Central Hockey League

Central Hockey League
2010–11 CHL season
File:CHL Logo.jpeg
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1992
No. of teams	18
Country(ies)	United States
Most recent champion(s)	Rapid City Rush
Most championship(s)	(tie) Wichita Thunder, Oklahoma City Blazers, Memphis RiverKings, Laredo Bucks, & Colorado Eagles (2)
Official website	www.centralhockeyleague.com

The Central Hockey League (CHL) is a mid-level professional hockey league, owned by Global Entertainment Corporation.

History

The Central Hockey League (CHL) was revived in 1992 by Bill Levins and Ray Miron under the idea of central ownership of both the league and the teams. Both men were from hockey backgrounds—Miron had been general manager of what is now the New Jersey Devils and had briefly been president of the previous Central Hockey League in 1976.

In the inaugural 1992–93 season the league had six teams, including the Oklahoma City Blazers, the Tulsa Oilers, the Wichita Thunder, the Memphis RiverKings, the Dallas Freeze and the Fort Worth Fire.

In 1996-97 the Huntsville Channel Cats, along with the planned 1996–97 Southern Hockey League expansion teams Columbus Cottonmouths, Macon Whoopee, and Nashville Nighthawks, joined the Central Hockey League following the SHL's demise.

After Levins died, the championship trophy awarded to the winner of the CHL playoffs was renamed the Levins Cup. After running the league for eight years, Miron retired in 2000 and sold the league. The Levins Cup was renamed the Ray Miron President's Cup.

After several experiments in expansion and a long battle for players and markets with the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL), the CHL merged with the WPHL in 2001.

The CHL commissioner is currently Duane Lewis, who succeeded Brad Treliving on an interim basis after Treliving took a position with the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes following the 2006-2007 season. Treliving co-founded the WPHL in 1996, and after the 2001 merger, served with the CHL for 7 years.

Current teams

The CHL is divided into two Conferences. Teams compete annually for the Ray Miron President's Cup.

Northern Conference
Team	Arena	City/area	Affiliate team(s)
Bloomington PrairieThunder	U.S. Cellular Coliseum	Bloomington, Illinois
Colorado Eagles	Budweiser Events Center	Loveland, Colorado
Dayton Gems	Hara Arena	Trotwood, Ohio
Evansville IceMen	Swonder Ice Arena	Evansville, Indiana
Fort Wayne Komets	Allen County War Memorial Coliseum	Fort Wayne, Indiana
Missouri Mavericks	Independence Events Center	Independence, Missouri
Quad City Mallards	i Wireless Center	Moline, Illinois	Philadelphia Flyers, Adirondack Phantoms
Rapid City Rush	Rushmore Plaza Civic Center	Rapid City, South Dakota
Wichita Thunder	Intrust Bank Arena	Wichita, Kansas
Southern Conference
Team	Arena	City/area	Affiliate team(s)
Allen Americans	Allen Event Center	Allen, Texas	Dallas Stars, Texas Stars
Arizona Sundogs	Tim's Toyota Center	Prescott Valley, Arizona
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs	CenturyTel Center	Bossier City, Louisiana
Laredo Bucks	Laredo Energy Arena	Laredo, Texas
Mississippi RiverKings	DeSoto Civic Center	Southaven, Mississippi
Odessa Jackalopes	Ector County Coliseum	Odessa, Texas	New York Islanders, Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees	State Farm Arena	Hidalgo, Texas
Texas Brahmas	NYTEX Sports Centre	North Richland Hills, TX
Tulsa Oilers	BOK Center	Tulsa, Oklahoma

Defunct teams

• Austin Ice Bats (1996 to 2008), began play in WPHL before moving to CHL in 2001, cited lack of support at Chaparral Ice, upcoming competition with future AHL team Texas Stars as reasons for folding, team looking to relocate)
• Border City Bandits (Texarkana, TX) 2000–01 season only, suspended by league on 2/20/01
• Columbus Cottonmouths (Columbus, GA) 1996 to 2001, moved to ECHL from 2001–04 and SPHL from 2004 to date
• Dallas Freeze (1992 to 1995)
• El Paso Buzzards (WPHL 1996 to 2001, CHL 2001 to 2003)
• Fayetteville Force (1997 to 2001)
• Fort Worth Fire (1992 to 1999)
• Huntsville Channel Cats (began in Southern Hockey League 1995–96, moved to CHL from 1996 to 1999, changed name to Huntsville Tornado in 1999–2000)
• Indianapolis Ice (began play in IHL from 1988 to 1999, moved to CHL from 1999 to 2004. Franchise was sold and moved to Topeka, KS where they played as the Topeka Tarantulas for 2004–05)
• Lubbock Cotton Kings (1999 to 2007), arena problems forced team to go dark
• Macon Whoopee (1996 to 2001), moved to ECHL for 2001–02.
• Nashville Nighthawks (1996–97, changed name to Nashville Ice Flyers for 1997–98. The Ice Flyers made looked into the possibility of relocating to Albany, Georgia after the 1997–98 season following the announcement that the Nashville Predators were joining the NHL for the 1998–99 season. For whatever reason that relocation never occurred)
• Oklahoma City Blazers (1992 to 2009), folded on July 2, 2009.
• San Antonio Iguanas (1994 to 1997, 1998 to 2002)
• San Angelo Outlaws (WPHL 1997–2001, CHL 2001–02), changed name to San Angelo Saints from 2002–2005
• Topeka ScareCrows (1998 to 2001)
• Youngstown SteelHounds (2005 to 2008), CHL suddenly announced they would no longer be playing in that league, team looking to join IHL or ECHL.

Expansion

File:CHL Logo.jpeg Central Hockey League expansions
Year	Teams	Expansion	Defunct	Suspended	Return from Hiatus	Relocated	Name Changes
1992	6	Dallas Freeze Fort Worth Fire Memphis RiverKings Oklahoma City Blazers Tulsa Oilers Wichita Thunder
1993	6
1994	7	San Antonio Iguanas
1995	6		Dallas Freeze
1996	10	Columbus Cottonmouths Huntsville Channel Cats Macon Whoopie Nashville Nighthawks
1997	10	Fayetteville Force	San Antonio Iguanas (went to IHL)				Nashville Ice Flyers (Nighthawks)
1998	11	San Antonio Iguanas Topeka Scarecrows	Nashville Ice Flyers
1999	11	Indianapolis Ice	Fort Worth Fire
2000	12	Border City Bandits	Border City Bandits (went defunct mid-season)				Huntsville Tornado (Channel Cats)
2001	16	Amarillo Rattlers (WPHL) Austin Ice Bats (WPHL) Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (WPHL) Corpus Christi Icerays (WPHL) El Paso Buzzards (WPHL) Fort Worth Brahmas (WPHL) Lubbock Cotton Kings (WPHL) New Mexico Scorpions (WPHL) Odessa Jackalopes (WPHL) San Angelo Outlaws (WPHL)	Columbus Cottonmouths (went to ECHL) Fayetteville Force Huntsville Tornado Macon Whoopie (went to ECHL) Topeka Scarecrows
2002	16	Laredo Bucks	San Antonio Iguanas				Amarillo Gorillas (Rattlers) San Angelo Saints (Outlaws)
2003	17	Colorado Eagles Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees	EL Paso Buzzards
2004	17					Indianapolis Ice → Topeka Tarantulas
2005	15	Youngstown SteelHounds	San Angelo Saints Topeka Tarantulas	New Mexico Scorpions
2006	17	Arizona Sundogs Rocky Mountain Rage		Texas Brahmas	New Mexico Scorpions		Texas Brahmas (Fort Worth)
2007	17		Lubbock Cotton Kings		Texas Brahmas		Mississippi RiverKings (Memphis)
2008	16	Rapid City Rush	Austin Ice Bats Youngstown Steelhounds
2009	15	Allen Americans Missouri Mavericks	Oklahoma City Blazers	New Mexico Scorpions Rocky Mountain Rage
2010	18	Bloomington PrairieThunder (IHL) Dayton Gems (IHL) Evansville IceMen(IHL) Fort Wayne Komets (IHL) Quad City Mallards (IHL)	Amarillo Gorillas Corpus Christi IceRays

External links

• Central Hockey League website

This article is part of the North American Minor Professional leagues portal