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Ontario Hockey League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
June 2, 2014 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)


BASEBALL

Independent Baseball League: The new lower-level professional IBL started its inaugural 2014 season last week with four teams called the Adrian (MI) Pioneers, Tiffin (OH) Saints, Shovel City Crawlers (Marion, OH) and the Ohio Travelers, a Marion-based travel team. Teams are playing a 36-game schedule through July.

Can-Am League: The four remaining teams in the independent Can-Am League are playing as a division of the American Association (AA) for the 2014 season and participating in an interlocking schedule with the AA for the third season in a row. The New Jersey Jackals (Montclair), Quebec Capitales, Rockland Boulders (Pomona, NY) and Trois-Rivieres Aigles (Quebec) returned from last season, while a fifth team called the Newark Bears folded. The league is looking to add more teams and announced a team in Ottawa (Ontario) will join in 2015.

Pacific Association: The independent Pacific Association starts play next week with four California-based teams-the returning San Rafael Pacifics and Vallejo Admirals, along with new teams called the Sonoma Stompers and Pittburg Mettle. Of the five league members at the end of the 2013 season, the Bay Cal Lumberjacks, formerly the East Bay Lumberjacks, and the two Hawaii-based teams called the Hawaii Stars and Maui Na Koa Ikaika did not return for the 2014 season.

BASKETBALL

New Era Basketball Association: The proposed new NEBA, which originally planned to start play with eight teams in late June, listed only six participating teams for its 2014 player draft. Previously announced teams called the Louisiana Cajun All Stars (New Orleans) and Mexico Takeover (Monterrey) were not part of the draft.

Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional: A new team called the Jefes Fuerza Lagunera, based in Torreon (Coahuila), will join Mexico's top professional basketball league known as the LNBP for the 2014-15 season. The team will be operated by the owner of the league's Fuerza Regia Monterrey team. Torreon is about 200 miles west of Monterrey and had a previous LNBP team called the Algodoneros that last played in the 2010-11 season.

American Basketball Association: The ABA now lists the Salem (VA) Storm as a 2014-15 expansion team. This team was originally announced in January 2014 for the Roanoke/Salem area. The ABA had a team called the Salem (VA) Mustangs that joined from the Eastern Basketball Alliance for the 2009-10 season, but that team dropped out before the season started. The Storm name is being used by other proposed 2014-15 teams called the Miami Storm, the Houston Red Storm and the Nevada Desert Storm.

FOOTBALL

Ultimate Indoor Football League: The UIFL started its 2014 season a couple of weeks ago with four teams each playing an eight-game schedule from mid-May to mid-July. Of the six teams from last season, only the Corpus Christi Fury and Florida Tarpons (Fort Myers) return and are joined by new teams called the Miami Inferno and Missouri Voodoo (Springfield). Last season's Sarasota Thunder folded, while the Georgia Rampage (Dalton), Lakeland Raiders (now the Florida Marine Raiders) and the Missouri Monsters (now the St. Louis Attack) joined the new X-League Indoor Football for 2014. The UIFL started play in the 2011 season and was known as the United Indoor Football League for the 2012 season.

Canadian Football League: The lease at Rogers Centre runs out for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts after the 2017 season and the team could be without a home field as plans to include the Argonauts in a move to a BMO Field, which is home to the Toronto FC of Major League Soccer, appear to be falling apart. The ownership of Toronto FC was considering a purchase of the Argonauts and moving the team in a couple of years to a renovated BMO Field, but the Canadian government has not signed off on a grant for part of the renovation costs. Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays are expected to become the sole occupant at the Rogers Centre starting with the 2018 season.

Fall Experimental Football League: The proposed new FXFL plans to be a developmental league for pro football players and is looking to start play with six teams in the fall of 2014. The FXFL wants to become the official developmental league for the National Football League and plans to start with teams in New York City, Orlando, Omaha, Portland (OR), Boston and either Memphis or San Antonio.

HOCKEY

Ontario Hockey League: The owner of the Plymouth (MI) Whalers in Canada's major-junior OHL is not satisfied with the team's attendance and might consider selling the Whalers to an ownership group that could move the team to Canada. The Whalers ranked second to last in OHL attendance for 2013-14.

Northern Pacific Hockey League: The Tier-III junior-level NPHL announced a new team based in Cheney (WA) will become the league's eighth team for the 2014-15 season. The league operated with five teams last season, but now has added new Washington-based teams in Tacoma, Wenatchee and Cheney. The Wenatchee NPHL team will operate as the U-18 team for the Tier-II Wenatchee Wild of the North American Hockey League and the NPHL team will be called the Wenatchee Wolves.

Canadian International Hockey League: The Amateur Athletic Union has added the new CIHL as a junior hockey league under its United Hockey Union designation. The CIHL's founder will be moving his team called the Espanola (Ontario) Rivermen from Canada's Junior-A Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League to the CIHL for the league's inaugural 2014-15 season. The AAU's United Hockey Union now includes the CIHL and three U.S.-based leagues called the Midwest Junior Hockey League, the Western States Hockey League and the Northern States Hockey League.

SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues - PRO League: Major League Soccer is looking to eliminate its MLS Reserve League for the 2014 season and have all MLS teams enter into affiliations with USL PRO league teams rather than operate a Reserve League team. The Colorado Rapids of the MLS are looking at an affiliation with the 2015 USL PRO expansion team called the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. The 2015 USL PRO expansion team announced for St. Louis is rumored to become an affiliate of the MLS Chicago Fire. The New York Red Bulls of the MLS were interested in developing its own fully-owned and operated USL PRO team. Eleven of the 19 teams in the 2014 MLS had USL PRO affiliations and the MLS will grow to 21 teams in 2015. The USL PRO is operating with 14 teams in 2014 with 11 MLS affiliations and is expected to grow by at least 3 teams for the 2015 season.

United Soccer Leagues - W-20 League: The women's W-20 league, which is an elite under-20 league affiliated with the USL W-League, started its 2014 season with 20 teams aligned into four regional divisions. Six W-20 teams act as reserve teams for W-League clubs.

Liga MX: Mexico's top soccer league known as Liga MX recently completed the second-half, or Clausura portion, of its 2013-14 season. Based on the final standings, the 18-team league will relegate the Atlante club to the Liga Ascenso for the 2014-15 season.

OTHER

National Pro Fastpitch: The NPF women's softball league started its 2014 season this weekend with four teams-the returning Akron Racers, Chicago Bandits and USSSA Florida Pride (Osceola/Orlando) along with the new Pennsylvania Rebellion (Washington, PA). The Rebellion took over the roster of last season's New York/New Jersey Comets team. The NPF season runs from late May to mid-August.

USA Rugby League: The USARL started its 2014 season this weekend and has grown from 6 to 11 teams. Three new teams called the Atlanta Rhinos, Central Florida Warriors (Daytona/Orlando) and Tampa Mayhem join the returning Jacksonville Axemen as part of a new Southern Conference. Two other new teams are the Brooklyn Kings and the Northern Virginia Eagles, which were part of the 2013 American National Rugby League. Due to the amount of talent evaluated during tryouts for the Southern Conference teams, the Southern Conference is considering operating a reserve Minor League season with teams like the Jacksonville Hatchets, Daytona Gearheads and Orlando Adrenaline. The Jacksonville Axemen previously operated a four-team minor league competition that included these three teams plus the Tampa Bay Inferno for players throughout Florida that were trying to make the Axemen team.

Major Series Lacrosse: The Ontario-based indoor Senior-A MSL started its 2014 season this weekend with the same six teams as last season-the Brampton Excelsiors, Brooklin Redmen, Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks, Oakville Rock, Peterborough Lakers and Six Nations Chiefs (Hagersville). The season runs from late May to late July. At the end of the season, the MSL champion plays the champion of the British Columbia-based Western Lacrosse Association for the Mann Cup.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the "The Leagueology Almanac 2012-13", which tracks the changes in league alignments, franchise movements and team nicknames in today's sports world. The publication is currently available at www.amazon.com.

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