Midwestern Movement Coming For SPHL

With the purchase of the Peoria Rivermen, the Vancouver Canucks wasted no time in saying they wouldn't be using Peoria as their AHL base, leaving the area without a team and the Canucks looking for an AHL locale. However, with Peoria as a free agent, a market like that won't be without a minor league team for long....and they aren't. 

It was announced that Peoria, who will use the name Rivermen-- a copy-written name of the city, and the Central Hockey League's Bloomington Blaze will join up with the "Single-A" Southern Professional Hockey League. Yes, two teams from Illinois will be joining the SOUTHERN Pro League for the 2013-14 season. 

Of course, those not familiar with the SPHL can check out the "Better Know" piece I did as the NHL lockout happened. The odd part about this is not that both teams will be owned by the same people, but that these teams in the Midwest are looking at the SPHL as an option and hope that it could form a Midwest exile from the Central League, in hopes that Quad Cities, St. Charles, and other Midwest CHL teams will be disgruntled by the way the CHL is run and move over to that side of things. 

The branching out of the SPHL is something that is good for the league perception, but at the same time-- if the finances of a "Double-A" league is in doubt when it comes to including a team from Brampton, Ontario; you can bet that the SPHL, a much smaller financed league, will have some teams be in possible trouble with the inclusion of more further travel. 

(Unrelated, the Augusta Riverhawks won't play next season due to arena lease issues they have had.)

Whether or not this brings in more Midwest teams or expands the league or just alienates their founding franchises and the SPHL slowly turns into another Midwest based league like the United Hockey League or International Hockey League will remain to be seen. There's good ideas and bad ideas when it comes to all of this, but if nothing else; it shows a market like Peoria will go to anywhere to keep their team tradition alive and well, even if it does mean travelling through the Southeastern US. 

Minor League Silly Season: Aeros Flying North To Des Moines

Photo via AHL in Photos

Another week and another move in the AHL. According to the Star-Tribute (via Hockey Wilderness), the Minnesota Wild will uproot the Houston Aeros and move them to Des Moines, Iowa. The Wild have been unable to come to an agreement with the Toyota Center regarding a new lease for the Aeros, so they are moving to the Hawkeye State's capital.

With the Houston Aeros, it's a name that has been around since the WHA day of Gordie Howe and made a revitalization during the IHL years and moved over to the AHL during the absorption of the IHL. Not only that, but the fans have taken to the Aeros, as they rank 7th in the AHL in attendance this year and have been in the top-third of the attendance chart over the past few seasons. Moving the team is pretty interesting, especially considering they are in a big city and it is easier to get call-ups; like was stated in the HW piece.

As far as Des Moines goes, this is a city that had hockey from 2005 until 2009, first as the Iowa Stars from 2005 until 2008, then as the ever memorable Iowa Chops in the 2008-09 season. In an arena that has over 15,000 capacity for hockey, Iowa's highest average was over 5,100 in the 2005-06 season, then went downhill from there. Of course, this will be Iowa's closest parent affiliation they've had, which could draw road trips from Wild fans to see the next guys to come up to the MSP area.

Though, what does it mean for the Houston area and their loss of a hockey team?? To be honest, if there's an ownership group willing to hammer something out with the Toyota Center, the Central Hockey League may be the prime destination. With the CHL expanding to St. Charles, Missouri and Brampton, Ontario for 2013-14, it only seems right for them to move to a league with heavy ties to the South/Midwest.

Who knows how this will turn out for the Wild. If the move to Des Moines helps rejuvenate that market, then it's a smart move for them in the long-run and allows them to actually be able to keep a very close eye on them. Of course, if this doesn't work-- then many will wonder if the move was all worth it, especially if they have to move out of Des Moines after a few seasons.

Minor League Silly Season Begins

The St. Louis Blues shook up the AHL landscape a bit on Friday when it was learned that they were going to opt out of their final two years in Peoria and move their AHL team elsewhere for the 2013-14 season.

According to the rumors, the Blues will sell their franchise in Peoria to the Vancouver Canucks, who will then leave their current affiliate in Chicago for another site, rumored to be Abbotsford, BC-- which is currently home of the Calgary Flames affiliate-- the Heat. Then the Blues would move to the old Canucks affiliate, the Chicago Wolves-- who will run and operate the team for the Blues. As for the Flames-- they've been rumored to go to Utica for their AHL affiliation.

Confused enough?? Good-- that's the life of the minor league Silly Season when it comes to affiliations and where teams want to have their prospects. There are quite a few NHL teams that actually own their AHL affiliate, so when they pick a spot-- they better enjoy it for a while because odds are they'll be there for the long haul. Even so, for fans in cities where they connect close to the minor league team-- it's a stressful part of the year not knowing how many of the guys who are there this year will be playing there next year.

That's just a testament to the die-hard nature of minor league fans, who stick by their city for whomever could be their affiliate. The Norfolk Admirals were the Tampa Bay Lightning affiliate last season, won the Calder Cup, then this season-- the Bolts moved out of town and the Anaheim Ducks are the new affiliate there, but the fans have continued to come (5,119 in 2011-12; 5,403 to date for 2012-13) even with the new faces that have shown up. Conversely, the Bolts new affiliate in Syracuse have maintained the attendance, as well (5,246 in 2011-12; 5,388 to date in 2012-13).

It doesn't mean it's not as hard for the fans emotionally in terms of letting go of a group of players or affiliates or the team themselves. The Peoria Rivermen name has been around the city since the 1984-85 season in different leagues. For fans of the identity are probably hoping for the best that an ECHL or other minor league team will come through for the city to keep the Rivermen name a mainstay in the area.

Regardless of how the parent teams act, many players are as connected to their minor league city through doing community work at schools, health care facilities, and other ventures that allowed the players to reach out and connect to the community. You can bet some of those guys are just a shook up as the fans.

Yet, that's the nature of the business. You have to make sure you take care of your minor league team's travel, budget, and all that stuff-- on top of managing prospect development and the NHL side of things, too. Sometimes dollars don't add up and you have to move around the US and/or Canada to find the right spot....or the right spot for right now.