2025 Ring of Honor Inductee: Gordy Bonnel

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FPHL Danbury Hat Tricks

2025 Ring of Honor Inductee: Gordy Bonnel

March 11, 2025 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL)
Danbury Hat Tricks News Release


DANBURY - The Danbury Hat Tricks are excited to announce the third member of this year's Danbury Ring of Honor class - former Hat Tricks forward Gordy Bonnel.

A three-year member of the Hat Tricks, Bonnel registered 102 career points (24g, 78a), including four goals and 18 assists in 31 games during Danbury's 2022-23 FPHL Commissioner's Cup run. The Maryland native spent 41 games with the Mentor Ice Breakers (13g, 26a) in the 2018-19 season before settling in as a top-six forward through three seasons in Danbury.

"When you think of Danbury Hat Tricks Hockey, you automatically think of Gordy Bonnel," co-head coach and captain Jonny Ruiz said. "On and off the ice, he's one of the best leaders to ever step foot into the Danbury Ice Arena. He was a huge piece of bringing a championship back to Danbury. He will always be a brother of mine and I'm so proud to see him being honored like this and put into the Ring of Honor."

Bonnel will join five other new members in this year's Ring of Honor class. All inductees will be honored on Alumni Night on Saturday, March 29 in a pregame reception inside the Axe Tricks Lounge before the Hat Tricks battle the Binghamton Black Bears at 7 p.m. Alumni in attendance will be introduced on the ice at the first intermission.

"This induction is just a surreal thing to take in," Bonnel said. "For about 10 seconds, I was just speechless. It's something that a lot of players dream of, putting in a lot of time into an organization, putting your heart and soul into everything with everyone there, and coming so close to winning. And then you win a Commissioner's Cup, retire, and to now get welcomed back to Danbury where your name is going to be forever represented at that rink ... Danbury made it so special for me that anyone could come up to you and there are no nerves. There's just happiness and joy and a motivation knowing I am here for a reason and to push myself for this team."

In 10 FPHL playoff contests for the Hat Tricks, Bonnel turned in a goal and six assists, including an assist on a go-ahead goal in the fifth and final game of the 2023 Commissioner's Cup championship series, helping lift the Hat Tricks to a 3-2 overtime win.

"You try to put every memory into one moment after winning with kids and men who you count as your family for the rest of your life," Bonnel said. "That is a forever-lasting moment that I'll remember and I know every other guy in that dressing room will. Winning a cup should make you closer but we were already so close that we knew what our potential was. And the fact that we made it happen, it created an unbreakable bond between the players and the organization."

Added co-head coach and assistant captain Kyle Gonzalez, also a member of Danbury's 2022-23 Commissioner's Cup group, "There is nothing but proud feelings coming from myself along with everybody else in the organization," co-head coach and alternate captain Kyle Gonzalez said. "Gordy bled Orange and Black, and he played a huge part in our championship year. To see someone like Gordy go into the Ring of Honor is something that anyone could have seen forthcoming."

Bonnel is fourth all-time in Hat Tricks history in points (102) and holds the fifth-most games played (96).

Following his final Commissioner's Cup festivities and retirement from professional hockey, Bonnel launched his own detailing business and says he still follows Hat Tricks hockey as he awaits his honoring on Alumni Night on March 29.

"The type of person he was day in and day out, it wasn't an act," Gonzalez said. "It was genuinely who he was, a blue-collared type player. The player that's the first to go down and block shots for the fellas, the first one to be in piles to help fellas."

On Alumni Night, the Hat Tricks will raise a banner including the names of this year's honorees next to the team's banners, the previous Danbury Ring of Honor members, and former Whalers winger Corey Fulton's retired number.

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