Canadian Elite Hockey League
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The Canadian Elite Hockey League (CEHL) is a new semi-professional hockey league that began play in the 2005-2006 season.
The charter franchises of the league are:
- Cape Breton Crush
- Dartmouth Destroyers
- Saint John Scorpions
- Summerside IceFox
The CEHL was founded by Harold MacKay, a prominent member of the local hockey community. He previously brought the expansion Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL to Nova Scotia in 1994 and was later responsible for moving the Granby Predateurs franchise to Cape Breton where they became the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.
MacKay hopes to recruit players from major junior and university by giving them an opportunity to play locally and not re-locate to professional leagues in Europe or the United States. The league's champion wins the Alexander Cup.
Team budgets are set at $450,000 CAD and rosters will be limited to a maximum of six import players.
The first league champion was the Saint John Scorpians who defeated the Dartmouth Destroyers in four games. In June of 2006 the Cape Breton Crush folded leaving the league with just three teams.
