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somebeach
(Loves To Post!)
USA
1224 Posts |
 Posted - 01/17/2012 : 9:25:37 PM
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Komets considering move to ECHL
Justin A. Cohn | The Journal Gazette
With 20 teams, and another already slated for next season in Orlando, Fla., the ECHL seems to be on more solid ice than the 14-team CHL.
And with five ECHL teams within five hours drive of Fort Wayne, it would seem to make sense for the Komets to join.
The Komets are considering a move from the CHL to the ECHL, which has positioned itself as the top AA-level developmental league for the NHL.
"We will not make any decisions public till the season is over," team president Michael Franke wrote in an email Tuesday. "We are still doing a lot of due diligence regarding our options, checking out all the options so we can make a good decision."
Multiple sources said Franke is meeting with ECHL officials this week, and that Evansville is also atop the league's wish list.
Franke wouldn't confirm that -- the ECHL meetings are taking place in Charleston, S.C. -- but he wrote no vote is imminent on the Komets' inclusion for 2012-13.
An ECHL with the 60-year-old Komets would make sense, considering there are teams in Chicago, Kalamazoo (Mich.), Toledo (Ohio), Cincinnati (Ohio) and Wheeling (W.Va.).
Except for Wheeling, those cities were rivals of Fort Wayne in the original IHL, where the Komets played until 1999. Since then, the Komets have skated eight seasons in the UHL, winning one championship, had three championship seasons in the reincarnated IHL and played two seasons in the CHL.
The Komets have averaged 7,662 fans this season, second in all of minor-league hockey to the AAA-level American Hockey League's Hershey Bears, who average 9,439.
The CHL had 18 teams last season but lost four over the summer with reigning champion Bossier-Shreveport (La.) folding, Odessa (Texas) going to the junior-level North American Hockey League, the Mississippi RiverKings joining the Single-A Southern Professional Hockey League and the Turner Conference-champion Colorado Eagles going to the ECHL.
A source said Rapid City (S.D.), Missouri and Allen (Texas) could also move to the ECHL. Bloomington (Ill.), Dayton (Ohio) and Arizona, among the lowest-drawing teams in the CHL, must evaluate if they can stay afloat.
That leaves only Wichita (Kan.), Tulsa (Okl.), Quad City (Ill.), and Texas-based teams Laredo, Rio Grande Valley and the Texas Brahmas, to decide what to do. Some could move to juniors, join the ECHL or SPHL, be sold or push for a full merger between the CHL and ECHL, which would greatly cut down on travel costs for all.
The Komets had considered joining the ECHL in 2010 – one of the stumbling blocks was a six-to-seven figure franchise fee the league required – but they chose to join the CHL along with IHL brethren Bloomington, Quad City and Dayton.
Dayton is the only current rival within five hours.
The collective bargaining agreement between the Professional Hockey Players' Association and the CHL expires after this season, as does the working agreement between IHL teams and the CHL.
"If the membership came back next year in all the (CHL) cities, it would be great," Franke said Friday, cautioning people from assuming the Komets will bolt the league.
Most teams have NHL affiliations in the ECHL, which spans from Estero, Fla., to Anchorage, Alaska.
ECHL teams can have only four veteran players in games, while CHL teams can have seven. ECHL teams have higher salary caps ($12,400 per week) than those in the CHL ($10,650 per week plus 50 percent of one exempt player). |
What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
ZINGER!!!!! |
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dbc
(Been Here Awhile)
865 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2012 : 1:14:52 PM
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| Interesting. The big plus for the league is the attendance they would bring including a strong traveling fan base, the big minus is ownership which the ECHL might not want to have to deal with-especially the ownership in K-Zoo. Also wonder if all the other current midwest teams will be around next year. Chicago, Wheeling and K-Zoo are the bottom three in attendance for the entire league this year. |
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somebeach
(Loves To Post!)
USA
1224 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2012 : 5:35:18 PM
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And now news of this................
Wheeling Nailers hockey franchise up for sale
The Wheeling Nailers hockey franchise is up for sale, officials with the organization confirmed on Thursday.
Current owners Jim and Rob Brooks are searching for new owners for the team, said Nailers' Vice President of Business Operations Craig Bommer.
Bommer told NEWS9 that the Brooks brothers hope to find local owners and ultimately keep the team in Wheeling. However, because keeping the team based there depends on finding local owners, the future of hockey in Wheeling is yet to be determined.
The team is the Ohio Valley's biggest professional sports team. It is part of the ECHL, which was formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League. The team already plays some of its games in Johnstown, Pa., after the ECHL's franchise there -- the former Johnstown Chiefs -- were moved to South Carolina.
WesBanco Arena has been the Nailers' home since 1992. The team has changed ownership and names, and this is the third time in the team's history it has been up for sale.
The Brooks brothers continue to be very busy in the hockey world and are currently working to build a new arena in Allentown, Pa., to relocate their AHL franchise, the Phantoms, from Glenn Falls, New York.
Representatives from the Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority said though the Nailers sale isn't good news, now is the right time to do it because it's midway through the ECHL hockey season. They said the timing provides opportunities for potentially interested local buyers to get everything in order.
In addition, representatives with the authority said they understand the owners' business decision and are not going to panic. They said the timing of this announcement also allows the authority to plan for a possible future without the Nailers at WesBanco and make adjustments for event scheduling.
"Rob and Jim Brooks have been great partners. We look forward to working with them, and I don't know what their take on this will be when they get back to town -- they're at league meetings now -- but they'll be back in and explain this whole thing," Denny Magruder of Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority said.
Fans said they hope the team can stay in Wheeling.
"We like the Nailers. We don't want them to go," said James Hicks, of Wheeling.
"We hope they stay here. We really enjoy the games and we like going," said Paula Hicks, also of Wheeling.
Reports (unconfirmed) is they have been sold and are relocating to Savannah, Georgia next season. |
What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
ZINGER!!!!! |
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Reggie Dunlop
(The Next Level!)
USA
399 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2012 : 3:44:53 PM
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| That's too bad about Wheeling. I was there on Sunday for the game and enjoyed it. I loved how close to the ice we were as spectators. The arena has a lot of personality and local flavor. All the Wheeling fans were very nice and into their team. That city can't afford to lose that team. |
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