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My son won the red Bakker jersey.

Just to fuel more speculation about Carolina and the FHL in general, Carolina GM Scott Brand mentioned in this interview that if the Annex in W-S was bigger, they'd be eyeing a jump to the SPHL. Also mentions some FHL expansion rumors, the process behind it, and what the place for the FHL and SPHL is. Pretty interesting stuff, and seems like honest answers. https://hotsprotstakes.com/2018/05/06/on-brand-with-scott-brand/

2018 SPHL President’s Cup MVP Sy Nutkevitch.

Oz isn't in Kansas. Dorothy said so. South Park, CO? Lake Wobegon, MN? Castle Rock, ME? Mayberry, NC? Smallville, KS? Hill Valley, CA?

NICU gets new cribs thanks to Huntsville Havoc and fans By Jerry Hayes - WHNT Ch. 19 News HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - It is Mother's Day. And some new moms are enjoying a big gift from the Huntsville Havoc hockey organization and their fans. Their donations from this year’s Melissa George Night are already being put to good use. It’s become tradition for the players to visit the Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Huntsville Hospital for Women and Children every year before Melissa George Night. The players wear special pink and blue jerseys that are auctioned off after the game. Money from that, a silent stick auction and other donations go to buy life-saving equipment through the Melissa George Neonatal Memorial Fund. Read more at: http://whnt.com/2018/05/13/487734/

I listened to the 1st episode of the Crown Talk. I found it to be informative and entertaining. I recommend it to other fans of SPHL hockey. Hopefully, one day Fayetteville will have someone who will give the die-hard fans something similar to what the RiverKings are doing.

Per Havoc staff, there was a limit of 900 games combined played by "veterans" this past season, and it won't drop this upcoming season. FYI, a "veteran" is a player who has played 224 pro games. Doc

Haha, no. My luck I’d drive the bid up and no one else would bid and I’d be stuck paying $900! Plus I’m not mean!

I wonder if either of Matt Zenzola's game-worns was won by a family of 4. They could all wear it at once to a game next season.

Understand. I think it's just an additional layer of caution in the process. The thing I like about these particular auctions versus Ebay is that no one can "snipe" you by waiting until the very last second to submit a bid. In this system, you have an additional 5 minutes to respond. I can't count the number of Ebay auction I've lost by sniping. Congratulations on your jersey, BTW.

That date could slide a couple of weeks, with head nods from the BOGs, "IF" a new QDC ownership group is still crossing I's and dotting T's. Players being drafted or protected could be impacted by a delay, especially if they have apartment leases that run out at the end of May. But with some warning from the League, they should be able to plan ahead for the inevitable.

'It was the right thing to do': B.C. woman returns jacket to former Humboldt hockey player By Matt Olson - Saskatoon StarPhoenix Read more at: http://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/woman-returns-jacket-to-former-humboldt-hockey-player

Don Cherry’s Little-Known Coaching Championship By Martin Kessler - Only a Game/WBUR Radio, Boston, MA Read more (or listen) at: http://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/05/04/don-cherry-rochester-americans-amerks

Hockeychic has been selected as member of the month for May. For being selected member of the month, they get to enjoy all the perks of Star Donor for the entire month and has been awarded the member of the month award to be displayed in his awards cabinet. Congrats and thanks for being a great member of SPHL Forums!

Third time, not at all charming. Congratulations to the Havoc on their 2nd SPHL championship. It might be appropriate for Trudel to hand over the Coach of the Year award to Detulleo in the handshake line.

Honestly I've pondered whether the SPHL should adopt a Euro-style aggregate score format if they're only gonna do best 2 of 3 for all their series ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If the basketball team schedule suddenly has a huge increase in weekend dates, it may tell the story. Sorry to see hockey gone for you guys. Good luck in getting something else established later.

The Ice Bears Charity Classic Golf Tournament returns to the Three Ridges Golf Course for another afternoon of golf, revelry, and prizes. Date: June 1st Registration: 11:00 am - 12:00 noon Shotgun start: 1:00 pm Proceeds from this year's tournament will benefit the KAHA Amateur Hockey Scholarship Fund. Contests include Putting Contest - Longest Drive wearing Hockey Gloves - Closest to Pin. Lunch provided to all in attendance, courtesy of Lenny's Subs. Contact Lora@KnoxvilleIceBears.com to register a team or to become a sponsor.

Hey Guys, I've been hard at work developing a media network to take the RiverKings to the next level and really give fans 24/7 content, even during the offseason. Recently we launched the RKN (RiverKings Network) which consists of a blog personally written and curated by myself (The Scribe), and launched a brand new, weekly podcast (Crown Talk). The first entry on The Scribe is online now, a piece on Devin Mantha and his tenure/impact on this team over the last five seasons. Check it out here: rkscribe.weebly.com And our first edition of Crown Talk is up, too! I talk about Manthas retirement and who I think might step up as the next captain, plus I predict what the protected list might look like in a couple weeks. Check it out here Podbean: https://t.co/25vbkJ1YIf iTunes: https://t.co/hOLVIWa74m YouTube: https://t.co/TItgdOIXSb

Maybe he's a good "value"?

The next time logic is used in a critique of business models on a hockey message board will be the first.

There is no reason that this team should be folding. A non profit should not be allowed to run a sports team. The Metro Memphis area has over a million people and the building should be full every game. The game sells itself once you see it one time. The management put little to no effort that I could see into marketing and promotion of the team. I have been going to games for a quarter century of my life and I am sad that there will probably not be hockey here anymore. I only went to one game this season since I was unemployed. Wish now I could have made it to more. Honestly it has been downhill since they changed the name from Memphis to Mississippi.

I don't understand what distinction is being made here. The old Ice Gators franchise has become the new Quad City one. Right. It's just a name. This seems like a rhetorical question, but I'll answer it genuinely: yes. It's not like there are dozens of "real" leagues around the US. The Central Hockey League "folding" a few years ago created an environment that is challenging for many of their former franchises. Evansville and Quad City are both former CHL locations that struggled to support the ECHL cost structure. Brampton and Rapid City are both around the 3000 mark in attendance, so don't be surprised if they eventually can't field ECHL squads. They're geographically much further though making the SPHL an exceptionally unlikely destination. The upside to the addition of teams outside the traditional footprint means it becomes much more viable for other franchises to join. It gives more flexibility for the SPHL to schedule closer opponents heavily (like they currently do with Evansville and Peoria).

Well even if we only get 2 years out of him hopefully he can add on to what we missed in season one and help build a better organization. Good things

Most Canadians refer to their fellow citizens of African descent as "Black Canadians." The ancestors of the largest segment of that population emigrated from the Caribbean nations, so calling them "African" is tugging on a tenuous thread.

http://www.swamprabbits.com/kevin-kerr-takes-over-as-swamp-rabbits-head-coach/

Actually, Marksmen3519 best you both.

Oz, Kansas?

Not an error or a bump. In February, the players delivered baby blankets they had made to the NICU. This time, they went to see the new cribs the last jersey auction paid for. Watch the whole video.

Not really- they did have the GOP rally there (an event which totally screwed up playing dates for the Ice Flyers).

The ECHL filed a trademark for "Central Hockey League" to be used for "Professional hockey exhibitions". Wondering what this could intel?

Ok Thanks

"At the Bay Center, there is not a lot of ice time." Even for the Flyers.

I find them offal.

I need to show your post to Mrs. JMC, whose blood pressure spikes whenever I add another jersey to my collection. If I was a game-worn collector (I only have one of those - don't tell fred - and it was given to me), me 'n' my 185 hockey jerseys would be living in a van down by the river.

In the recent Central Hockey League days, fans in Rapid City consistently bid more for their team's game-worns than any other competitor. This 2012 RC Journal story highlighted their dedication to supporting the home team.

There's also an attempt to launch a renegade Jr. league called the USA Central Hockey League but they've been radio silent for close to two months. This could be a way to keep them from using just the CHL name as some of the faces behind the USACHL were behind the C1HL that failed to launch twice.

"Executive Director for the Taxslayer, Scott Mullen, says there are 6 to 8 groups interested in owning a team in the QC, as it moves toward the SPHL, but there is no deadline." Headline wasn't misleading but it could've been more specific. "He also told Local 4 News, the ECHL owns the rights to the Mallards name, and he was told the name is not for sale at any price." How about the "Ice Ducks"? Too close to Anaheim? 'While I was at 1st disappointed we had to wait a year before we started playing, looking back it was the right decision.' In retrospect the new Fayetteville ownership group should have taken a year off to try to figure out what they were doing rather than put such a pitiful product on the ice for 56 games.

Maybe you & your wife could use it as a very stylish tent for summertime camping. They repel water rather well, and you could turn the tie-down strap into a handy zipper pull.

Good point. We have too many mayors.

You feed your pets roast?

I think like Brand said in the interview, there's not a "bad" market, just bad marketing, or for most FHL teams like the departed Cornwall Nationals, no marketing. And I feel like so many teams in the FHL prior to WS just opened up shop and hoped fans would come just because, "Hey, it's hockey and people here like hockey!" Granted, WS is in a town that has more people in it than the rest of the FHL towns combined, but they did a lot of leg work and market to make people aware of the team. Now, that takes money, which WS had, and a lot of other new teams don't either don't have or don't account for when starting up, and I think that's the biggest issue with the league. It's "only" $90k-ish or so (from what I've heard) for all your expansion fees and that, so a couple guys who saved up some money could have a go at it, where as the SPHL and even things like the USHL and NAHL are six or seven figures for expansion fees, so you have a far smaller chance of a bad owner who might run out of money, or can't afford to market the team.

I'm sure they'll come up with a nobody that somebody says was "highly recommended by the NHL..."

As a Canucks fan I am obligated to hate Torterella.

This thread has been linked to the SPHL Forums Twitter page, to see if it can draw some attention from a wider audience with organizational intel.

I don't think this stuff is the players personal equipment, I think this is the stuff provided by the Rail Yard Dawgs organization

Good luck!

It's gonna be a LONG summer - for everyone except fans - so I figured I'd bump this topic to keep the chatter going.

Congratulations to the Havoc on their 2nd SPHL championship. The better team clearly won.

I don't know about 7, but I don't see why 5 games isn't doable. Has anyone done the math on how much more 2-3 extra games is for an SPHL team? This is going to sound crazy but there's an understanding with minor league/semi-pro sports that there will be some gimmicky stuff...why not lean into it? There aren't large sponsorship deals or TV right deals for the league to make money...it all comes from revenue from attendance. Why not make that an aspect of the game itself? Three games of a playoff series is considered "beer league" or gimmicky. The Challenge Round is considered gimmicky. Why not give points for attendance? It could provide franchises an opportunity to rally local fans/booster clubs to support attendance marketing pushes. Think about it, what if the top three teams are separated by only 1 or 2 points between the three of them with a certain number of points on the line for top attendance at the end of it. The last week of home games could include local pushes to actually help the teams (that whole 7th man thing in action). Yes, it's a big gimmick, but the league is already considered gimmicky by outsiders as well as some in local markets. I say lean into it and get creative to make the league more profitable. If revenues go up, we could have more playoff games or we could have more teams as investors may be more willing to take a chance on a more profitable league.