JACKSONVILLE, Fla – We have gotten to that part of the off-season where everything seems to have settled down. Franchises appear to be set for next season (I say appear, just to protect myself), leagues have released their schedules and teams are now just getting into signing players. So, having said all that, I just have some random thoughts as the off-season heads down the back stretch and gets ready to go into the far turn. 1. You have to give the MAHL credit. After last year’s mid-season implosion, most betting money likely would have said that the league would have not returned for season two. You would not have gotten much of an argument on that. Having said that, the MAHL heading to second two is a surprise. Give them credit, not only closing up show mid-season but that trashing of the hotel room in Jamestown gave a league a black eye. Got to give them credit for coming back. Now let’s just hope that there is a closer race for the regular season title than there was last season. 2. I remember back when the rumors started that the WCHL teams would join the ECHL. I never believed it would happen, mainly because I would not allow myself to let go of the fool-hardy notion that every team would play every other team in the league. Well, 2008 will mark the sixth season that the ECHL has stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of Alaska. In that time, west coast teams have won three of the five Kelly Cups and three Brabham Cups. Got to admit, it’s working out pretty good for the ECHL. I still wish teams from one coast would play teams from the other coast more often but, I guess, in these days of high gas prices and other high travel costs, you need to save money wherever possible. 3. I’m sure this will come as a shock to some people but the SPHL will celebrate their fifth anniversary this coming season. The fifth season will see the league with six teams but four of them have been in the same city for the entire existence of the league. Five of the six teams in the league don’t even have a whiff of trouble about them and the main reason people might think that way about team six (Twin City) is the recent history of teams in Winston-Salem (one and out). Heck, the Cyclones are going into year two. So, here is to the SPHL and to five years. 4. I’ve picked on the IHL (a.k.a. the UHL) a lot in my life but the league ended their season last year the best way possible, an overtime game 7 for the league title. Now, that is PR you just can’t it. Now, it would have been nice if they could have expanded some this past season (I guess those rumors I heard to add Youngstown after the CHL let them go never happened) but at least they return with the same six as the season before. More ramblings later. Contact the author at Kenneth.Holdren@prohockeynews.com
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