Central Hockey League
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The Central Hockey League (CHL) in its present incarnation is an low-tier American minor professional hockey league. It was created for the 1992-1993 season with six inaugural teams in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Wichita, Memphis, Dallas and Fort Worth. After several experiments in expansion and a long battle for players and markets with the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL), the two leagues merged in 2001. Some teams are affiliated with AHL, ECHL and NHL clubs for player development.
There were two previous leagues named "Central Hockey League"; one existing between 1931-1935 and almost exclusively comprised of Minnesota teams, and one existing between 1968-1984, roughly coterminous with the area of operations of the current league and including previous incarnations of the Oklahoma City Blazers and the Tulsa Oilers.
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Current Teams
The league is divided into four divisions. Active teams, listed by division and with their affiliated teams (NHL, AHL), include:
Northeast Division
- Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (Shreveport, LA) (Rochester Americans)
- Fort Worth Brahmas
- Memphis RiverKings
- Youngstown Steelhounds (05/06 expansion)
Northwest Division
Southeast Division
- Austin Ice Bats (Minnesota Wild, Houston Aeros)
- Corpus Christi Rayz
- Laredo Bucks (Florida Panthers, San Antonio Rampage)
- Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees
Southwest Division
Teams on Hiatus
- New Mexico Scorpions (Albuquerque, NM) -sitting out the 2005-06 season
Former CHL Teams
- Border City Bandits (Texarkana, TX)
- Columbus Cottonmouths (Columbus, GA - now members of SPHL)
- Dallas Freeze
- El Paso Buzzards
- Fayetteville Force
- Fort Worth Fire
- Huntsville Channel Cats/Tornado
- Indianapolis Ice -moved to Topeka-now Indiana Ice in USHL
- Macon Whoopee (ECHL)
- Nashville Ice Flyers/Nighthawks
- San Antonio Iguanas
- San Angelo Saints -suspended operations at the end of the 2004-05 season
- Topeka ScareCrows -went to USHL-moved to St. Louis in the league
- Topeka Tarantulas -suspended operations at the end of the 2004-05 season
Champions
- 2004/05 - Colorado Eagles
- 2003/04 - Laredo Bucks
- 2002/03 - Memphis RiverKings
- 2001/02 - Memphis RiverKings
- 2000/01 - Oklahoma City Blazers
- 1999/00 - Indianapolis Ice
- 1998/99 - Huntsville Channel Cats
- 1997/98 - Columbus Cottonmouths
- 1996/97 - Fort Worth Fire
- 1995/96 - Oklahoma City Blazers
- 1994/95 - Wichita Thunder
- 1993/94 - Wichita Thunder
- 1992/93 - Tulsa Oilers
See also
External links
- Official CHL website (http://www.centralhockeyleague.com)
- Standings and statistics (http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/chl1993.html) - Internet Hockey Database