Ice Pilots terminated from ECHL

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Faster than Pensacola Ice Pilots Goalie Mike Brodeur went between Pensacola, Rockford and Chicago this past season, the ECHL terminated membership of the Ice Pilots.
 
Ice Pilots’ owner Mario Forgione presented a case to the league to transfer his team to another league or allow the league to find other ownership to keep the team in Pensacola. Obviously, the ECHL chose to terminate the team’s membership instead.
 
This turn of events may have caught Ice Pilots’ fans off guard; however, it has been in the works for several months now. Ice Pilots’ president,

Greg Schuh, has stated that the economic position of the ECHL does not work for Pensacola in order to keep the team in the city long-term. That being the case, the team began looking for a new league to join.
 
The stage is being set for the Central Hockey League (CHL) to make inroads to Florida. There has been ownership talk of late in Lafayette, Louisiana and potentially bringing a team back to Beaumont, Texas. Add a team in Corpus Christi and this brings three new teams to the CHL in the South to pair with a recently revived CHL club in the Rayz.
 
Unfortunately for Pensacola, ECHL bylaws prevent Forgione from bringing the team back into Pensacola in another league next season. This means that there will be no professional hockey in 2008-2009. Forgione has intimated his intention to fight the league’s ruling.
 
Another sour note for Pensacola hockey fans came from the Escambia County Commissioners, the stewards of the Pensacola Civic Center. They are looking away from hockey in the future and today halted $60,000 in improvements slated expressly for the Ice Pilots and are voting this week to terminate the team’s remaining year lease.
 
The bottom line for Pensacola hockey fans is that the team they once called their own is no more. Of course, this is the sport where miracles happen; and no team needs a miracle more than the Ice Pilots.
 
Contact the author at Andrew.ferguson@prohockeynews.com