ORLANDO, Fla. – It has already been a busy off-season for the Southern Professional Hockey League with the addition of the Mississippi RiverKings as the circuit’s ninth franchise. Last week, the Board of Governors met in Las Vegas to discuss some key matters ahead of season eight which starts in October.
Unlike other seasons, most of the changes voted into effect will be very noticeable to fans around the league. They include alterations to the standings, game day lineups and player acquisitions.
Last season, the league decided to experiment with the standings. Instead of teams getting a point for an overtime or shootout loss, only the winner came away with points.
The change, as explained at the time by SPHL President Jim Combs, was to increase
SPHL President Jim Combs
According to Combs, the league did see the late-game level of play stay high. Unfortunately, the league also saw the frustration of teams that left everything on the ice only to leave empty handed following the overtime or shootout.
“They (the Board of Governors) felt like the team that fell kind of lost energy. They may have lost two in a row in overtime but they could always say they came home with two points or that they had accomplished something out of it rather than the empty feeling of playing their hearts out and getting to overtime and not getting any credit for at least pushing it to the overtime or shootout,” Combs said.
When it came down to deciding whether or not to continue with the winner-take-all system, Combs said that being fair to teams that play hard for sixty minutes and sometimes longer was more important.
“If you take the standings and you add the point and look at it, it actually didn’t change who was eliminated from the playoffs,” he said. “It changed the other stats around a little bit but it was just a thing where it didn’t make such a significant change that we felt like we needed to reward the team for putting in the effort and getting it into overtime.”
The second change that fans will see on the ice will be the number of dressed players. At the start of last season, teams were allowed to field an 18-man roster but on game night they could only dress 17. The move was made to create a higher level of play through competition on the individual teams for game night spots.
By the time the midseason meetings rolled around, it was clear that the rule was not sitting well with everyone. Ultimately, the board reverted to where if both teams had 18 available players, that night’s contest would be played with full benches but if not, the teams would dress 17.
Combs said that the decision to drop the either-or scenario and go back to dressing 18 came down to the wishes of the owners.
“There were a couple of teams that felt like they were paying an 18th guy to sit in the stands and he was good and healthy. They (felt they) just had to make that change in order to allow that 18th guy back in the lineup,” Combs said.
One other roster move may take a bit longer to manifest itself but it has the potential to make a huge impact.
In the past, teams have watched with interest as North American players have come back from Europe and other places following their overseas schedules. Many minor league coaches, including ones in the SPHL, have taken advantage by signing some of these returning players to contracts and inserting them into late-season lineups in order to improve the squad’s chances of making the post season.
In order to level the ice, the SPHL decided to put a lid on the influx of players coming back from Europe. From hence forth, any player who plays even one game outside of North America after January 1st will not be eligible to play in the league for the remainder of that season.
Combs said that the rule change was a very logical choice given the complexity of the situation.
“We didn’t want teams loading up with players who had played in Europe all year after the February 1st deadline. Then we had the question of a player that played in Europe (during) October, November and December and then comes back to North America but he’s not necessarily playing for an SPHL team but he was playing for a CHL team and he had played in the CHL for a month and then after February 1st he came and signed with us,” he said. “In our minds at the league office, that player had reestablished himself back in the U.S. and would therefore not be treated the same way as a player that was playing in Europe. We went back and forth on it. Was it the right ruling or was it the wrong ruling? How can we change it? We talked for several minutes about it and we thought it would be easier for the fans if we just put in that after January 1st, if you play one game in Europe you’re ineligible for the league period.”
He went on to explain that not only will this rule keep things in balance between the teams but it will be much fairer to the players who toil for the clubs from training camp on but could end up being bumped out.
“Competitive balance is one (part of having the rule). The other part is if a guy’s been busting his butt here in the SPHL all year and then a guy is over in Europe and he’s been playing over there and his season ends and then he wants to come back and kick out a guy that’s been playing for the SPHL all year,” he said. “Is that the right thing to allow to happen? That’s why we backed it up and said January 1st and after that, that’s it.”
There is still one unfinished piece of business for the board to act on – the playoff format. For the past couple of seasons, the SPHL has had a six-team format where the first place and sixth place teams battle in a best-of-five series with the winner going straight to the finals. The other four teams fight it out in best-of-three quarterfinal series with the second seed taking on the fifth seed and the third and fourth place teams locking horns. The two winners then meet in a best-of-three series to determine the squad that will face the one/six winner for the President’s Cup. This year’s format will be voted on during a conference call some time in early July. It may look quite different from years past as Combs indicated that there may be more teams qualifying or there may be fewer teams getting in.
“We’re talking about whether does it need to be four teams or eight teams. Then do we need to do three-game series, five-game series or seven game series, how long do we want the playoffs to go with our building dates and how that equates,” he said. “We do have a format that is down on paper and we’re going to go with that unless we can find something that will do one of three things: make our league more credible, make the playoffs more competitive or look at the financial profitability portion of it.”
Over the years, the SPHL has tried everything from one-game play-ins to different length series, all with the idea of finding what system would be the most exciting for the fans while not hurting teams’ budgets or the league’s credibility. Combs explained that striking a balance where all three factors are achieved is something that many minor leagues battle with.
“It doesn’t make sense for you to go into the playoffs and do a one game where the competitive stuff and the credibility doesn’t do well but the financial part kind of works out OK or do it to where the competitive stuff is great but everybody is losing money and there’s no credibility,” Combs said. “I could give you a format right now and you could argue with me intelligently and be totally correct on a different format but it only changes one factor. Well, if it changes a couple of factors then that’s what we want to try to look at as a whole. Every league does it and struggles with what is more important – the credibility, the competitiveness, the profitability and when you say profitability in the playoffs it’s more of how much money are you actually going to lose in the playoffs. Maybe lack of profitability I guess is how it should be.”
The SPHL is especially susceptible to issues with playoffs simply because of geography. Many of the buildings the league calls home just don’t want to think about keeping a sheet of ice down and in playable condition much past the end of March or beginning of April. Getting available dates can be a problem because the building operators have to book events in advance without knowing whether or not the team will host playoff games.
That was the case last year when the Mississippi Surge and Augusta RiverHawks were forced into scheduling the entire best-of-five championship series into just seven days. Coming off of three games in three days over the previous weekend, the building schedules forced the league to start the finals in Biloxi on a Tuesday with just one rest day following the end of the previous series.
“Building availability is the largest part of it (issues). Last year if two particular teams had made it (to the finals), we would have had a great two weekends for the finals. Everyone would have had plenty of rest. There would have been plenty of time,” he said. “The way it worked out (with) the two teams that made it, the only thing that made sense was to play five games in seven days. You look at it and say five games in seven days or you have to take a week off and play at the other one (building). That’s where you have to go in and look. On the competitive side, it doesn’t really matter because both teams have to play the same schedule. As far as credibility, you’re still playing a five-game series but you’re playing it so short. Then if you look at profitability, if you go to where they would have to have a week off, it makes no sense.”
Outside of the policy changes, the biggest excitement at the three-day conference was when Chairman Tim Kerr, who was elected to a second term during the meetings, introduced the representatives from the RiverKings to the rest of the membership. It was the first time many of the current owners had had to personally greet the league’s newest members.
“It was very exciting for everyone to get the chance to meet a new partner. Obviously I’ve met them (RiverKings ownership) and I know them but for the rest of the board to get to meet them and sit around and talk,” Combs said. “They’re excited about being a part of the SPHL. It was a much different culture, a much different feel to the meetings than they’ve experienced in the past and they’re very excited to be a part of the SPHL.”
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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