NHL Expansion Thoughts

So the Vegas Golden Knights are officially a thing. They have a roster, they have a uniform, all signs point to "go!".

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Basically a Sports Show, and they were talking about how crazy this expansion is which inspired me to do this post.

In a nutshell, the NHL said "no" to Quebec even though they have a new arena built and a potential owner who makes his money from a telecommunication company (so it would be really easy to get the team a regional TV contract).
The NHL did admit Las Vegas. They also have a new arena and a wealthy owner.
The NHL was also expecting a bid from Seattle but, nothing came.

Seems pretty apparent that the NHL just wanted to let Las Vegas and Seattle in if you ask me which leads me to my point; I feel the NHL only wanted to expand to the west in order to balance their conferences (I know; this isn't a new or groundbreaking thought).

In 2013 the NHL move the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Detroit Red Wings to the eastern conference (for the 2013-14 season). This left the Western Conference with 14 teams and the Eastern Conference with 16. Adding 'Vegas has started to balance out the conference but let's say, for argument's sake, that the NHL let in the only other bid: Quebec City.

Quebec would need to be in the Eastern Conference. That would leave the West with 15 teams and the East with 17 teams. How would that balance out so there are 16 teams each?

There are a few options but we need to keep in mind that Detroit has asked for years and years to be in the East and the likelihood of them accepting a move back to the Western conference is very slim.

In mind mind, there are 2 solutions.
(note, I threw together a very quick visual with a map I found here. Blue = Western Conference, Red = Eastern Conference)

#1 Just move Columbus back to the Western Conference. They've been there before, it seems like a simple solution. I understand that means that they would play Pittsburgh less but, it may make that budding rivalry more special. Could you imagine if those 2 teams met in the Stanley cup Final?

The Blue Jackets move back West

I will admit, that may not be the solution that the league is looking for. So here is a solution that may make some sense geographically. In the West, it is more common to see teams that are not within driving distance of any other team. For example, the Stars and Avalance are so far away from other teams it is safe to say that someone a state over could even be fans of these teams as their "local team". Where as New York State has 3 teams plus the Devils are just across a bridge from new York state.
My thought process would be this: Move the Florida teams to the Western Conference. Yes, I know the Panthers are further East than a number of Eastern Conference teams in that case. Thing is; the Florida teams are kind of out there, all by themselves geographically, and I think that being in either conference doesn't really effect their travel costs in that case. They also would still be in the same conference so they could continue to play each other the same amount of times as they do now.
If we move those 2 teams west then, to balance things out, the Predators should move to the East.

The Florida teams move West

What this alignment does as well is set up the NHL for a future Seattle team. Let's say any of the Eastern teams (except Nashville) in this alignment move to Seattle (I won't chose any 1 team in particular because it really doesn't matter who it is).
In that scenario, the Preds can move back West with the new Seattle team and the Florida teams can move back East.

I realize that this senario has Lightening and Panthers fans staying up late when their teams are playing in California/Vancouver but Detroit fans had to endure that for a very long time. Nashville fans currently endure it to some extent as well. It's just always going to be a fact when it comes to the NHL.

I think that's how I'd do it if I was asked by the NHL to realign the teams.

New NHL Jerseys

Hi Internet. It's been a while.

Last night the NHL expanded and the Las Vegas Golden Knights are now officially a team with a uniform and an initial roster.

But, being the jersey nerd that I am, the more exciting news to me was the release of the new home jerseys for the entire league. Adidas took over as the uniform supplier. Reebok is owned by Adidas so this is more of a branding shift really. Either way, we got new jerseys! Woo!

As of this morning, not all the away jerseys have been released and their will not be any 3rd jerseys. I thought I'd write a little post explaining how I feel about the new looks. Before I dive into that I just want to give credit where it is due. The images (which show the new jersey on the left, old on the right) are from Icethetics. It a great site for hockey uniform news, go check it out!

Anaheim Ducks


Not a lot of change here. You'll note that the collar is now orange on the back of the jersey and black on the front. A number of teams have opted to go this way and I really don't like that trend. It was something the NFL did and finally we are starting to see them move away from that. On the plus side the white drawstrings on the front look better than the black. Other than that, not much change. Until they bring back the Might Ducks logo, I won't be 100% satisfied with anything they do.

Arizona Coyotes


Not a lot of change here either. The new collar design is showing here as well with the black half being black. I really don't like that. Honestly, I don't care much for these uniforms but I really haven't cared much for anything this team has done since moving to Phoenix.

Boston Bruins

Boston kept it the same for the most part. They did change the font style slightly but it really was so small of a change that most people won't even notice it. A great look that stays!

Buffalo Sabres

This was one I was really looking forward to. The picture on the right (the old version) is missing the numbers on the front of the uniform. I was hoping that they would remove that, they did not. The collar effect is on the new uniform with yellow on the back, which I don't like. The silver piping on the front is now gone so that is a step up. The tie-up laces have been changed to the non-tie laces. All in all, it feels like 1 step forward, 1 step back with these new uniforms.

Calgary Flames

Another team that moved from tie-up to non-tie laces.
Not a heck of a lot of change with these either but the piping that ran up the jersey onto the sleeves are gone so, it's a step forward. Much like Buffalo there is a step back though, with the collar being black on the back, red on the front. Ant the flag patches are still there, I don't like those.

Carolina Hurricanes

A fun side fact, this team is entering their 20th season since moving from Hartford. That means the Hurricanes have been a thing longer than the Whalers ever were. That's so weird to me. Guess what they did? The collar effect I dislike. Black back, red front.That said; the Hurricanes added black back into their striping which was looks so much better. Although it is faint, the hurricane flag striping pattern is back the in red hem stripe. All in all they are back to looking like Carolina as opposed to team Canada.

Chicago Blackhawks

No changes. Still looking good! One side note, look at their collar, that's how it should be done!

Colorado Avalanche

My team! They brought back the look from those cup winning days. While i'm not thrilled by the collar (grey back, blue front) I'm so glad they brought back the hem striping to resemble a mountain is back so I'm super happy! I'll have to buy one of these.

Columbus Blue Jackets

I love this look and I'm glad that they kept it. If I was nit-picking, I would say that the collar should be white and red instead of blue and red but I can live with it as-is.

Dallas Stars

No Change. Again, a great looking uniform that I'm glad went untouched.

Detroit Red Wings

No change. Classic Red Wings.

Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton made a major change. They "promoted" their orange 3rd jersey, with some changes, to be their new home look. They also changed the blue from royal to navy. The sleeve numbers on the old 3rd were on the top of the shoulders and now are on the sleeves, which I prefer. I like the new orange jersey which is intended to be a throwback to the Alberta Oilers days when this team was in the WHL.

Florida Panthers

Seeing as this was a brand new look for the team last year, I didn't expect any changes. I still don't like it (maybe it would be a good 3rd jersey) but I want the leaping panther back.

Los Angeles Kings

To me, prior to this look, the Kings have had a number of different looks and I liked them all. This look has always been my least favorite and it will probably be the one that sticks because they won a cup in it. That said, there wasn't much change. Just the collar (surprise!) with white on the back and black on the front. So they made their worst look even worse.

Minnesota Wild

The Wild decided to create a whole new uniform for their home games. Going back to green was a good call! I actually really like what they did, the chest stripe is a cool look and it works well because the outline of the logo is the same colour. They added a little extra "flair" to the sleeve stripes by adding a red stripe into that. It's a big upgrade for me.

Montreal Canadians 

No change, classic Canadians look. As it should be.

Nashville Preditors

I've never really liked Nashville's yellow jerseys. They have a darker yellow 3rd with a different logo back when Peter Forsberg played there and I wasn't a huge fan of that look either. That said, this change is a step in the right direction in my books. The removal of the white piping and the weird blue on the top of the front of the jersey is a positive. I've heard people complain that the new look is "too plain" but I think plain is better that all the weird design elements that were on the previous version.

New Jersey Devils

The Devils have basically had the same look since day 1. For a while they featured green in their look but even when they switched from green to black, the look was the same.
Until now.
The sleeve stripe colours were reversed. To me that looks bad but the killer is the hem stripe. It's just a thin black stripe. It looks so bad. Honestly, this looks like when you go to Wal-Mart and you see the jerseys for sale that aren't replicas. They are just kind of similar to the actually jersey but are only like $30 so people buy them because they don't want to spend the money on the actual thing.
Big big downgrade.

New York Islanders

They just can't make anything easy can they? They can't seem to find a home arena, they had some horrible uniforms and now that they are finally back on track (uniform-wise), they go and add that stupid collar. It's a really small change but it really hurts the look.

New York Rangers

No change. There's a rumor that grey has been added to the white jersey, we will have to see, but if not then the Rangers have kept a classic look.

Ottawa Senators

Not much of a change. More black on the sleeves. Too bad, this was one look I was really hoping would change.

Philadelphia Flyers

No change here either. I like this look. Glad to see that they didn't change.

Pittsburgh Penguins

This is my current favorite jersey. Although they went and screwed it up with the collar effect I still love this look. The skating penguin logo is so cool and the colour combo is the best!

San Jose Sharks

Guess who else did the collar effect that I dislike? Otherwise it's the same. It's really too bad though because this is a team that "got it on 1" and has screwed around with it's look but has never looked as good.

St. Louis Blues

2 very, very small changes for the Blues. 1- the numbers are primarily white now. Historically they've been yellow. 2- the "hanger effect". they changed it from "est 1967" to a design that looks like the city's flag.
I'm not sure how I feel about the white numbers but overall it's still a really good looking jersey.

Tampa Bay Lightening

Collar effect here too (why couldn't the whole collar be white?). They also got rid of the tie-up which I actually like.
They still look too much like the Leafs to me, but at least they are staying consistent.

Toronto Maple Leafs

See: Tampa.
But seriously. the whole collar should be white. Toronto just introduced these last year so I expected no change. I still prefer the previous uniform to this one but I do prefer this logo.

Vancouver Canucks

Again, the whole collar should be white. Otherwise no change to a uniform that I like. I think I'd like it better without the wordmark.

Washington Capitals

Very small change. The blue piping went to the top of the shoulders on the old one, now it goes across the top of the chest into the bottom part of the collar. Speaking of the collar, it's got red of the front, blue on the back. I don't like that (in case I haven't made that clear)! I was hoping the caps would make a significant change, guess not.

Winnipeg Jets

No change. That's cool. I still don't love these but they are sticking with it.

.....And team #31 unveiled their new look as well.

Vegas Golden Knights

All in all, I actually really like the look. The pattern in the gold sleeve stripes is very noticeable when the light bounces off of it. They are pairing it with black pants and, a grey helmet  and socks that match the sleeve striping.
I like the unique grey colour a lot, brings something new to the fold.

Some Jays thoughts heading into the ALCS

Ok, so we're less than an hour away. The clips are being shown on the horrible game that happened early in August. Just something to remember:
Umpire Jim Wolfe actually was the biggest problem in that game. A warning went out in the 1st inning but he refused to enforce it after Donaldson was almost hit twice (was hit once) and Tulo took 1 right in the gut.
Then throwing Sanchez out when a pitch ended up in the dirt and inside, that was stupid.

Let's not forget this though: KC is good. They had the best record in the American League. There is a reason for this. Pitching to the inside with the Jays is a way to win. Leave it over the plate and the Jays will crush it. So get ready more more inside pitches.

That said, throwing it at anyone's head isn't cool. I understand that and am not discrediting this.

This is going to be a tough series. We've got 2 fanbases who have suffered for a long time who now have teams that are really good. This is going to be a real battle.

Go Jays! I'm really excited for this.

PS. I'm sorry for ignoring you blog. I swear I still love you.

Revamping the Minor Leagues of Hockey.

Recently there has been lots and lots of talk about the minor leagues of hockey revamping. The idea is to create a western division in the AHL so the Western Conference NHL teams will be able to recall players from their affiliates and get them to report to "the big club" in a reasonable time frame. At the end of this all professional hockey will look a lot more like professional baseball by having a AAA and AA level.

I've been following this process with great interest as you may have noticed on my blog earlier regarding the Central Hockey League being merged into the ECHL.

There was a great article posted on over on SB Nation about this back in August. In fact that article (plus some up to date news that has since come out) is the inspiration for this post.

Before I get started there are a couple news items that need to be addressed:

#1: The Montreal Canadian have been heavily rumored to be moving their AHL affiliate from Hamilton, Ontario to Laval, Quebec.

#2: The Oklahoma City Barons are going to cease operations after this season. They are the current affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers currently own the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL and it's been long rumored that Bakersfield will become an AHL team.

#3: The Norfolk Admirals have been sold to the Anaheim Ducks. This will be their last season in Norfolk. Touching on the previous point, the rumor is that the Bakersfield Condors (still owned by the Oilers) will will be moved to Norfolk as play as the Admirals in the ECHL.

#4: The Winnipeg Jets have said they would be pulling their affiliate out from St. John's, Newfoundland. The rumor is that the Jets would like to have an affiliate in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Based on these facts, here is what I proposed the re-alignment looks like (Going in alphabetical order of the NHL franchises).

Finally, my goal was to keep as many franchises in place as possible even if that means they move up to the AHL from the ECHL or vice versa.

Anaheim Ducks:
The Ducks have already announced their plan to purchase the Norfolk Admirals and move them out west. With the Bakersfield Condors already rumored to be the new Norfolk Admirals in the ECHL it seems like an obvious swap to me. Bakersfield can become the AHL team for Anaheim (Bakersfield is about 2 hours away from Anaheim). Meanwhile the Utah Grizzlies, the current ECHL affiliate, is still out west and that will work out nicely.

Arizona Coyotes:
The current AHL affiliate is in Portland, ME, clear across the country. The best bet would be to move them to Tucson, AZ's convention center arena. The Las Vegas Wranglers are currently dormant in the ECHL but are to return next season, they are 4 and a half hours away or a 1 hour flight

Boston Bruins:
The Bruins are lucky. The Providence Bruins are less than an hour away. No need to change the AHL affiliate. The Springfield Falcons are about 1 and a half hours away and are known to be in the bottom 5 of AHL attendance so a move down to the ECHL might be an ok move.

Buffalo Sabres:
There's a very long standing relationship between Rodchester and Buffalo, no need to change that. Plus it's only an hour away from Buffalo. Elmira, NY is only 2 and a half hours away so the Jackals should remain their ECHL affiliate.

Calgary Flames:
Calgary might be best suited to put their AHL team in Seattle, Washington. With the rumors of the NHL wanting to go to Seattle putting an AHL team there could be a good test. It's a 12 hour drive but a 2 hour flight isn't too bad. With not too many other options in Alberta, the Flames could adopt the Alaska Aces as their ECHL team, it is about a 6 and a half hour flight but the Aces should be used to long trips being located as far the north-west as they already are. The best bet for this to work would be to share Alaska with Edmonton.

Carolina Hurricanes:
Their current affiliate is the Charlotte Checkers, about 2 and a half hours away. No need to change that. The ECHL has team in North Charleston, South Carolina. That team is about 4 hours away and would be the best affiliate for the Hurricanes.

Chicago Blackhawks:
The current AHL affiliate in Rockford is 2 hours away. No need for a change there. The Indy Fuel are about 3 hours away so no need to change the ECHL affiliate either.

Colorado Avalanche:
The Colorado Eagles of the ECHL are top 5 in attendance and are an hour away, so a move to the AHL makes sense to me. The Rapid City Rush (who currently have no affiliate) of the ECHL are about 6 hours away so they might be the best ECHL affiliate for the Avalanche.

Columbus Blue Jackets:
The Lake Erie Monsters are 2 hours away so that would be the best move. The Toledo Walleye 2 and a half hours away so that should be the new ECHL affiliate.

Dallas Stars:
The Texas Stars are in Cedar Park, Texas which is 3 hours away so that will still work. The Allen Americans of the ECHL are half an hour away from Dallas so they should be the new ECHL affiliate.

Detroit Red Wings:
Grand Rapids is 2 and a half hours away so the AHL affiliate should remain. Kalamazoo is a straight shot 2 and a half hours west from Detroit, the Wings would be best suited as the ECHL affiliate for Detroit, not to mention the whole "wings" naming match up.

Edmonton Oilers:
It would have to be a big shake up for the Oilers. The Barons are being folded but moving the AHL affiliate to Fort McMurray which is about 5 hours away and there is a proposal for a brand new 7,000 seat arena in the city. The new "Oil Barons" would work nicely. With not too many other options in Alberta, the Oilers could adopt the Alaska Aces as their ECHL team, it is about a 6 hour flight but the Aces should be used to long trips being located as far the north-west as they already are. The best bet for this to work would be to share Alaska with Calgary.

Florida Panthers:
The Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL is about 3 hours away and would serve well as an AHL Franchise. The current AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage, is a 4 and a half hour flight away. A little far but it might be a good solution if they share the ECHL affiliation with Tampa Bay.

Los Angeles Kings:
The Kings are one of the west teams who have been expected to move their AHL affiliate closer and San Diego is about 2 hours away. So the Manchester Monarchs will move to San Diego. The current ECHL affiliate in Ontario, California should stay put they are about an hour away.

Minnesota Wild:
The Iowa Wild are about 4 hours away (or a 1 hour flight) so the AHL affiliate makes sense. The current ECHL affiliate is 5 and half hours away (or a 1 hour flight) so that will continue to work.

Montreal Canadians:
The Hamilton Bulldogs are rumored to be moving to Laval, Quebec so that's what we will go with. Laval is only a half hour drive away.With Ottawa and Montreal being so close I'd move the Cincinnati Cyclones to Saint-Jerome, Quebec. It's 40 minutes away from Montreal.

Nashville Predators:
The Chicago Wolves of the AHL are a 7 hour drive but only an hour and a half flight from Nashville. That is one of the further drives but the flight is between 2 major cities and short, so it will work. Evansville of the ECHL is about 2 and a half hours away so they would be a good affiliate.

New Jersey Devils:
The Albany Devils are a 2 and a half hour drive from Newark or a 1 hour flight, the AHL affiliate can stay put. The Adirondack Flames are still a new AHL franchise and the Flames are rumored to be moving away from this franchise so moving them down to the ECHL might be a good move. They are only 3 hours away from Newark. 

New York Islanders:
The Islanders are moving to Brooklyn so I calculated the distance based on this. Their current AHL affiliate is about an hour and a half away. So the Sound Tigers should stay. The Syracuse Crunch would be a good option for an affiliation even if they need to drop down to the ECHL which is 4 hours away from Brooklyn or just an hour flight.

New York Rangers:
The Rangers are affiliated with the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack which is a 2 hour drive so that works out nicely. The Binghamton Senators are a 3 hour drive or 1 and a half hour flight away from the Rangers, they are currently an AHL team but it's an established minor professional market so it could work out nicely.

Ottawa Senators:
There has been lots of talk of Cornwall, Ontario doing some big renovations to their arena and seeing as Cornwall is about an hour away from Ottawa it would be a good fit for an AHL team. With Ottawa and Montreal being so close I'd move the Cincinnati Cyclones to Saint-Jerome, Quebec. It's 1 hour and 40 minutes away from Ottawa.

Philadelphia Flyers:
The Flyers have a long standing affiliation with the Phantoms organization. Right now they are an hour and 20 minutes away from Philadelphia so no need to change. The Reading Royals are the current ECHL affiliate and are also an hour and 20 minutes away from Philadelphia. No need to change that either.

Pittsburgh Penguins:
Wilkes-Barre is about 4 and a half hours away from Pittsburgh and it's a long standing relationship, that shouldn't change. The Wheeling Nailers are an hour away from Pitt so that works out nicely as the ECHL affiliate.

San Jose Sharks:
San Jose would need to completely relocate both affiliates. The first step should be to move the Worcester Sharks to San Francisco. The Stockton Thunder are 1 and a half hours away from San Jose so they would be a great ECHL affiliate.

St. Louis Blues:
The Missouri Mavericks are 3 hours and 45 minutes away or a hour flight so it would make sense to promote this team to the AHL. The currently independent Tulsa Oilers are 6 hours away or 1 hour 15 minutes away via flight. A little far, but it might be a good ECHL affiliate.

Tampa Bay Lightening:
The Florida Everblades are 2 hours away and a promotion to the AHL should do the trick for Tampa. A little far but it might be a good solution if they share the ECHL affiliation with Florida.

Toronto Maple Leafs:
The Toronto Marlies play about 10 minutes down the road and are owned by the Leafs and play in an arena that is also owned by the Leafs. That's not changing. The Brampton Beast are about 45 minutes away and are currently unaffiliated (although they started the season as a Tampa Bay affiliate it was just kind of dropped without notice.). This would make the most sense.

Vancouver Canucks:
The Canucks would be well served moving their AHL team from Utica, New York to Abbotsford where the Flames used to have their affiliate as Abbostsford is only an hour away form Vancouver. The Idaho Steelheads may be the best ECHL club to use as an affiliate although they are an 11 hour drive away, it's only a 3 hour flight.

Washington Capitals:
The Hershey Bears are a historic AHL club that is 2 and a half hours away from Washington, it's a great fit. The Greenville Road Warriors are 7 and a half hours away, it's a little far but it can still work out.

Winnipeg Jets:
The Jets have made it clear that they want to move their AHL affiliate to Thunder Bay, Ontario. Thunder Bay is an 8 and a half hour drive from Winnipeg due to water but is only an hour flight. The Fort Wayne Komets consistently draw over 7,000 people for their games and seeing as it's a 4 hour flight from Winnipeg, that might be the best ECHL solution for the Jets.

Here's a quick chart to put a visual to it all:

NHL Team	AHL team	ECHL Team
Anahiem Ducks	Bakersfield Condors	Utah Grizzlies
Arizona Coyotes	Tucson Pirates	Las Vegas Wranglers
Boston Bruins	Providence Bruins	Springfield Falcons
Buffalo Sabres	Rochester Americans	Elmira Jackals
Calgary Flames	Seattle Flames	Alaska Aces
Carolina Hurricanes	Charlotte Checkers	South Carolina Sting Rays
Chicago Blackhawks	Rockford IceHogs	Indy Fuel
Colorado Avalanche	Colorado Eagles	Rapid City Rush
Columbus Blue Jackets	Lake Erie Monsters	Toledo Walleye
Dallas Stars	Texas Stars	Allen Americans
Detroit Red Wings	Grand Rapid Griffins	Kalamazoo Wings
Edmonton Oilers	Fort McMurray Oil Barons	Alaska Aces
Florida Panthers	Orlando Solar Bears	San Antonio Rampage
LA Kings	San Diego Monarchs	Ontario Reign
Minnesota Wild	Iowa Wild	Quad City Mallards
Montreal Canadians	Laval Bulldogs (Titan)	Saint-Jerome Cyclones (Panthers)
Nashville Preditors	Chicago Wolves	Evansville Icemen
New Jersey Devils	Albany Devils	Adirondack Flames (Devils)
New York Islanders	Bridgeport Sound Tigers	Syracuse Crunch
New York Rangers	Hartford Wolf Pack	Binghamton Senators (Rangers)
Ottawa Senators	Cornwall Senators	Saint-Jerome Cyclones (Panthers)
Philedelphia Flyers	Lehigh Valley Phantoms	Reading Royals
Pittsburgh Penguins	Wiles-Barre Penguins	Wheeling Nailers
San Jose Sharks	San Fransisco Sharks	Stockton Thunder
St. Louis Blues	Missouri Mavericks	Tulsa Oilers
Tampa Bay Lightening	Florida Everblades	San Antonio Rampage
Toronto Maple Leafs	Toronto Marlies	Brampton Beast
Vancouver Canucks	Abbotsford Comets	Idaho Steelheads
Washington Capitals	Hershey Bears	Greenville Road Warriors
Winnipeg Jets	Thunder Bay Icecaps	Fort Wayne Komets

More of the Same Old TFC.

I'm annoyed.

Today marked another day of negative news from Toronto FC.
Apparently Gilberto and Henry are going to be sold in January. Defoe has said he's picked up yet another injury. Bradley and Hagglund are not available for selection tomorrow as they both have suspensions to serve. Bradley from cumulative yellows and Hagglund from last week's red card.

2 games are left. Tomorrow against Montreal and next week against New England.
Montreal is a winnable game, New England will probably be resting their stars next week with a playoff spot already locked up making that game winnable.

Toronto need Defoe in the line up tomorrow, like him or not.

2014 was supposed to be the year of change. Turns out it was just the year of "more of the same". Yeah, Defoe and Bradley were big name signing's. Yeah, getting Oduro and bringing Dero back were good moves for MLS type players.

Then it started. First Tim Leiweikie announced he was leaving MLSE, then TFC replaced their coach, then the rumors that Defoe wanted out of Toronto came up and now here we are. 2 games left. both must-wins and hope that Columbus looses both.

It's like no matter what it's just more of the same old with this team and I'm really tired of it. I'm not even going to kid myself. I will be watching the game and I won't be boycotting but the simple fact is this: I've attended less games than I ever have this season and I'm sure that number will decline again next year. I'll never stop following this team. I know that. I wish I could but I've put too much time, money and, effort into it to give up.

That said, I can't wait for the off season. I need a break. My heart hurts too much.

ECHL Announces Divisional Alignment

The ECHL announced today the divisional alignment for the 2014/15 season.
The former CHL teams will comprise of the Western Conference's Central Division.
Just a reminder those teams are: Allen Americans, Brampton Beast, Missouri Mavericks, Quad City Mallards, Rapid City Rush, Tulsa Oilers, Wichita Thunder.

The top 4 teams in each division will make it to the playoff. 

Updates to the 2014/15 schedule are set to be announced in the next couple of days.

The Beast move up!

One of 7 new members to the ECHL

It was officially announced today after a couple weeks of speculation, the ECHL will absorb the CHL (Central hockey league) for the 2014/15 season. This means one thing: The Brampton Beast are now a member of the ECHL. Great news for the Beast.

There will be plenty more news coming out in the following days regarding the schedule, playoff format and, more.