International Hockey League (2007-)

An Ice Hockey Wiki article.

International Hockey League (2007-)
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1991
No. of teams	6
Country(ies)	United States
Most recent champion(s)	Fort Wayne Komets
Most championship(s)	Muskegon Fury (4)
Official website	www.ihl-hockey.com

The International Hockey League is a AA level professional league with teams in the United States. The league is headquartered in Rochester, Michigan, and consists of six teams.

The IHL was originally formed in 1991 as the Colonial Hockey League, intended to fill the Great Lakes region niche abandoned by the original International Hockey League as it went upmarket. It had teams in Brantford, Ontario; Detroit, Michigan; Flint, Michigan; St. Thomas, Ontario; and Thunder Bay, Ontario. As the ECHL moved westward (into Toledo, Dayton, and Peoria), the CoHL moved eastward, into places like the Adirondacks, Danbury, CT, Binghamton, NY, and Richmond, VA. During that expansion, the league was renamed the United Hockey League in 1997, before renaming itself the International Hockey League in 2007.

The name change was intended to evoke the original IHL (1945-2001), which had long-standing franchises in the Great Lakes region. The Fort Wayne Komets were longstanding members of the original league. In addition, the Kalamazoo Wings and Flint Generals revived the names of the original Kalamazoo and Flint IHL teams. Many of the current IHL players have American Hockey League as well as European pro league experience.

On June 27th, 2007, a dispersal draft was held among the six IHL teams, selecting players from the four 2006-2007 UHL franchises that were no longer part of the newly named league. Currently, Paul Pickard serves as President and CEO of the IHL; he is also president of Stadium Management Corporation.

Contents 1 Current Teams 2 Colonial/Turner Cup champions 3 Expansion 4 Former teams 5 External links

[edit] Current Teams

Team	Founded	Home Arena	City	NHL affiliate (higher)	AHL affiliate (higher)
Bloomington PrairieThunder	2006	U.S. Cellular Coliseum	Bloomington, Illinois		Peoria Rivermen Quad City Flames
Dayton Gems [1][2][3]	2009	Hara Arena		Trotwood, Ohio
Flint Generals	1993	Perani Arena and Event Center	Flint, Michigan		Grand Rapids Griffins
Fort Wayne Komets	1952	Allen County War Memorial Coliseum	Fort Wayne, Indiana
Muskegon Lumberjacks	1992	L. C. Walker Arena	Muskegon, Michigan		Grand Rapids Griffins
Port Huron Icehawks	2007	McMorran Arena	Port Huron, Michigan	Detroit Red Wings

[edit] Colonial/Turner Cup champions

The Turner Cup is awarded to annual playoff championship. The name Turner Cup has been restored as of September 24, 2007 as a tribute to the original IHL. Before this, the trophy given to the league playoff champions was known as the Colonial Cup. The past winners are:

• 2009 - Fort Wayne Komets
• 2008 - Fort Wayne Komets - First Winners of new Turner Cup era
• 2007 - Rockford IceHogs - Last team to hold Colonial Cup
• 2006 - Kalamazoo Wings
• 2005 - Muskegon Fury
• 2004 - Muskegon Fury
• 2003 - Fort Wayne Komets
• 2002 - Muskegon Fury
• 2001 - Quad City Mallards
• 2000 - Flint Generals
• 1999 - Muskegon Fury
• 1998 - Quad City Mallards
• 1997 - Quad City Mallards
• 1996 - Flint Generals
• 1995 - Thunder Bay Senators
• 1994 - Thunder Bay Senators
• 1993 - Brantford Smoke
• 1992 - Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks

[edit] Expansion

Year	Teams	Expansion	Defunct	Suspended	Return from Hiatus	Relocated	Name Changes
1991	5	Brantford Smoke Flint Bulldogs Michigan Falcons Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks St. Thomas Wildcats
1992	7	Chatham Wheels Muskegon Fury					Detroit Falcons (Michigan) Thunder Bay Thunder Cats (Thunder Hawks)
1993	8	Flint Generals				Flint → Utica Bulldogs	Thunder Bay Senators (Thunder Cats)
1994	8					Chatham → Saginaw Wheels St. Thomas → London Wildcats	Flint Generals (Bulldogs) Utica Blizzard (Bulldogs)
1995	9	Quad City Mallards Madison Monsters		London Wildcats
1996	10				London Wildcats	Detroit → Port Huron Border Cats London → Dayton Ice Bandits	Saginaw Lumber Kings (Wheels) Thunder Bay Thunder Cats (Senators)
1997	10	B.C. Icemen Winston-Salem IceHawks	Utica Blizzard	Dayton Ice Bandits
1998	11				Dayton Ice Bandits	Brantford → Asheville Smoke Dayton → Mohawk Valley Prowlers	Saginaw Gears (Lumber Kings)
1999	14	Fort Wayne Komets Madison Kodiaks Missouri River Otters				Madison → Knoxville Speed Saginaw → Ohio Gears Thunder Bay → Rockford Icehogs Winston-Salem → Adirondack IceHawks
2000	15	Elmira Jackals New Haven Knights	Mohawk Valley Prowlers (mid-season) Ohio Gears			Madison → Kalamazoo Wings
2001	14
2002	10	Port Huron Beacons	Asheville Smoke B.C. Icemen Knoxville Speed New Haven Knights Port Huron Border Cats
2003	12	Columbus Stars Richmond RiverDogs	Columbus Stars (mid-season)
2004	14	Danbury Thrashers Kansas City Outlaws Motor City Mechanics					Adirondack Frostbite (IceHawks)
2005	14	Port Huron Flags	Kansas City Outlaws			Port Huron → Roanoke Valley Vipers
2006	10	Bloomington PrairieThunder	Adirondack Frostbite Danbury Trashers Missouri River Otters Motor City Mechanics Roanoke Valley Vipers			Richmond → Chicago Hounds
2007	6	Port Huron Icehawks	Chicago Hounds Elmira Jackals Port Huron Flags Quad City Mallards Rockford IceHogs
2008	6						Muskegon Lumberjacks (Fury)
2009	6	Dayton Gems	Kalamazoo Wings

[edit] Former teams

Adirondack Frostbite 2004–2006 Adirondack IceHawks 1997–2004, later Adirondack Frostbite Asheville Smoke 1998–2002 Arctic Xpress 2000–2001 (did not play), later Canton Xpress B.C. Icemen 1997–2002 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 Ice Bandits 1996–1997, later Mohawk Valley Prowlers Detroit Falcons 1992–1996 Elmira Jackals 2000–2007 [4] Flint Bulldogs 1991–1993, later Utica Bulldogs Kalamazoo Wings 2000-2009 [5] 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 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 Flags 2005–2007 Quad City Mallards 1995–2007 Richmond RiverDogs 2003–2006, later Chicago Hounds Roanoke Valley Vipers 2005–2006 Rockford IceHogs 1999–2007 [6] 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

[edit] External links

• Official IHL website
• UHL Yearly Standings

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at International Hockey League (2007-). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

North American Minor Professional leagues

American Hockey League • Central Hockey League • Colonial Hockey League • ECHL • Eastern Professional Hockey League • International Hockey League (1945-2001) • International Hockey League (2007-) • Pacific Coast Hockey League (1933-1941) • Quebec Hockey League • South East Hockey League • Southern Hockey League (1995-1996) • Southern Professional Hockey League • Sunshine Hockey League • West Coast Hockey League • Western Hockey League (minor pro) • Edinburgh Trophy • Eastern Hockey League •

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