The Central Hockey League today announced the 15 participating teams that will compete in the league's 17th season beginning on Friday, October 17th, 2008. The 2007-08 season saw 2,313,950 fans go through the turnstiles during the regular season and playoffs and culminated with the Arizona Sundogs winning the CHL's Ray Miron President's Cup in just their second season.
The newest CHL team will be the Rapid City Rush led by resident owners Scott Mueller, Barry Peterson and Donnie Ward which will be playing in the newly constructed Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena with their first home game in November. An expansion draft will be held for the 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).
The clubs that will compete during the 2008-09 season are the Amarillo Gorillas, Arizona Sundogs, Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, Colorado Eagles, Laredo Bucks, Mississippi RiverKings, New Mexico Scorpions, Odessa Jackalopes, Oklahoma City Blazers, Rapid City Rush, Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, Rocky Mountain Rage, Texas Brahmas, Tulsa Oilers and the Wichita Thunder.
The Tulsa Oilers will be moving into the new Bank of Oklahoma Center (a.k.a. BOK Center) with the home opener scheduled for late October. The new facility can seat more than 18,000 fans and is located in the heart of downtown Tulsa.
The 2008 CHL All-Star Game will be played in Windsor, Colorado at the Budweiser Events Center on Wednesday, January 14th with the Colorado Eagles hosting the event. The format for this year's mid-season classic will feature the Eagles playing a team of CHL All-Stars.
Two franchises from last season, the Austin Ice Bats and Corpus Christi Rayz, have each suspended operations for the upcoming season and the Youngstown SteelHounds are no longer participating in the league.
Decisions regarding playoff format, divisional alignment and other team related issues will be determined at the CHL's Summer Conference in Phoenix, Arizona running from June 12-14.And from Youngstown
CHL says SteelHounds out of league for 2008-09
SteelHounds coach Kevin Kaminski said he has no idea what's happened.
YOUNGSTOWN - Youngstown SteelHounds executives were left scrambling Monday night in the wake of an announcement that the Central Hockey League has terminated the franchise's membership in the league for the 2008-09 season.
The CHL, in a press release, stated "… the Youngstown SteelHounds are no longer participating in the league."
That apparently came as news to SteelHounds owner Herb Washington, general manager Joe Gregory and coach/director of hockey operations Kevin Kaminski.....
