North Eastern Hockey League
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The North Eastern Hockey League was a minor hockey league from 2003 until 2008. It was created by entrepreneur Jim Cashman, who served as league president and as both coach and captain of the 2003-04 York IceCats.
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[edit] History
The league began play as a semi-pro weekend-only league with 4 teams for the 2003-04 season.The season began in November, with high scoring (it was not uncommon to see teams score 10-12 goals apiece) games being the norm. The Poughkeepsie franchise was relocated to Connecticut (due to lack of attendance) and renamed the Cougars between Christmas and New Year. They played out the remainder of the season as a travel team when negotiations with the arena fell through.
The league was having financial problems and the Comets decided 2 days before the playoff weekend that they were not going to participate.
With the Comets as the league regular season leaders they were to get a bye straight to the finals, which was to be played on Sunday. York and Jamestown (the second and third place teams) were to play on the Saturday to see who went on to face the Comets. Once the Comets had informed the league that they would not be playing, the league changed the playoff structure. York and Jamestown would play a 2 game series that weekend. If there were a tie after the 2 games they would play a 20-minute mini game.
York won the opening game, 8-5. Jamestown defeated York 9-1 in the second game and then won a 20-minute tiebreaker game 6-1. As league champions, the Titans received the Herb Brooks Memorial Trophy.
The league went dark for the 2004-05 season, then attempted to return in 2005-06 as the Continental Professional Hockey League with teams in Canada and the United States.
The regular 44-game season was supposed to start in early November 2005, was postponed, saw 6 games played, and was cancelled in mid-December 2005.
In the 2006-2007 season, The New England Stars Finished first with a record of 20-0, and cruised in the Championship series easily beating the Mohawk Valley Icecats 2 games to 0 (8-5 and 9-2) to capture the 2006-2007 NEHL Crown.
The league announced on January 23, 2008 that it was suspending operations for the remainder of the 2007-08 season.
[edit] Teams
2003-2004
- Jamestown Titans
- Mohawk Valley Comets (resurrected as the Copper City Chiefs 2007-08)
- Poughkeepsie Panthers (later known as the Connecticut Cougars)
- York IceCats (relocated to ON for 05-06)
2005-2006 (teams only played 6 games until the league suspended operations for a season)
- St. Catharines IceCats
- Philadelphia Comets (travel team)
- Pittsburgh Pounders (became Danville Pounders for 06-07)
- Sault Ste. Marie Stampede
2006-2007
- Danville Pounders (relocated to Detroit for 2007-2008)
- Findlay Freedom: (Findlay, Ohio)
- Mohawk Valley IceCats(relocated to ON for 2007-2008)
- New England Stars
2007-08
- Copper City Chiefs: (Rome, New York)
- Findlay Freedom: (Findlay, Ohio)
- Norfolk IceCats: (Simcoe, Ontario)
- Kensington Valley Pounders: (Brighton, Michigan)
[edit] Previous NEHL
A previous league was also known as the North Eastern Hockey League during the 1978-79 season. This league renamed itself the Eastern Hockey League for the 1979-80 season.
[edit] External links
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