Ice Hockey Wiki
Register
Advertisement

The World Hockey Association 2 was an league created at the instigation of the organizers of the proposed recreated World Hockey Association to serve as its development league. The WHA2 teams – some of which had played the 2002-03 season in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League – were all in the southeastern United States.

The WHA2 operated in the 2003-2004 season only, after which (due to a falling out with the parent organization) it was served a cease-and-desist from the WHA and ceased operations. David Waronker was credited with both the founding and collapse of the league. In addition he owned or co-owned all of the teams in the league. Its surviving teams merged with survivors of the South East Hockey League to form the Southern Professional Hockey League for the 2004-2005 season.

The Jacksonville Barracudas won the WHA2's first and only President's Cup. Jacksonville also hosted the first and only WHA2 All-Star Game.

Originally proposed cities[]

The league had posted that Minneapolis[1], Saskatoon[2], Phoenix[3], Birmingham, Alabama (with mention of the team being based out of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex instead of 3,500 seat Pelham Civic Center)[4], San Francisco, Quebec City. Kansas City, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Memphis, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Halifax, Portland, Oregon, Sacramento, Oakland, and Pittsburgh[5] and several cities in Canada such as North Bay, Newmarket, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Cornwall as teams for the second season with teams additional teams in Quebec and the Maritimes possibilities for the third season.[6]

Teams[]

Team Location Arena Tenure Notes
Alabama Slammers Pelham, Alabama Pelham Civic Center 2003-2004 fold after season
Jacksonville Barracudas Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena 2003-2004 join Southern Professional Hockey League
Lakeland Loggerheads Lakeland, Florida Lakeland Center 2003-2004 fold after season
Macon Trax Macon, Georgia Macon Coliseum 2003-2004 join Southern Professional Hockey League
Miami Manatees Miami, Florida Miami Arena 2003-2004 fold after season
Orlando Seals Orlando, Florida Amway Arena 2003-2004 sit out 2004-05 season when lose lease at Amway Center; return in Southern Professional Hockey League as Florida Seals based in Kissimmee's Silver Spurs Arena

2003–04 season[]

Regular season[]

Team GP W L OL SL GF GA Pts Pct.
Jacksonville Barracudas 59 40 18 1 0 233 175 81 .686
Alabama Slammers 58 34 20 2 2 224 196 72 .621
Macon Trax 56 30 20 3 3 218 193 66 .589
Miami Manatees 48 24 19 4 1 215 213 53 .552
Orlando Seals 57 27 25 2 3 198 197 59 .518
Lakeland Loggerheads 58 13 38 4 3 181 295 33 .284

Note: Playoff positioning determined by point percentage as teams played unequal number of games.

Playoffs[]

Semifinals Finals
      
1 Jacksonville Barracudas 2
5 Miami Manatees 1
1 Jacksonville Barracudas 2
3 Macon Trax 0
2 Alabama Slammers 0
3 Macon Trax 2

Referneces[]

Advertisement