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One of the towns that I figured would potentially play a role in where a prospective Huntington franchise--Evansville--will end up in the I/CHL now. Surprisingly, this is effective this season, as opposed to upon the completion of their new arena in 2011, which means for the 2010-11 season the Icemen will still play in the miniscule Swonder Ice Arena.

Evansville I always figured was a key point because it's just a 5 hour drive west on I-64 from Huntington. If you could line up Evansville, Huntington, Lexington, and Louisville, that would be a fantastic road swing--perhaps a southeast division in the USHL, a northern leg of the SPHL, or some extra meat on the CHL's new northern division (aka the old IHL).

Other cities that I think would make great travel partners with a hypothetical Huntington franchise:

• Roanoke, VA: former Southern hockey hotbed, currently host to a number of collegiate club teams since the last minor league effort, the old Roanoke Valley Vipers in the UHL
• Richmond, VA: last hosted the SPHL's Renegades; they're considering a replacement for the old Coliseum
• Dayton/Troy, OH: I include Dayton and Troy because A--both cities at different times were rivals to Huntington, B--both cities are fairly close to each other, and C--I think both cities could be available. Dayton has been shaky in the last few years, with the Bombers bombing and with the Gems struggling; meanwhile Troy seems to be the best-run franchise in Barry Soskin's NJHL
• Cincinnati, OH: while the ECHL's Cyclones play downtown in US Bank Arena, I don't think Huntington is a good fit at present for the ECHL. However, the Cincinnati Gardens are vacant, and Cincinnati was able to sustain two hockey teams (the Cyclones and the AHL's Mighty Ducks) from 1997-2004. I don't see that being too feasible unless the Gardens team is in juniors.
• Indianapolis, IN: if Huntington ends up in the USHL, they would probably--barring other expansion--be in a division with the Ice, as well as...
• Youngstown, OH: the Phantoms.
• Wheeling, WV: currently still hosting the ECHL's Nailers; there has been much mumbling over the last few years about dissatisfaction with the Brooks Brothers, who own the team, and WesBanco Arena. They're playing a few games next season in...
• Johnstown, PA: who just lost the ECHL's last original team, the Chiefs, to Greenville, SC. I see any future movement with Wheeling bringing Johnstown with them, or vice versa.
• Pikeville, KY: this is really just a pipe dream on my end, and probably a bad idea given that it would potentially suck some fans away in Eastern Kentucky and Southern WV that would otherwise go to Huntington. That said, it would be a pretty kick-ass rivalry I think. Kinda like...
• Charleston, WV: if only the Civic Center had an ice plant, or...
• South Charleston, WV: had a few thousand more seats!

Any others you guys think I missed? (And while I'm at it, what do you think of the new look?)

All I know is that we will not be the Ice Bats

I'd been meaning to put something like this up for a while, but a commenter inspired me--off the top of my head there is no way a prospective Huntington team ends up in the following leagues:

• NHL (too big)
• both CHLs (Central and Canadian (and yes, the Canadian Major Junior system has several teams in America)), and the NAHL (all too distant)
• the AAHL (too distant, too small, and too unstable anyway)
  

So who does that leave? Well let's handicap the ones I've actually heard about:

UNITED STATES HOCKEY LEAGUE

Pros: One of the closest in proximity to Huntington, with a team in Youngstown and rumored expansion in the past to Louisville and Evansville. A big plus--as evidenced by the addition of the Muskegon Lumberjacks to the league's ranks next season--is a much better business model for smaller markets than the existing minor leagues, helped along by a shorter schedule and the fact that it's a strictly amateur league--there are no salaries in the USHL. Despite this, the quality of play in the USHL has grown significantly in the last decade, with the number of NHL draftees with experience in the league now rivaling the established Major Junior leagues.

Cons: Being a junior league may turn off some, particularly those who feel that amateur hockey would provide an inferior product. In addition, while there has been recent eastward expansion, the core of the league is still in the Central Time Zone--presently half the league resides in either Iowa or Nebraska!

SOUTHERN PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

Pros: Until recently, this had a similarly favorable geographic footprint, with teams in Richmond and Winston-Salem, and Roanoke has been on the shortlist of expansion candidates. While a minor-pro league, the costs have been kept down significantly compared to other leagues, and the SPHL is seen as a model for "A" level minor league hockey. An attempt had been made to enter a predecessor league in 2003-04, with former Blizzard captain Jim Bermingham--then head coach for their team in Knoxville--acting as an ambassador of sorts between investors and the league.

Cons: Again, this had a favorable footprint; however, the league simultaneously lost Richmond and Winston-Salem and gained teams in Louisiana and Mississippi, further solidifying the southernness of the league. As it stands the closest travel partner to Huntington would be Knoxville--though this may not be as major of a problem; when the aforementioned Richmond franchise started play, the league stretched all the way down to Jacksonville!

INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

Pros: Geography helps somewhat in this league, in particular after they picked up Dayton this past offseason. Huntington had a team in the old IHL, of course, and while the current league is slightly farther westward than the 1950s-era IHL, the current footprint is still manageable. As I had mentioned not too long ago, at least one person had expressed interest in a Huntington franchise in the IHL, and thought I was apparently the most knowledgeable person about it--I'm flattered, really...

Cons: By all accounts the league is being propped up by the management of the Fort Wayne Komets; it has been plagued with instability going back to its days as the United Hockey League, and a rebranding and shedding of farther-flung teams (at one point the UHL had teams in suburban St. Louis, Binghamton, NY, and Asheville, NC!) has only served to put lipstick on the pig. The league has lost four markets to other leagues in the last three years (a fifth, the Quad Cities, left, then returned after a fiasco in the AHL), and their efforts in Dayton have been ridiculous at best.

EAST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE ECHL

Pros: C'mon, you guys remember the ECHL! Much of the North Division remains the same or only moderately shifted, with Wheeling, Toledo, and (for another few weeks anyway) Johnstown bolstered by Cincinnati, Kalamazoo, Trenton, NJ, Reading, PA, and Elmira, NY. While the league has a western division stretching all the way up and down the Pacific Coast from Southern California to Alaska, there is no regular season cross-conference play, so it really doesn't factor in until the playoffs roll around.

Cons: Johnstown is leaving, and Wheeling has been rumored on the chopping block for a few years now. More significantly, though, is the fact that the ECHL has so far shown little, if any, interest in moving back to Huntington.

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE

Pros: I'm not stutter-typing, there has to my knowledge been at least one inquiry into putting an AHL franchise in little old Huntington! It would reunite the area with old ECHL rivals Hampton Roads Norfolk and Charlotte, coming into the league next season, as well as some decent road trips to Cleveland and Wilkes-Barre.

Cons: There is no way Huntington could sustain a team in the AHL. Period. If the BSSA sold out every night, the costs of maintaining this caliber of team would simply overwhelm the franchise in a 30-some-year-old 5000-seat arena with no boxes or any such revenue generating amenities.

FEDERAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

Pros: Closer than the AAHL, and they're looking at Johnstown, which suggests that they might be shooting a tick higher than mere "rec-rink A" minor league hockey.

Cons: I'm VERY wary--this is the fourth different league in pretty much the same footprint in four years, with few actual differences. They're courting Mr. Soskin as well (or is it the other way around), and they've run into trouble regarding a pilfered logo. Not a good start...

Our man Tony gets sorted out

Former juniors announcer John Meissner sent a much more useful email to HNN than I did. Just to be clear, everyone knows now there is no USHL team in Dubuque.

Rutherford: it's the USHL

Tony with another scoop (and a goof, I'll point it out momentarily):

Huntington, WV (HNN) – Prior to the Tuesday, May 26 Huntington City Council meeting, Big Sandy Superstore Arena Director A.J. Boleski has requested to make a presentation regarding the United States Hockey League.

Huntington has had several experiences with professional minor league hockey, which at its best with the team winning saw an increase in downtown traffic and good attendance to the lower echelons when the team was near the cellar. The same with Arena Football and variations thereof. Even, graduated MU football players couldn’t turn several of those teams into financial survivors.

Although nothing has been made public about the proposal, the United States Hockey League is the top junior ice hockey leave in the U.S. It’s a strictly amateur league with players 20 years and under. Since the league is amateur, the players do not lose NCAA playing status.

Currently, the league has twelve fourteen teams from mostly the Midwest, including Minneapolis, Minn., Dubuque, Iowa, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Columbus Youngstown, Ohio, and Fargo, N.D.

Junior hockey is something I'd considered, but again, the geography is off here as it is with every other league. It would be a good fit with Huntington's image as of late, however, as a center for amateur sports--WV high school tournaments in wrestling and volleyball, little league baseball, the soccer tournament in Barboursville, not to mention the decades of amateur boxing tradition here, either in Golden Gloves or Toughman.