Sport | Ice hockey |
---|---|
Founded | 1992 |
Ceased | 2014 |
Countries |
United States Canada |
Last champion(s) | Allen Americans |
Most titles | (tie) Allen Americans, Wichita Thunder, Oklahoma City Blazers, Memphis RiverKings, Laredo Bucks, & Colorado Eagles (2) |
The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which operated the league from 2000 to 2013, at which point it was purchased by the individual franchise owners. As of the end of its final season in 2014, three of the 30 National Hockey League teams had affiliations with the CHL: the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, and Tampa Bay Lightning.[ citation needed]
Several teams of defunct leagues joined the CHL along its history, including the Southern Hockey League, Western Professional Hockey League and International Hockey League. After two teams suspended operations during the 2014 offseason, the ECHL accepted the remaining seven teams as members in October 2014, meaning the end for the CHL after 22 seasons. [1]
The Central Hockey League (CHL) was revived in 1992 by Ray Miron and the efforts of Bill Levins, with the idea of central ownership of both the league and the teams. Both men were from hockey backgrounds. Miron had been general manager of the Colorado Rockies (now the New Jersey Devils), and had briefly been president of the previous Central Hockey League in 1976. In the inaugural 1992β93 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.[ citation needed]
After Levins died, the league's 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 experiments in expansion and an ongoing battle for players and markets with the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) throughout the late 1990s, the CHL merged with the WPHL in 2001, with 10 former WPHL teams joining the CHL for the 2001β02 season. However, several years of gradual contraction in the former WPHL markets claimed most of these teams in the ensuing years. The last active former WPHL team, the Fort Worth Brahmas, effectively ceased operations following the 2012β13 season. Subsequently, in 2010, the International Hockey League folded and all five remaining IHL teams joined the CHL; the last of these, the Quad City Mallards, folded in 2018 in the ECHL.
Brad Treliving, who co-founded the WPHL in 1996, became CHL commissioner following the merger, before leaving to join the Phoenix Coyotes. [2] Duane Lewis was named the permanent commissioner in June 2008. [3] In October 2013, the CHL appointed former president of the Pittsburgh Penguins Steve Ryan to succeed Lewis.
On March 8, 2013, the Central Hockey League announced an expansion team in Brampton, Ontario. The Brampton Beast would become the first Canadian team in the CHL's history. In October 2013, the Central Hockey League was purchased from Global Entertainment by all the team owners, putting the CHL business model in line with that of the NHL and AHL.
On May 2, 2014 the St. Charles Chill ceased operations. Soon after, the Arizona Sundogs and Denver Cutthroats suspended operations. [4] On October 7, 2014, it was announced that the ECHL had accepted the Central Hockey League's remaining seven teams as members for the 2014β15 season, officially signaling the end of the Central Hockey League after 22 seasons. [5] [6]
The Allen Americans, who won the last two CHL President's Cups, won two consecutive ECHL titles following the folding of the Central Hockey League.
The Mississippi RiverKings, Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder were the last of the original six franchises still playing at the end of the CHL's tenure; the RiverKings since folded, in 2018. In the 2014β15 season, ten teams (Allen, Brampton, Colorado, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Missouri, Quad City, Rapid City, Tulsa, and Wichita) were in the ECHL, two teams (Mississippi and Columbus) were in the SPHL, and four organizations (Corpus Christi, Fort Worth Brahmas, Odessa, and Rio Grande Valley) fielded junior teams in the NAHL.
Of the CHL's remaining teams prior to October 7, 2014, Tulsa, Wichita, Allen, Colorado, Fort Wayne, Missouri (now Kansas City), and Rapid City are still active as of 2023.
Of the CHL's six original teams from the 1992-1993 inaugural season, only the Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder remain and are still active as of 2023.
Year | Teams | Expansion | Defunct | Suspended | Return from hiatus | Relocated | Name changes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1992β93 | 6 | Dallas Freeze Fort Worth Fire Memphis RiverKings Oklahoma City Blazers Tulsa Oilers Wichita Thunder |
|||||
1993β94 | 6 | ||||||
1994β95 | 7 | San Antonio Iguanas | |||||
1995β96 | 6 | Dallas Freeze | |||||
1996β97 | 10 | Columbus Cottonmouths Huntsville Channel Cats Macon Whoopie Nashville Nighthawks |
|||||
1997β98 | 10 | Fayetteville Force | San Antonio Iguanas | Nashville Nighthawks β Nashville Ice Flyers | |||
1998β99 | 11 | Topeka Scarecrows | Nashville Ice Flyers | San Antonio Iguanas | |||
1999β00 | 11 | Indianapolis Ice | Fort Worth Fire | ||||
2000β01 | 12 | Border City Bandits | Border City Bandits (defunct mid-season) | Huntsville Channel Cats β Huntsville Tornado | |||
2001β02 | 16 | Amarillo Rattlers (from
WPHL) Austin Ice Bats (from WPHL) Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (from WPHL) Corpus Christi Ice Rays (from WPHL) El Paso Buzzards (from WPHL) Fort Worth Brahmas (from WPHL) Lubbock Cotton Kings (from WPHL) New Mexico Scorpions (from WPHL) Odessa Jackalopes (from WPHL) San Angelo Outlaws (from WPHL) |
Columbus Cottonmouths (to
ECHL) Fayetteville Force Huntsville Tornado Macon Whoopie (replaced by ECHL) Topeka Scarecrows (replaced by USHL) |
||||
2002β03 | 16 | Laredo Bucks | San Antonio Iguanas | Amarillo Rattlers β Amarillo Gorillas San Angelo Outlaws β San Angelo Saints | |||
2003β04 | 17 | Colorado Eagles Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees |
El Paso Buzzards | Corpus Christi Ice Rays β Corpus Christi Rayz | |||
2004β05 | 17 | Indianapolis Ice β Topeka Tarantulas | |||||
2005β06 | 15 | Youngstown SteelHounds | San Angelo Saints Topeka Tarantulas |
New Mexico Scorpions | |||
2006β07 | 17 | Arizona Sundogs Rocky Mountain Rage |
Fort Worth Brahmas | New Mexico Scorpions | |||
2007β08 | 17 | Lubbock Cotton Kings | Fort Worth Brahmas | Fort Worth Brahmas β Texas Brahmas Memphis RiverKings β Mississippi RiverKings | |||
2008β09 | 16 | Rapid City Rush | Austin Ice Bats Youngstown Steelhounds |
Corpus Christi Rayz β Corpus Christi IceRays | |||
2009β10 | 15 | Allen Americans Missouri Mavericks |
New Mexico Scorpions Oklahoma City Blazers Rocky Mountain Rage |
||||
2010β11 | 18 | Bloomington PrairieThunder (from
IHL) Dayton Gems (from IHL) Evansville IceMen (from IHL) Fort Wayne Komets (from IHL) Quad City Mallards (from IHL) |
Amarillo Gorillas Corpus Christi IceRays (replaced by NAHL) |
||||
2011β12 | 14 | Bloomington Blaze | Bloomington Prairie Thunder Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs Colorado Eagles (to ECHL) Mississippi RiverKings (to SPHL) Odessa Jackalopes (replaced by NAHL [7]) |
||||
2012β13 | 10 | Denver Cutthroats | Evansville IceMen (to
ECHL) Fort Wayne Komets (to ECHL) Dayton Gems Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees |
Laredo Bucks | Texas Brahmas β Fort Worth Brahmas | ||
2013β14 | 10 | Brampton Beast | Bloomington Blaze (to
SPHL) Fort Worth Brahmas |
Laredo Bucks | Laredo Bucks β St. Charles Chill |
Season | Champion team |
---|---|
1992β93 | Tulsa Oilers |
1993β94 | Wichita Thunder |
1994β95 | Wichita Thunder |
1995β96 | Oklahoma City Blazers |
1996β97 | Fort Worth Fire |
1997β98 | Columbus Cottonmouths |
1998β99 | Huntsville Channel Cats |
1999β2000 | Indianapolis Ice |
2000β01 | Oklahoma City Blazers |
2001β02 | Memphis RiverKings |
2002β03 | Memphis RiverKings |
2003β04 | Laredo Bucks |
2004β05 | Colorado Eagles |
2005β06 | Laredo Bucks |
2006β07 | Colorado Eagles |
2007β08 | Arizona Sundogs |
2008β09 | Texas Brahmas |
2009β10 | Rapid City Rush |
2010β11 | Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs |
2011β12 | Fort Wayne Komets |
2012β13 | Allen Americans |
2013β14 | Allen Americans |
Sport | Ice hockey |
---|---|
Founded | 1992 |
Ceased | 2014 |
Countries |
United States Canada |
Last champion(s) | Allen Americans |
Most titles | (tie) Allen Americans, Wichita Thunder, Oklahoma City Blazers, Memphis RiverKings, Laredo Bucks, & Colorado Eagles (2) |
The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which operated the league from 2000 to 2013, at which point it was purchased by the individual franchise owners. As of the end of its final season in 2014, three of the 30 National Hockey League teams had affiliations with the CHL: the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, and Tampa Bay Lightning.[ citation needed]
Several teams of defunct leagues joined the CHL along its history, including the Southern Hockey League, Western Professional Hockey League and International Hockey League. After two teams suspended operations during the 2014 offseason, the ECHL accepted the remaining seven teams as members in October 2014, meaning the end for the CHL after 22 seasons. [1]
The Central Hockey League (CHL) was revived in 1992 by Ray Miron and the efforts of Bill Levins, with the idea of central ownership of both the league and the teams. Both men were from hockey backgrounds. Miron had been general manager of the Colorado Rockies (now the New Jersey Devils), and had briefly been president of the previous Central Hockey League in 1976. In the inaugural 1992β93 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.[ citation needed]
After Levins died, the league's 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 experiments in expansion and an ongoing battle for players and markets with the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) throughout the late 1990s, the CHL merged with the WPHL in 2001, with 10 former WPHL teams joining the CHL for the 2001β02 season. However, several years of gradual contraction in the former WPHL markets claimed most of these teams in the ensuing years. The last active former WPHL team, the Fort Worth Brahmas, effectively ceased operations following the 2012β13 season. Subsequently, in 2010, the International Hockey League folded and all five remaining IHL teams joined the CHL; the last of these, the Quad City Mallards, folded in 2018 in the ECHL.
Brad Treliving, who co-founded the WPHL in 1996, became CHL commissioner following the merger, before leaving to join the Phoenix Coyotes. [2] Duane Lewis was named the permanent commissioner in June 2008. [3] In October 2013, the CHL appointed former president of the Pittsburgh Penguins Steve Ryan to succeed Lewis.
On March 8, 2013, the Central Hockey League announced an expansion team in Brampton, Ontario. The Brampton Beast would become the first Canadian team in the CHL's history. In October 2013, the Central Hockey League was purchased from Global Entertainment by all the team owners, putting the CHL business model in line with that of the NHL and AHL.
On May 2, 2014 the St. Charles Chill ceased operations. Soon after, the Arizona Sundogs and Denver Cutthroats suspended operations. [4] On October 7, 2014, it was announced that the ECHL had accepted the Central Hockey League's remaining seven teams as members for the 2014β15 season, officially signaling the end of the Central Hockey League after 22 seasons. [5] [6]
The Allen Americans, who won the last two CHL President's Cups, won two consecutive ECHL titles following the folding of the Central Hockey League.
The Mississippi RiverKings, Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder were the last of the original six franchises still playing at the end of the CHL's tenure; the RiverKings since folded, in 2018. In the 2014β15 season, ten teams (Allen, Brampton, Colorado, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Missouri, Quad City, Rapid City, Tulsa, and Wichita) were in the ECHL, two teams (Mississippi and Columbus) were in the SPHL, and four organizations (Corpus Christi, Fort Worth Brahmas, Odessa, and Rio Grande Valley) fielded junior teams in the NAHL.
Of the CHL's remaining teams prior to October 7, 2014, Tulsa, Wichita, Allen, Colorado, Fort Wayne, Missouri (now Kansas City), and Rapid City are still active as of 2023.
Of the CHL's six original teams from the 1992-1993 inaugural season, only the Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder remain and are still active as of 2023.
Year | Teams | Expansion | Defunct | Suspended | Return from hiatus | Relocated | Name changes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1992β93 | 6 | Dallas Freeze Fort Worth Fire Memphis RiverKings Oklahoma City Blazers Tulsa Oilers Wichita Thunder |
|||||
1993β94 | 6 | ||||||
1994β95 | 7 | San Antonio Iguanas | |||||
1995β96 | 6 | Dallas Freeze | |||||
1996β97 | 10 | Columbus Cottonmouths Huntsville Channel Cats Macon Whoopie Nashville Nighthawks |
|||||
1997β98 | 10 | Fayetteville Force | San Antonio Iguanas | Nashville Nighthawks β Nashville Ice Flyers | |||
1998β99 | 11 | Topeka Scarecrows | Nashville Ice Flyers | San Antonio Iguanas | |||
1999β00 | 11 | Indianapolis Ice | Fort Worth Fire | ||||
2000β01 | 12 | Border City Bandits | Border City Bandits (defunct mid-season) | Huntsville Channel Cats β Huntsville Tornado | |||
2001β02 | 16 | Amarillo Rattlers (from
WPHL) Austin Ice Bats (from WPHL) Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (from WPHL) Corpus Christi Ice Rays (from WPHL) El Paso Buzzards (from WPHL) Fort Worth Brahmas (from WPHL) Lubbock Cotton Kings (from WPHL) New Mexico Scorpions (from WPHL) Odessa Jackalopes (from WPHL) San Angelo Outlaws (from WPHL) |
Columbus Cottonmouths (to
ECHL) Fayetteville Force Huntsville Tornado Macon Whoopie (replaced by ECHL) Topeka Scarecrows (replaced by USHL) |
||||
2002β03 | 16 | Laredo Bucks | San Antonio Iguanas | Amarillo Rattlers β Amarillo Gorillas San Angelo Outlaws β San Angelo Saints | |||
2003β04 | 17 | Colorado Eagles Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees |
El Paso Buzzards | Corpus Christi Ice Rays β Corpus Christi Rayz | |||
2004β05 | 17 | Indianapolis Ice β Topeka Tarantulas | |||||
2005β06 | 15 | Youngstown SteelHounds | San Angelo Saints Topeka Tarantulas |
New Mexico Scorpions | |||
2006β07 | 17 | Arizona Sundogs Rocky Mountain Rage |
Fort Worth Brahmas | New Mexico Scorpions | |||
2007β08 | 17 | Lubbock Cotton Kings | Fort Worth Brahmas | Fort Worth Brahmas β Texas Brahmas Memphis RiverKings β Mississippi RiverKings | |||
2008β09 | 16 | Rapid City Rush | Austin Ice Bats Youngstown Steelhounds |
Corpus Christi Rayz β Corpus Christi IceRays | |||
2009β10 | 15 | Allen Americans Missouri Mavericks |
New Mexico Scorpions Oklahoma City Blazers Rocky Mountain Rage |
||||
2010β11 | 18 | Bloomington PrairieThunder (from
IHL) Dayton Gems (from IHL) Evansville IceMen (from IHL) Fort Wayne Komets (from IHL) Quad City Mallards (from IHL) |
Amarillo Gorillas Corpus Christi IceRays (replaced by NAHL) |
||||
2011β12 | 14 | Bloomington Blaze | Bloomington Prairie Thunder Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs Colorado Eagles (to ECHL) Mississippi RiverKings (to SPHL) Odessa Jackalopes (replaced by NAHL [7]) |
||||
2012β13 | 10 | Denver Cutthroats | Evansville IceMen (to
ECHL) Fort Wayne Komets (to ECHL) Dayton Gems Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees |
Laredo Bucks | Texas Brahmas β Fort Worth Brahmas | ||
2013β14 | 10 | Brampton Beast | Bloomington Blaze (to
SPHL) Fort Worth Brahmas |
Laredo Bucks | Laredo Bucks β St. Charles Chill |
Season | Champion team |
---|---|
1992β93 | Tulsa Oilers |
1993β94 | Wichita Thunder |
1994β95 | Wichita Thunder |
1995β96 | Oklahoma City Blazers |
1996β97 | Fort Worth Fire |
1997β98 | Columbus Cottonmouths |
1998β99 | Huntsville Channel Cats |
1999β2000 | Indianapolis Ice |
2000β01 | Oklahoma City Blazers |
2001β02 | Memphis RiverKings |
2002β03 | Memphis RiverKings |
2003β04 | Laredo Bucks |
2004β05 | Colorado Eagles |
2005β06 | Laredo Bucks |
2006β07 | Colorado Eagles |
2007β08 | Arizona Sundogs |
2008β09 | Texas Brahmas |
2009β10 | Rapid City Rush |
2010β11 | Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs |
2011β12 | Fort Wayne Komets |
2012β13 | Allen Americans |
2013β14 | Allen Americans |