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Saturday, July 17, 2010

CHL and IHL Merge To One League

While the National Hockey League has suffered a downgrade in the last 5 years, the game has shown to hold on longer in non-traditional markets than what other critics have predicted. But in order to survive the harsher economy, necessary changes have to build a better foundation for the future.

Such is the final compromise that, I guess, had to be made if either long standing mid-major hockey leagues were going to continue to play for their fans and for the history of their leagues. The Central Hockey League was once such team that, despite the odds, were able to build fan bases and many teams across Texas and the South Western United States. The Shreveport Mudbugs, Tulsa Oilers, Colorado Eagles, and a host of other teams have survived many successful years. And their counterparts in the International Hockey League, who once had to disband before, saw a short comeback. Michigan, Minnesota, and other great lakes cities saw a fine legacy of teams present themselves as an alternatives.

The new product becomes a new Central Hockey League merged with the remaining International Hockey League teams that is a bigger representative of hockey in middle America.

According to some other critics, it is not a perfect union, but it is one that provides a little glimmer of American pride and ingenuity to endure hard times.

[Via: Texas Ice Hockey Expert]

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