Sunday Night News

I've got a lot of different things to talk about. Most of it will go into this post, but I'll probably have some other things posted by the end of the evening. First off, we have the USHL's expansion projects. There are several "new" ones mentioned on the Junior Hockey Forum this week, specifically Louisville, Dayton/Troy, and Cincinnati. For the most part these are in an exploratory stage. However, an ownership group does have a lease offer submitted to the city for the Louisville Gardens. The Gardens were the original home of the ABA's Kentucky Colonels before they moved into Freedom Hall. The capacity back then was 5,900, but that was for a basketball configuration and will likely be different for hockey. My guess is a hockey configuration will seat around 5,000. The ownership group is in negotiations, and is currently awaiting a counter-offer from the city. Rocket goalie focuses on his studies, too bad he can't play in the NCAA... Spokane joins the "look at all the education money we're raising" circus. My favorite part is the following: "Since 1993, the WHL has provided more than 2,600 scholarships representing an investment of over $8 million by WHL clubs." By my math, that's a little over $3000 a player, which might get them through one semester of tuition and fees at one of your cheaper institutions of higher learning. As previously mentioned, the Santa Fe Roadrunners are paid up with the city... Quesnel's complaining about their rink, too... "I’m not saying these junior teams are bad," Nashoba coach Steve Kendall said, "but in general it hasn’t been a good thing for (Massachusetts) high school hockey."