SPHL at five: healthy and happy

COLUMBUS, Ga. – In the fall of 2004, the members of the SEHL and the remnants of the WHA2 got together and formed the Southern Professional Hockey League. It was an attempt to keep alive the idea of successful minor league hockey in the South. Four seasons, 11 franchises and one city-to-city move later, the SPHL has become the healthiest, most stable league at the single-A level and a model for others who hope to copy its success. “I’ve been involved with the league since day one as the director of officiating then came on last year as the commissioner full time. Things are continuing to grow, continuing to get better,“ SPHL Commissioner Jim Combs said in an interview on opening weekend. “Our teams are down to six solid owners and we’re looking at expansion for next year. We‘re becoming a solid single-A hockey league and we‘re proud of that.” From its birth, the SPHL has been considered to be at the bottom of the ladder of player development, just above the USHL and junior programs but not quite at the level of the ECHL and CHL, considered to be the “AA” level in the theoretical chain. In the beginning, the team rosters looked like a collage of players who had been around the minors for a while sprinkled with fresh-faced rookies looking to climb their way to the NHL. When Combs came on as the commissioner, he let it be known that the SPHL’s role is as a developmental league that can provide opportunities for players to move up. Dozens of SPHL stars have had the opportunity to be called up and according to the commissioner, it is a trend that the league is very happy to oblige. “Our veteran rule is 224 games. That’s four years of professional hockey. If after four years of professional hockey maybe you’re not at the level you want to be at, maybe it’s time to take another look at doing something else,” Combs said. “We’ve got a lot of great players that maybe have played a long career in any of our cities that are great citizens in the community and we want them to stay around but maybe its time to jump off the ice and let the younger guys get out there and give them an opportunity to get to the next level. We’ve had great success with players going to the ECHL and the Central League level and we want to continue that.” Combs said that one of the things he’s most proud about is how the league has grown as far as the level of professionalism. From the players to the coaches and the officials, Combs has seen a marked improvement in the overall attitude of the league. “Our first year, we worked with the players that we had at the time and the coaches and everybody else. We’ve all continued to learn and grow,” he said. “Last year at the end of our playoffs, I immediately went the next night to a game in the ECHL and we’re getting a lot closer. There’s not much difference.” The relationships with the ECHL and the CHL as well as Combs’ connections with the AHL and the NHL have become an important part of the growth of the SPHL. As often as he can, he meets with officials from

the other leagues to talk shop. “It’s absolutely important as far as putting our face into the hockey community, into the hockey world. I’m very fortunate that I’ve been in professional hockey for seventeen years now. This will be my eighteenth year involved in either the ECHL, the AHL, the NHL or the SPHL. I got invited to go to the NHL meetings this summer. I got to go to the ECHL and the CHL All-Star games. We have a great relationship,” he said. “Right before this trip I ate lunch with Duane Lewis and his staff from the CHL to see what they are doing. They wanted to ask what we were doing, how we can work together and how we all can get better together. I think we all know we’re in the same business but at different levels. We’re not competing with the ECHL for their players and their coaches. We’re trying to be a benefit to them as they are a benefit to the AHL and as the AHL is a benefit to the NHL.” The fact that the SPHL has gotten to its fifth year while a myriad ofattempts have been made and failed or are still being made to establish the single-A level up north is yet another source of great pride for those who were among the cornerstone franchises. It is also a testament to the business model the league has built and the fan-friendly atmosphere that the SPHL has constructed. “We’ve been lucky. Obviously, we started with more teams than we have today but we had a few that had to go by the wayside. Those other leagues (AAHA, EPHL), I’m sure they’re going to keep going at it,” Combs said. “What our combination is that we try to stay in the community. We try to make sure that our fans are happy, that the people are being provided a nice product on the ice and have some good excitement.” As the SPHL moves forward, everyone is interested in what the league will look like next year, three years from now, even in five seasons when the tenth anniversary rolls around. As the commissioner, Combs has his own picture of what he hopes will be what fans will see. “Five years from now, we’d like to be a ten to twelve team league. That would probably be our limit. We want to stay inside our footprint. We know that‘s important. We have opportunities to go outside our footprint but its going to break the mold. It’s not going to work,” he said. “Five years from now, we’d like to be solidly ten to twelve teams and just continuing to be the leader in single-A hockey. We don’t want to be double-A hockey. We don’t want to be a rogue hockey league. We want the relationships with the ECHL, the CHL, the AHL, the NHL and just continuing the relationships.” And if those relationships blossom, there’ll be plenty more birthdays for this five year old to look forward to. Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com Contact the photographer at lisa.murphywood@prohockeynews.com.