 International Hockey League logo | |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1991 |
| Country(ies) |  United States |
| Ceased | 2010 |
| Most championships | Fort Wayne Komets & Muskegon Fury (4) |
| Official website | www.ihl-hockey.com |
The International Hockey League was a AA level professional league with teams in the United States. The league was headquartered in Rochester, Michigan prior to the merger, and as of its' last year, consisted of seven teams.
History
The IHL was originally formed in 1991 as the Colonial Hockey League, intended to fill the Great Lakes region niche abandoned by the original International Hockey League as it went upmarket. It had teams in Brantford, Ontario; Detroit, Michigan; Flint, Michigan; St. Thomas, Ontario; and Thunder Bay, Ontario. As the ECHL moved westward (into Toledo, Dayton, and Peoria), the CoHL moved eastward, into places like the Adirondacks, Danbury, CT, Binghamton, NY, and Richmond, VA. During that expansion, the league was renamed the United Hockey League in 1997, before renaming itself the International Hockey League in 2007.
The name change was intended to evoke the original IHL (1945–2001), which had long-standing franchises in the Great Lakes region. The Fort Wayne Komets were longstanding members of the original league. In addition, the Kalamazoo Wings and Flint Generals revived the names of the original Kalamazoo and Flint IHL teams. Many of the current IHL players have American Hockey League as well as European pro league experience.
On June 27, 2007, a dispersal draft was held among the six IHL teams, selecting players from the four 2006-2007 UHL franchises that were no longer part of the newly named league. Currently, Paul Pickard serves as President and CEO of the IHL; he is also president of Stadium Management Corporation.
On June 1, 2010 the league announced that it would merge into the Central Hockey League.[1]
On July 13, 2010 the Central Hockey League merged with the IHL. The five remaining IHL teams, Bloomington PrairieThunder, Dayton Gems, Evansville IceMen, Fort Wayne Komets and Quad City Mallards franchises officially merged.
Colonial/Turner Cup champions
The IHL's Colonial Cup, used through 2007.
The Turner Cup is awarded to annual playoff championship. The name Turner Cup has been restored as of September 24, 2007 as a tribute to the original IHL. Before this, the trophy given to the league playoff champions was known as the Colonial Cup. The past winners are:
- 2009-10 - Fort Wayne Komets
- 2008-09 - Fort Wayne Komets
- 2007-08 - Fort Wayne Komets - First Winners of new Turner Cup era
- 2006-07 - Rockford IceHogs - Last team to hold Colonial Cup
- 2005-06 - Kalamazoo Wings
- 2004-05 - Muskegon Fury
- 2003-04 - Muskegon Fury
- 2002-03 - Fort Wayne Komets
- 2001-02 - Muskegon Fury
- 2000-01 - Quad City Mallards
- 1999-00 - Flint Generals
- 1998-99 - Muskegon Fury
- 1997-98 - Quad City Mallards
- 1997 - Quad City Mallards
- 1996 - Flint Generals
- 1995 - Thunder Bay Senators
- 1994 - Thunder Bay Senators
- 1993 - Brantford Smoke
- 1992 - Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks
- For seasons from 1992-97 see Colonial Hockey League
Expansion
| |||||||
| Year | Teams | Expansion | Defunct | Suspended | Return from Hiatus | Relocated | Name Changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 5 | Brantford Smoke Flint Bulldogs Michigan Falcons Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks St. Thomas Wildcats |
|||||
| 1992 | 7 | Chatham Wheels Muskegon Fury |
Detroit Falcons (Michigan) Thunder Bay Thunder Cats (Thunder Hawks) | ||||
| 1993 | 8 | Flint Generals | Flint → Utica Bulldogs | Thunder Bay Senators (Thunder Cats) | |||
| 1994 | 8 | Chatham → Saginaw Wheels St. Thomas → London Wildcats |
Flint Generals (Bulldogs) Utica Blizzard (Bulldogs) | ||||
| 1995 | 9 | Quad City Mallards Madison Monsters |
London Wildcats | ||||
| 1996 | 10 | London Wildcats | Detroit → Port Huron Border Cats London → Dayton Ice Bandits |
Saginaw Lumber Kings (Wheels) Thunder Bay Thunder Cats (Senators) | |||
| 1997 | 10 | B.C. Icemen Winston-Salem IceHawks |
Utica Blizzard | Dayton Ice Bandits | |||
| 1998 | 11 | Dayton Ice Bandits | Brantford → Asheville Smoke Dayton → Mohawk Valley Prowlers |
Saginaw Gears (Lumber Kings) | |||
| 1999 | 14 | Fort Wayne Komets Madison Kodiaks Missouri River Otters |
Madison → Knoxville Speed Saginaw → Ohio Gears Thunder Bay → Rockford Icehogs Winston-Salem → Adirondack IceHawks |
||||
| 2000 | 15 | Elmira Jackals New Haven Knights |
Mohawk Valley Prowlers (mid-season) Ohio Gears |
Madison → Kalamazoo Wings | |||
| 2001 | 14 | ||||||
| 2002 | 10 | Port Huron Beacons | Asheville Smoke B.C. Icemen Knoxville Speed New Haven Knights Port Huron Border Cats |
||||
| 2003 | 12 | Columbus Stars Richmond RiverDogs |
Columbus Stars (mid-season) | ||||
| 2004 | 14 | Danbury Thrashers Kansas City Outlaws Motor City Mechanics |
Adirondack Frostbite (IceHawks) | ||||
| 2005 | 14 | Port Huron Flags | Kansas City Outlaws | Port Huron → Roanoke Valley Vipers | |||
| 2006 | 10 | Bloomington PrairieThunder | Adirondack Frostbite Danbury Trashers Missouri River Otters Motor City Mechanics Roanoke Valley Vipers |
Richmond → Chicago Hounds | |||
| 2007 | 6 | Port Huron Icehawks | Chicago Hounds Elmira Jackals Port Huron Flags Quad City Mallards Rockford IceHogs |
||||
| 2008 | 6 | Muskegon Lumberjacks (Fury) | |||||
| 2009 | 6 | Dayton Gems | Kalamazoo Wings | ||||
Former teams
External links
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at International Hockey League (2007–2010). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA). |
- ↑ Central Hockey League and International Hockey League Make Major Announcement
- ↑ Jackals moved to ECHL - http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi?action=show_news&cat=1&id=10749
- ↑ Wings moved to ECHL - http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi?action=show_news2&id=19007
- ↑ Had assets bought out by Rockford IceHogs of American Hockey League - http://www.theahl.com/news/league/index.html?article_id=7559
