United Hockey League
Logo of the UHL from 1997-2006 |
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| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1991 |
| Country(ies) | United States Canada |
| Ceased | 2010 (merged with Central Hockey League) |
| Last champion(s) | Fort Wayne Komets |
| Most titles | Fort Wayne Komets & Muskegon Fury (4) |
The United Hockey League (UHL) was a low-level professional ice hockey league (self-described as AA, although professional hockey does not use letter designations for league levels), with teams in the United States.[1][2][3][4] The UHL, in general, was equal to the ECHL in on-ice skill level and players often moved back and forth between the leagues; however, UHL franchises were much less valuable than ECHL franchises and were generally not profitable, with franchises folding mid-season on several occasions. The league was headquartered in Rochester, Michigan prior to its 2010 merger with the Central Hockey League, and in its last year, consisted of seven teams.[5]
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History
The UHL was originally formed in 1991 as the Colonial Hockey League and had teams in Brantford, Ontario; Detroit, Michigan; Flint, Michigan; St. Thomas, Ontario; and Thunder Bay, Ontario; the avowed goal of the league organizers was to fill the low-level niche in the Great Lakes area abandoned by the original International Hockey League as the latter league engaged in upmarket expansion. As time passed, the CoHL moved eastward, into places like the Adirondacks, Danbury, CT, Binghamton, NY, and Richmond, VA. During that expansion, the league was renamed United Hockey League in 1997, before changing names again to the International Hockey League in 2007.
The final name change was intended to evoke the original International Hockey League, which had folded in 2001. The Fort Wayne Komets were a longstanding member of the original league. In addition, the new Kalamazoo Wings and Flint Generals franchises revived the names of the original Kalamazoo and Flint IHL teams.
On July 13, 2010 the IHL merged with the Central Hockey League. Five of the seven IHL teams--the Bloomington PrairieThunder, Dayton Gems, Evansville IceMen, Fort Wayne Komets and Quad City Mallards--were absorbed into the CHL. The remaining two franchises from the last IHL season that were not absorbed into the CHL, the Generals and the Icehawks, folded.
Governance
Dennis Hextall was named as the President and Commissioner of the International Hockey League on September 2, 2009.[6] Hextall was preceded by Paul Pickard, who served as Commissioner for the first two years of the renamed league (2007–2009).[7]
Several IHL teams had affiliations with the National Hockey League, American Hockey League, and/or the All American Hockey League.
Colonial/Turner Cup champions
The Turner Cup was the league's championship trophy. Originally named the Colonial Cup, the name was changed in 2007 to reflect the original IHL's championship trophy, also named the Turner Cup.
- 1992 - Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks
- 1993 - Brantford Smoke
- 1994 - Thunder Bay Senators
- 1995 - Thunder Bay Senators
- 1996 - Flint Generals
- 1997 - Quad City Mallards
- 1998 - Quad City Mallards
- 1999 - Muskegon Fury
- 2000 - Flint Generals
- 2001 - Quad City Mallards
- 2002 - Muskegon Fury
- 2003 - Fort Wayne Komets
- 2004 - Muskegon Fury
- 2005 - Muskegon Fury
- 2006 - Kalamazoo Wings
- 2007 - Rockford IceHogs
- 2008 - Fort Wayne Komets
- 2009 - Fort Wayne Komets
- 2010 - Fort Wayne Komets
Teams
Expansion
| Year | Teams | Expansion | Defunct | Suspended | Return from Hiatus | Relocated | Name Changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990–91 | 5 | Brantford Smoke Flint Bulldogs Michigan Falcons Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks St. Thomas Wildcats |
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| 1991–92 | 7 | Chatham Wheels Muskegon Fury |
Detroit Falcons (Michigan) Thunder Bay Thunder Cats (Thunder Hawks) |
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| 1992–93 | 8 | Flint Generals | Flint → Utica Bulldogs | Thunder Bay Senators (Thunder Cats) | |||
| 1993–94 | 8 | Chatham → Saginaw Wheels St. Thomas → London Wildcats |
Flint Generals (Bulldogs) Utica Blizzard (Bulldogs) |
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| 1994–95 | 9 | Quad City Mallards Madison Monsters |
London Wildcats | ||||
| 1995–96 | 10 | London Wildcats | Detroit → Port Huron Border Cats London → Dayton Ice Bandits |
Saginaw Lumber Kings (Wheels) Thunder Bay Thunder Cats (Senators) |
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| 1996–97 | 10 | B.C. Icemen Winston-Salem IceHawks |
Utica Blizzard | Dayton Ice Bandits | |||
| 1997–98 | 11 | Dayton Ice Bandits | Brantford → Asheville Smoke Dayton → Mohawk Valley Prowlers |
Saginaw Gears (Lumber Kings) | |||
| 1998–99 | 14 | Fort Wayne Komets Madison Kodiaks Missouri River Otters |
Madison → Knoxville Speed Saginaw → Ohio Gears Thunder Bay → Rockford Icehogs Winston-Salem → Adirondack IceHawks |
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| 1999–2000 | 15 | Elmira Jackals New Haven Knights |
Mohawk Valley Prowlers (mid-season) Ohio Gears |
Madison → Kalamazoo Wings | |||
| 2000–01 | 14 | ||||||
| 2001–02 | 10 | Port Huron Beacons | Asheville Smoke B.C. Icemen Knoxville Speed New Haven Knights Port Huron Border Cats |
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| 2002–03 | 12 | Columbus Stars Richmond RiverDogs |
Columbus Stars (mid-season) | ||||
| 2004–04 | 14 | Danbury Trashers Kansas City Outlaws Motor City Mechanics |
Adirondack Frostbite (IceHawks) | ||||
| 2004–05 | 14 | Port Huron Flags | Kansas City Outlaws | Port Huron → Roanoke Valley Vipers | |||
| 2005–06 | 10 | Bloomington PrairieThunder | Adirondack Frostbite Danbury Trashers Missouri River Otters Motor City Mechanics Roanoke Valley Vipers |
Richmond → Chicago Hounds | |||
| 2006–07 | 6 | Port Huron Icehawks | Chicago Hounds Elmira Jackals (moved to ECHL) Port Huron Flags Quad City Mallards Rockford IceHogs (moved to AHL) |
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| 2007–08 | 6 | Muskegon Lumberjacks (Fury) | |||||
| 2008–09 | 7 | Dayton Gems Quad City Mallards |
Kalamazoo Wings (moved to ECHL) | ||||
| 2009–10 | 5 | Port Huron Icehawks Flint Generals[8] |
Muskegon Lumberjacks → Evansville IceMen |
Timeline
History of teams
- Adirondack Frostbite 2004–2006
- Adirondack IceHawks 1999–2004, later Adirondack Frostbite
- Asheville Smoke 1998–2002
- Arctic Xpress 2000–2001 (did not play), later Canton Xpress
- B.C. Icemen 1997–2002
- Bloomington PrairieThunder (2006–2010), merged into Central Hockey League
- Brantford Smoke 1991–1998, later Asheville Smoke
- Canton Ice Patrol 2002 (did not play)
- Canton Xpress 2001–January 28, 2002 (did not play), later Canton Ice Patrol
- Chatham Wheels 1992–1994, later Saginaw Wheels
- Chicago Hounds 2006–2007
- Columbus Stars 2003–January 9, 2004
- Danbury Trashers 2004–2006
- Dayton Gems 2009-2010, merged into Central Hockey League
- Dayton Ice Bandits 1996–1997, later Mohawk Valley Prowlers
- Detroit Falcons 1992–1996
- Elmira Jackals 2000–2007 [9]
- Evansville IceMen 2010, merged into Central Hockey League
- Flint Bulldogs 1991–1993, later Utica Bulldogs
- Flint Generals 1993-2010
- Fort Wayne Komets 2006-2010, merged into Central Hockey League[8]
- Kalamazoo Wings 2000-2009 [10]
- Kansas City Outlaws 2004–2005
- Knoxville Speed 1999–2002
- Lehigh Valley Xtreme 2000(did not play)
- London Wildcats 1994–1995, later Dayton Ice Bandits
- Madison Kodiaks 1999–2000, later Kalamazoo Wings
- Madison Monsters 1996–1999, later Knoxville Speed
- Michigan Falcons 1991–1992, later Detroit Falcons
- Missouri River Otters 1999–2006
- Mohawk Valley Prowlers 1998– January, 2001
- Motor City Mechanics 2004–2006
- Muskegon Lumberjacks 1992-2010, later Evansville IceMen
- New Haven Knights 2000–2002
- Ohio Gears December 20, 1999–2000, later Arctic Xpress
- Port Huron Beacons 2002–2005, later Roanoke Valley Vipers
- Port Huron Border Cats 1996–2002
- Port Huron Icehawks 2007-2010
- Port Huron Flags 2005–2007
- Quad City Mallards 1995–2007
- Quad City Mallards 2006-2010, merged into Central Hockey League
- Richmond RiverDogs 2003–2006, later Chicago Hounds
- Roanoke Valley Vipers 2005–2006
- Rockford IceHogs 1999–2007 [11]
- Saginaw Gears 1998–December 19, 1999, later Ohio Gears
- Saginaw LumberKings 1996–1998, later Saginaw Gears
- Saginaw Wheels 1994–1996, later Saginaw LumberKings
- St. Thomas Wildcats 1991–1994, later London Wildcats
- Thunder Bay Senators 1993–1996, later Thunder Bay Thunder Cats
- Thunder Bay Thunder Cats 1996–1999, later Rockford IceHogs
- Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks 1991–1993, later Thunder Bay Senators
- Utica Bulldogs 1993–1994
- Utica Blizzard 1994–1997
- Winston-Salem IceHawks 1997–1999, later Adirondack IceHawks
See also
- List of developmental and minor sports leagues
- List of ice hockey leagues
- Minor league
- Sports league attendances
References
- ^ "AHL hockey team moving from Omaha to the Quad-Cities," 'Quad City Times,' May 15, 2007
- ^ "Put The UHL On A Dead Pool List," 'Chi-Town Daily News,' January 4, 2007
- ^ "McIlhargey went from the low minors to the NHL," 'NHL.com'
- ^ "Where hockey dreams live on," 'Minneapolis Star-Tribune,' January 3, 2007
- ^ Official Website of the IHL
- ^ "IHL Honored to Announce Hextall as New Leader" - IHL-Hockey.com
- ^ IHL President Paul Pickard Not Renewing Contract - hockeyfights.com forums
- ^ a b Flint, Port Huron bow out of IHL | The Journal Gazette | Fort Wayne, IN
- ^ Jackals moved to ECHL - http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi?action=show_news&cat=1&id=10749
- ^ Wings moved to ECHL - http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi?action=show_news2&id=19007
- ^ Had assets bought out by Rockford IceHogs of American Hockey League - http://www.theahl.com/news/league/index.html?article_id=7559
External links
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