team captain for the 2026-27 ECHL season.

“It was obviously an honour,” said MacArthur about the captaincy appointment. “It was nice to hear that and just that the coaching staff and the players have my trust.”

MacArthur, a six-foot, 195-pound forward, said wearing the C will not change the way he does many things. But MacArthur is big on accountability.

“I’m just going to be consistent every day and hopefully that can rub off on some other guys,” said MacArthur. “Then, obviously, there’s the accountability of the thing as well. I expect guys to hold me accountable as well and I think that’s how teams get better and you get better as individuals and ultimately leads to more wins.”

MacArthur is entering his fifth season in professional hockey and his third with the Icemen.

“It’s been great,” MacArthur said about playing in Jacksonville, which opens the 2026-27 regular season at home against South Carolina on Oct. 16. “There was a bit of movement at the start of my career, just with a couple trades with NHL rights getting traded. But it’s nice to find a home here and everything about the city is amazing.”

That includes facilities and a strong fan base, added MacArthur.

“The fan base is, I think, the best in the league,” said MacArthur. “We average, I think, over 10,000 a night, the most in the league. It’s a pretty special place to play and, obviously, an honour to lead the team as well.”

MacArthur described the downtown area as a pretty cool setup. MacArthur added the home stadiums for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars and triple-A baseball’s Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, along with the Icemen’s home arena, are all in proximity.

“It’s a pretty happening spot and there’s lots going on,” said MacArthur. “Even with all the other stuff going on, the fans stil show up and I think we’re expecting to have like 14 or 15,000 on Friday night. It’s a pretty special fan base.“

MacArthur, coming off a 13-goal and 36-point season in 42 regular-season games with the Icemen, is looking to contribute at both ends of the rink.

“I want to be consistent every night, whether it’s contributing offensively or being a solid two-way kind of player,” said MacArthur. “I think I got a little bit of both in my game and consistency is a big one for me and just doing whatever I can do to help the team win.”

With having played at least parts of five seasons in the ECHL the last five years, MacArthur feels the caliber of play is getting a lot better. MacArthur feels there is a lot more skill and speed in the league today.

“I don’t know the exact numbers, but there are I’d say seven or eight AHL-, NHL-contracted guys down on every team,” said MacArthur. “It varies, but there’s a lot of skill and speed and the game used to kind of be like a fighters’ league here, but it’s really turning into a fast and skilled game with a lot of guys moving up and playing in the AHL or going overseas and finding opportunities over there.”

Like most professional athletes, MacArthur has experienced his share of ups and downs along the way.

“The first few years I was traded a couple times and went to a lot of different teams, which is never easy getting settled with a new team right off the bat,” said MacArthur. “I have learned a lot and now that I’m kind of settled here in Jacksonville for now, it feels good and it’s just nice to be in a comfortable spot and I know a lot of the guys and the staff…

“But it’s been a lot of fun.”

Jason Simmonds is a sports reporter at The Guardian in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached at jsimmonds@postmedia.com and followed on X @JpsportsJason.