The team was originally known as the 1000 Islands Privateers and played at the Bonnie Castle Recreation Center in Alexandria Bay for two seasons before moving to Watertown for the 2012–13 season. On March 1, 2013, Privateers owner and president Nicole Kirnan served as the team's coach for the first time, making her the first woman to head coach a professional hockey team in the United States. Before the 2013–14 season, the Privateers revamped their identity by changing their name to the Watertown Privateers and redesigning their jerseys and logo. Brad Zangs was brought in as new head coach.
Wolves
Watertown's FHL team returned for the 2014–15 with new ownership after the previous owners decided not to continue. The team rechristened itself as the Watertown Wolves during this season. In their first season, the Wolves won both the regular season and the playoffs championship. First-year head coach, Brent Clarke, would be named FHL Coach of the Year, but would resign after the season. The Wolves suspended operations for the 2015–16 season to allow for the Watertown Municipal Arena to be renovated; the team attempted to find another arena in Northern New York to use, but were unable to find an available venue. The renovations were completed on schedule and the Wolves signed a new one-year lease agreement with the city of Watertown in order to return after one season off. The Wolves returned for the 2016–17 season and hired Phil Esposito as head coach. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the franchise was purchased by IDHL, LLC., the a subsidiary of the FHL and an organization that had announced to be operating a developmental league as feeder system for the FHL called the International Developmental Hockey League. The IDHL put off launching the new league and would instead focus solely on operating the Wolves. The shareholders in Top Shelf Hockey eventually left the Wolves organization outright later in the offseason stating they had grown exhausted over the major financial and emotional investments they were making in the franchise. The new owners did not retain Esposito as coach and instead hired Trevor Karasiewicz. Karasiewicz led the team to a league championship in first season. After his second season, he left for the head coaching position with the Fresno Monsters, a junior team in the Western States Hockey League. Former Danville Dashers coach Paul MacLean was brought in as his replacement. The franchise was sold again in 2020 with entrepreneur Andreas Johansson as majority owner and league commissioner Don Kirnan staying on in a minority role.
