Catching up

I'm sure most folks know all this, but in case you missed any, here's the Cliffs Notes version: The effort to place an NAHL team in Wenatchee cratered when a lease agreement couldn't be reached. Owatonna is moving to Brownstown, MI, a Detroit suburb. A local group is trying to place a new team in Owatonna, or perhaps relocate the Fargo-Moorhead Jets. Albert Lea is close to getting an NAHL franchise, owned by Barry Soskins. Alpena head coach Kenny Miller was close to being the coach in Albert Lea, but instead accepted an offer from Marquette. San Angelo is still looking for a team, as all previous attempts stalled out. There appears to be a new effort based with a group from Minnesota. St. Louis Bandits head coach Jon Cooper is reported to be headed to Green Bay to fill that vacancy. Rob Proffitt has stepped down as head coach in Fairbanks. He will remain as GM. Assistant coach Josh Hauge is stepping up to fill Proffitt's slot. Jean-Paul Parise is the new head coach in Des Moines. The USHL failed to convince the owner of the IHL franchise in Muskegon to switch leagues. Fargo's new arena was vandalized. I've not seen any estimate of how much this sets back construction, but damage was estimated at $500k. Indiana signed a two-year lease with their arena. The latest rumor on the state of the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets has them moving to The Ice Zone in Boardman for a year until the Youngtown Steelhounds' lease expires, whereby they'd relocate there. The Mahoning Valley Phantoms would of course be displaced by such a move, and would move to Cleveland (actually, Gilmour). There may have already been a USHL decision on this, but I have yet to hear it. Despite the international financial crisis, Helena Bighorns owner Oren Koules is close to completing his deal to purchase the Tampa Bay Lightning. I'm probably forgetting something. I know I left out most US news below Tier II, and all Canadian news, but hey, I've been on vacation...

A new toy for teams

One of my favorite sayings is the nature abhors a vacuum. So, since it's been a while since I posted I thought I'd let folks in on a new feature brought to us by Ralph Slate over at Hockeydb.com. Let's start by selecting a player... say, Ryan Turek. Once you pull up his stats, you'll see a little link down at the bottom that says "Embed these stats!" Click it, and Ralph gives you a piece of code that you can drop onto your own website... The upshot of all this is that junior and college teams can use it to maintain their alumni pages. No longer do you have to wade through your alumni roster every year and find out where a player has gone. Now all you have to do is set up your alumni pages, grab the code (which you can tweak to match your website's colors, I might add), and his bio and stats pop right up. Since Hockeydb.com updates stats throughout the season, the only maintenance required is to add each season's alumni. It's not quite the niftiest thing since sliced bread, but it removes any excuse teams have in not keeping a decent alumni page.

Bushed

I'm sure a lot of folks are wondering where the blog has been the last week or so. Fact is I'm giving myself a break. Other family and professional commitments are eating into my (hockey) time and I'm finding it difficult finding the energy to wade through 100 emails a day to filter out the articles that land on the blog. Some might have noticed I had cut the player articles and gone back to the focus on business-only articles. This reduced my time it takes to post, but not the filtering. I'm not stopping. I'm just going on hiatus.

Monday News

Pats to honour franchise builders... Coombs earns 100th victory in Dubuque... Bucs get arena upgrades with new owner... Sioux Falls debates new arena...

Weekend News

It looks like Ryan over at the USHL Blog nailed it when he connected Regg Simon's resignation in Des Moines to the new ownership group... Tornado Warning! Frisco hopes to attract D-league basketball team to expanded Deja-Blue. Want to kill a successful hockey team? Bring in a hoops team to swipe all the quality dates... Sudbury Wolves hire new assistant coach...

More Friday News

Could another junior hockey owner be joining Oren Koules in Tampa? It seems Len Barrie might be in the mix according to the Globe and Mail...

Mason City gets 2009 Robertson Cup

North Iowa awarded 2009 Robertson Cup Championship February 29, 2008 FRISCO, TEXAS - The North American Hockey League announced today that the North Iowa Outlaws have been selected to host the 2009 Robertson Cup National Championship Tournament, which will be held April 21-25, 2009 at the North Iowa Ice Arena in Mason City, Iowa. "We are excited to bring our league championship to the North Iowa community in 2009," said NAHL commissioner Mark Frankenfeld. "The Outlaws organization has helped bring the NAHL to new heights, both on and off the ice, and we have no doubt they will host a first-class tournament." "A lot of people have worked tirelessly to bring this tournament to the area," said Outlaws owner Mark Motz. "It’s going to be a great event for the community and an opportunity for the league to showcase some of the best young players in the country in addition to helping promote and grow the sport of hockey in the North Iowa area." The four-team Robertson Cup Championship crowns the NAHL’s playoff champion (USA Hockey’s Tier II Junior A national champion). As the host team, the Outlaws will receive an automatic bid to the 2009 tournament. The event will attract over 2,000 visitors, including fans, players, coaches, scouts and media over a four-day period. The economic impact to the North Iowa area generated from visitor spending is estimated at over $200,000. In addition, North Iowa residents will be provided the opportunity to attend the tournament, witnessing hockey at its best. "This will be a great event for the fans of hockey in the North Iowa area," said Outlaws GM Rick Wesp. "Not only will they be able to see and cheer on their own team, but they’ll see the best teams the NAHL has to offer, and we all know North Iowa has the best and the loudest fans in the league." Outlaws business manager Bob Thoms began inquiring about attracting the tournament to the area last September after the Mason City Convention & Visitors Bureau requested partners to submit new or existing sporting event ideas. Through the partnership of the Mason City Convention & Visitors Bureau, Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and Cerro Gordo County, the North Iowa Sports Authority was created and submitted a grant application to help attract the Robertson Cup to North Iowa. A $50,000 Regional Sports Authority District Grant, provided by the State of Iowa through the Iowa Tourism Office, and a $25,000 cash match was secured in October. "This funding gave the North Iowa Outlaws organization the boost needed to seek the bid for the National Tournament," said Thoms. "The North Iowa Outlaws, North Iowa Sports Authority and specifically the Mason City Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce have been working together extensively on this project because of the tremendous economic boost and national recognition it will bring to the North Iowa area," said Vicki Hensley, Chair of the North Iowa Sports Authority. "We are thrilled to be the host community." In addition to the Outlaws, the playoff series winners from the North, South and Central Divisions will receive the other three bids to the tournament. If the Outlaws win the 2009 Central Division playoffs, the runner up from the Central Division will receive the fourth bid. The oldest junior hockey trophy in the United States, the Robertson Cup is named in honor of Chuck Robertson, a pioneer of junior hockey in the NAHL and youth hockey in the state of Michigan. Robertson was the owner of the Paddock Pools Saints when they won a record seven straight NAHL championships from 1976-83. The St. Louis Bandits will host this year’s Robertson Cup Championship. More details on the 2009 Robertson Cup Championship will be released in the coming months. For more information on the Robertson Cup Championship, visit www.robertsoncup.com.

Friday News

A new arena does not a quality operation make: Fronts taken to task over marketing; Mayor says club's promotion efforts 'amateurish' in nature. I'll wager fans would show up if the team were sold to someone else and run by someone with a clue. If Mavety is frustrated, how do you think the hundreds of remaining Fronts fans feel? Spitfires honour fallen Renaud... PIJHL shows interest in Squamish... Otters' Ftorek plans to return Here's a statistical look at the Pringe George Cougars after 999 games...