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« Sports News
SteelHounds, IHL haven’t set faceoff for fall
The Midwest-based league is waiting for owner Herb Washington to call.
VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT
YOUNGSTOWN — A meeting to discuss financial terms has not yet been confirmed between the International Hockey League and SteelHounds owner Herb Washington.
Late Tuesday, Washington said he plans to have a sitdown session with IHL officials, perhaps “within the next 10 days.”
First, he’d like to meet with any officials and businessmen in the Valley interested in hockey’s future here.
In the wake of his team’s ouster from the Central Hockey League last week, Washington said joining the IHL in time for the season that begins in October was a possibility.
According to Eric Ryan, Chevrolet Centre executive director, the clock is ticking on this fall’s hockey season.
Last week, Ryan said that the SteelHounds’ decision for 2008-09 would need to be made by June 23. Otherwise, the arena would need to start booking acts for the dates being reserved for hockey.
However, Washington said the SteelHounds aren’t aware of any deadline set by the arena.
Paul Pickard, IHL president and chief executive officer, said he’s prepared for a visit to Youngstown, as soon as later this week. He said the league is awaiting confirmation from Washington.
On June 2, the CHL announced that the SteelHounds would not be participating in the season that begins in October. League officials have declined comment on the ouster, citing pending litigation.
The CHL owners gathered today in Phoenix for the annual league meetings. The Corpus Christi Rayz will participate this fall. The Rayz’s suspension was canceled when the team was sold.
The SteelHounds and Austin Ice Bats are not returning to the CHL while a new team in Rapid City, S.D., is joining.
It would have been the SteelHounds’ fourth season in the CHL, but first with the league’s parent company, Global Entertainment, not managing the Chevrolet Centre.
On June 5, Washington said joining the IHL or the more prestigious ECHL were possibilities.
But joining the ECHL for the upcoming season appears unlikely as the league has already announced its schedule.
The CHL, IHL and ECHL are all considered the equivalent of baseball’s Double A leagues. But there are differences.
The ECHL clubs have National Hockey league affiliations and are tied most closely to hockey’s top league.
NHL draft picks not good enough for the American Hockey League (Triple A) most likely are playing in the ECHL.
Some CHL clubs have NHL affiliations. Each team can carry four veterans (age 26 and older). Some NHL draft picks play in the CHL. For instance, the SteelHounds had Petr Pohl and Kirill Starkov this past season. Both were drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets and assigned to the SteelHounds by the NHL team.
The IHL allows each club to carry seven veterans. The salary cap is higher than the CHL.
The IHL was known as the United Hockey League until spring 2007. The 10-team league contracted to six (two teams joined the ECHL and two folded) and adopted the IHL name which had become available.
Four teams are in Michigan while the others are in Illinois and Indiana.
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Comments
Wow...Herb Washington is the most uninformed businessman on the Planet..."Washington said the SteelHounds aren’t aware of any deadline set by the arena."
He had no idea the league was kicking the Steelhounds out"...Who believes any of that? No legitimate business is going to "kick-out" a subsidary without prior notice. I believe that either Mr. Washington can't read or hear...or he has been "protected" by the brain trust of Joe Gregory and Tom Meco.
Good article. The only problem seems to be the authors' disrespect of the IHL. It seems some facts regarding affiliations are posted with some leagues but left out while discussing the IHL. This makes it look like the IHL is an inferior league. The truth is that some IHL teams do have affiliations. For example, the Detroit Red Wings two 'AA' level affiliations are both in the IHL - Port Huron and Flint. The Wings have no affiliations with ECHL or CHL teams. Many close to the sport have heard about Darren McCarty's long road to returning to the Red Wings. That return started with McCarty playing for the Flint Generals. In fact, McCarty is the only player that played in this years Stanley Cup finals that came from a 'AA' level team within the last year. The Port Huron Icehawks had two players - Kris Vernarsky and Neil Clark - that were assigned by the Red Wings after attending training camp in Detroit. Also, several IHL players have played in the NHL at one time. With that in mind, the IHL is a very good league, that is on par with the CHL. In fact, because the league allows more veterans (7)- which allows more veteran NHL and AHL level players to join teams - and has a higher salary cap, the point can be made that it is actually better than the CHL. Couple that with the fact that the IHL hasn't sunk to the NHL's grasp on the rules and true fans of the game will find the games more enjoyable to watch. Think of it this way: The players are actually allowed to check other players in the IHL without getting called for a penalty. Fighting is actually tolerated. Penalties are normally only called when they should be: if there is an intent to injure of the offense DIRECTLY interfere's or denies a scoring opportunity. People think that because of this, clutching and grabbing will slow the game down. Wrong! IMO, because players know that they may get hit or be forced to fight for doing something stupid, the bad plays are eliminated. Think: NHL in the early 90s. The rules didn't have to be changed then and there was plenty of scoring. Why? It was before the NHL cracked down on fighting. Players were more careful with their sticks and weak interference moves because they knew they'd have to pay a price. Call it self governing, if you will.
Anyway, that's my rant. I hope it made sense to some of you. It will be nice if Youngstown is able to provide a stable team to the IHL and I think the Steelhounds fans will truly enjoy the product on the ice. Some of you might even find you are able to follow the team on the road, with the competition much closer than it is in the CHL.
I am a Komets season ticket holder in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Tiger dan is 100% right. The IHL is great. Last season, the Komets had at least 2 players that have played in the NHL. It's very entertaining. Just ask the 10,200 people that witnessed game 7 of the Turner Cup Finals.
Don't let these Fort Wayne folks kid you, Mr. Washington. The IHL is still basically the UHL, with the same people running it(minus Richard Brosal), with the same way of doing things. This league and their fans can say what they want that "it's so different", but it just isn't. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, and the hockey world knows it.
Folks do not let anyone fool you, the IHL is a measly 6 team league with teams in Michigan and Indiana and Illinois. The ECHL has teams in Ohio, WV, and Pennsylvania, and team owners of nearby ECHL Organizations want the Hounds to join their league. They are the first league new draft picks get put into, and they are a large league with teams in Vegas through the Northeast.
Sign the petition in favor of the Hounds sitting out one season in order to play in the ECHL in 2 years:
http://www.petitiononline.com/goytown/pe...