« BEES SIGN BANGA AS PLAYER/ASSISTANT | Home | CHL GOALIE JOINS U.S. ARMY RESERVE »
2008-09 CHL LINEUP COMPLETE
By Killer Bee Hockey | June 2, 2008
It’s been a while since posting here. I’ve been waiting for a few things to shake out while devoting 99% of my time to the RGV Dorados. I got this email from the CHL a bit earlier today. The jist of it is that Austin and Corpus Christi are kaput for 2008-09. I think we all knew it was coming. The wild card in the release is that Youngstown will no longer be a member of the CHL.
There were rumblings as far back as last season that the Hounds would be out, but it has finally come to fruition. The talk last year was that the stronger UHL teams would merge with the CHL, providing a nice northern division (Youngstown, Fort Wayne, Kalazmazoo, Muskegon, Bloomington, Flint). Word is the UHL teams didn’t want to play by the CHL’s rules, thereby passing up a great opportunity to logically organize the leagues. Hence, the re-animation of the IHL.
No word if Youngstown will move to the IHL, USHL or NAHL. I doubt the ECHL is an option, but I also never thought Elmira would be a go in the Coast.
The pressing concern now is to figure out how to align the league. My guess is two conferences, with Texas shifting from the North to the South. Another scenario would see three divisions. This is simply conjecture on my part, but if it were up to me, here’s what I’d do.
NORTH
Colorado, Rocky Mountain, Rapid City, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Wichita, Bossier, Memphis
SOUTH
RGV, Laredo, Texas, Odessa, Amarillo, Arizona, New Mexico
EXPANSION DRAFT
An expansion draft will be held for the Rapid City Rush on Friday, June 13th during the CHL’s Summer Conference in Phoenix, Arizona where the team will select five players from existing CHL teams (each team must make four players available but can lose a maximum of one player).
Topics: Minor Observations |
June 5th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I would think that Colorado, Rocky Mountain, Rapid City, Arizona, New Mexico, Amarillo, and Odessa in the North and Laredo, RGV, Texas, Ok City, Tulsa, Bossier, Memphis and Wichita in the South. However, Wichita could go either division. You could I guess call it East and West. Travel wise that makes more sense to me but I am not sure talent wise how teams would match up.