NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



ECHL

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
October 13, 2014 - ECHL (ECHL)


BASEBALL

Mount Rainier Professional Baseball League: The proposed new MRPBL, which plans to have six teams based in the Northwest area of the United States when starting play in 2015, announced a team called the Ellensburg (WA) Bulls has replaced the previously announced Centralia (WA) Minotaurs.

Midwest Collegiate League: The MCL has added a new team called the Michigan City Lakers for the 2015 season. The Michigan City Lakers had been part of the Michiana Amateur Baseball League and played some exhibition games against MCL teams over the past two seasons.

BASKETBALL

Tobacco Road Basketball League: The TRBL has realigned its teams into seven-team TRBL East and TRBL West divisions for its upcoming 2014-15 season that starts next month. The Neuse River BC (Smithfield, NC) is gone and the Stealth All Stars are now listed as a TRBL sanctioned team.

Women's United States Basketball Association: The WUSBA, which has been trying to get off the ground with a summer season since 2010, cancelled a proposed European tour of four league-operated teams that was to take place last month. The league reports it will again try to start a regular season next year that will run from early June to early September 2015.

FOOTBALL

Fall Experimental Football League: The new FXFL, which hopes to become a developmental league for the National Football League, started its inaugural 2014 seasons with four teams called the Boston Brawlers, Brooklyn Bolts, Omaha Mammoths and a travel team called the Blacktips that was originally planned for Miami. Currently, the league owns the Mammoths and Blacktips teams and is a part owner of the Bolts, while the Brawlers have independent ownership. The Blacktips will play three road games, while the other three teams will play a combination of five home and away games over the next six weeks.

X-League Indoor Football: The X-League announced the Marion (OH) Blue Racers have joined the league for the 2015 season. The Blue Racers were part of the Continental Indoor Football League in 2011, the United Indoor Football League in 2012 and back to the CIFL for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. The X-League completed its inaugural season in 2014 with 5 teams and has grown to 11 teams with the addition of 2 teams from both the Continental Indoor Football League and Ultimate Indoor Football League, and one team each from the Lone Star Football League and American Indoor Football.

American Indoor Football: The AIF announced the Saginaw Sting, which has been part of the Continental Indoor Football League for the past three seasons (2012-14), will be part of the league's 2015 season. The league also announced the ASI (AllStarInc) Panthers will operate an AIF team out of Reading (PA) for the 2015 season. The ASI Panthers have been operating as an independent developmental indoor team since being formed in 2013. A Reading-based team called the Pennsylvania Steam played one road game as part of the 2014 X-League Indoor Football schedule before the team was sold and became the Savannah Steam.

Arena Football League: The Philadelphia Soul of the AFL is trying to work a deal to play two of its 2015 home games in Atlantic City (NJ).

HOCKEY

ECHL: The AA-level ECHL, which was known as the East Coast Hockey League prior to the 2003-04 season, has absorbed the seven teams from the AA-level Central Hockey League and will operate under the ECHL banner as one 28-team AA-level league for the 2014-15 season. The CHL started play in the 1992-93 season, but had lost several teams over the past few seasons after having 18 teams as recently as the 2010-11 season. The seven remaining CHL teams called the Allen (TX) Americans, Brampton (Ontario) Beast, Missouri Mavericks (Independence), Quad City Mallards (East Moline, IL), Rapid City (SD) Rush, Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder will form a new Central Division in the ECHL alignment. An Eastern Conference will have seven-team North and East divisions and a Western Conference will have seven-team Central and Pacific divisions.

American Hockey League: The AAA-level AHL, whose 30 teams each have a one-to-one affiliation with a National Hockey League team, started its 2014-15 season this weekend. The 15-team Eastern Conference has five-team Atlantic, East and Northeast divisions, while the 15-team Western Conference has five-team North, Midwest and West Divisions. During the off-season, the Adirondack Phantoms moved from Glens Falls (NY) to Allentown (PA) as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Abbotsford Heat moved from British Columbia to Glens Falls to become the Adirondack Flames.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer: The group that owns the El Paso Chihuahuas baseball team in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League is moving forward on efforts to bring an MLS franchise and stadium to the region. The Las Vegas city council approved an MLS-style stadium for the city, but stated there would be no public funding for the project.

Western Indoor Soccer League: The elite-level men's WISL, which will have five teams based in the state of Washington, announced its 2014-15 regular-season schedule will run from November 15, 2014 to January 31, 2015 with teams playing eight games. Teams include the Oly Town Artesians (Olympia), Arlington Aviators, Tacoma Stars, Wenatchee Fire and Bellingham United FC Hammers.

Women's Premier Soccer League: The elite-level WPSL announced the Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente will be part of the 2015 season and become the first Mexican team to compete in the league. The team, also known as the Xolos de Tijuana, will play their home games in San Diego County because of travel difficulties for other teams. The league is also in talks with new teams from Canada that could join for the 2015 season.

OTHER

American Ultimate Disc League: The professional AUDL announced a West Division expansion team called the San Diego Growlers will be added for the 2015 season. The league operated with a six-team East Division, a six-team Midwest Division and a five-team West Division in 2014. The league previously announced four other new 2015 teams called the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds and Ottawa Outlaws, which are listed in the East Division, and the Nashville NightWatch and Jacksonville Cannons, which are listed in a new South Division.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the Leagues, Teams & Nicknames 2013-14: "The Leagueology Almanac" , 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.

Check out the ECHL Statistics

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from October 13, 2014


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central