The Central Hockey League (CHL) announced today that an agreement to meet with the Professional Hockey Player Association (PHPA) has been reached with the two sides meeting on Wednesday, October 8th and Thursday, October 9th in Denver, Colorado. Subsequently, the PHPA announced that the strike against CHL teams by the Union has been lifted, effective immediately.
Training camps for CHL teams began yesterday and today with team physicals for players. The team conducted events were highly attended by CHL players. On-ice activity begins on Monday, October 6th and the regular season begins on Friday, October 17th.
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The Central Hockey League (CHL) was notified on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 that the Professional Hockey Player Association (PHPA) has declared a strike against the CHL and its Member Clubs effective immediately.
“We are disappointed that the PHPA has taken this step at this point in the negotiations,” said Duane Lewis, CHL Commissioner. “The CHL is and has been negotiating in good faith with the PHPA and have already come to agreement on many issues benefitting the players. Some of which have been instituted already. There are many critical issues to both sides that cannot be negotiated in a short time frame.”
The CHL and PHPA have met four times this summer discussing an initial Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Previous negotiations between the PHPA and similar hockey leagues have taken as much as 15 months to be successfully bargained.
“This is not a quick process,” said Lewis. “We have worked for 16 seasons to build rapport with the players and feel from their accounts in the past that we have been successful in doing this. To the best of the League’s knowledge there has been no vote of the majority of players to authorize a strike. We are confident we will be playing hockey on October 17th.” Further negotiations are being discussed.
Training camp for all CHL teams is set to open on Monday, October 6th.
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The Central Hockey League (CHL) today announced several operational issues that were determined and ratified by the CHL Board of Governors at meetings recently completed at the CHL’s Summer Conference that took place at the J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Phoenix, Arizona. The determined issues include divisional alignment and playoff format among other things.
The CHL will maintain its two conference (North and South), four division alignment for the 2008-09 season. The expansion Rapid City Rush will join the Colorado Eagles, Rocky Mountain Rage and Wichita Thunder in the Northwest Division. The Northeast Division will consist of the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, Mississippi RiverKings, Oklahoma City Blazers and Tulsa Oilers. The lone team shifting conferences for the upcoming season is the Texas Brahmas who will join the Corpus Christi Rayz, Laredo Bucks and Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees in the Southeast Division and the Southwest Division will remain the Amarillo Gorillas, Arizona Sundogs, New Mexico Scorpions and Odessa Jackalopes.
For the second consecutive season, the playoffs will include 10 teams. The format will remain the same with each division winner from each conference earning the #1 and #2 seeds respectively in their conference’s brackets. The remaining three teams per conference will be determined by the next highest point totals. In the opening round, the #4 seed will play the #5 seed in a best-of-three series with the winner advancing to play the #1 seed in the conference semifinals which will also consist of the #2 seed versus the # 3 seed. Following the conference semifinals and conference finals, the remaining teams from each conference will play in the Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals, with home ice advantage awarded to the team with the highest regular season point total. All playoff series’ other than the opening round will feature best-of-seven game formats.
The CHL also introduced two expansion franchises that will take the ice during the 2009-2010 season, in Independence, Missouri and Allen, Texas. Both teams will play in newly constructed event centers.
About the CHL
The CHL will be entering its 17th season of play this fall, with 16 member teams across nine states. The CHL saw more than 2.3 million fans attend games during the 2008-09 season and has led North American professional ‘AA’ hockey leagues in average attendance for six of the past seven seasons. The CHL is administered by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Global Entertainment Corporation (AMEX: GEE), a company engaged in sports management, arena and related real estate development, facility and venue management and marketing, venue ticketing and brand licensing. For more information about the CHL visit the league’s website at www.centralhockeyleague.com.
The complete results can be found HERE
The Central Hockey League’ s Best of the Best Poll for the 2007-08 season may help explain some of the ridiculous numbers the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs have compiled.
Bossier-Shreveport (40-10-5) entered Friday as the league’s No. 1 overall seed thanks to a defense an opposing coach dubbed “demoralizing.” Behind a CHL record 16 shutouts this season (10 was the prior mark), the Mudbugs have allowed nearly 50 goals less than any other team.
Consequently, a sweep in the defensive categories from the annual poll voted on by players, coaches and broadcasters of the league’s 17 teams should come as no surprise.
The CHL’s high-flying offenses weren’t overlooked, but the honors were littered throughout the top teams. Laredo and Rocky Mountain garnered several titles while Arizona and Colorado were well-represented in the voting.
Rocky Mountain captain Brent Cullaton led the way with a poll-high three individual honors (Best Playmaker, Best Leader and Most Gentlemanly Player).
Laredo’s Jeff Bes (Best Overall Player and Smartest Player), Cullaton’s teammate, Daymen Rycroft (Most Underrated Player, Best on Power Play) and New Mexico’s Konrad Reeder (Best Skater, Best Penalty Killer) were the only other players to record multiple honors.
The Mudbugs’ Best of the Best defensive honors are nearly as gaudy as their record and statistics this season. John DeCaro executed the most overwhelming victory in any category. The second-year goaltender out of Marysville, Wash., garnered a poll-high 14 of 16 possible first-place votes (teams cannot vote on this themselves) to outdistance teammate Ken Carroll for Best Goaltender.
Carroll is challenging Tyler Weiman’s record for best season by a goaltender in league history. Even if the Mudbugs veteran betters the former Colorado Eagle’s 1.80 goals-against and .938 save percentage, Carroll’s current marks of a (1.80, .937) likely won’t enter the CHL record book.
DeCaro, 25, entered the weekend with a 1.64 GAA, a .942 save percentage and 10 shutouts (he actually has 11, but a lineup card mistake cost him an official shutout).
“I really feel if San Antonio didn’t have a guy signed, they would have signed him and kept him there or somewhere in Phoenix’s farm system,” said Laredo head coach Terry Ruskowski, who collected Best Coach honors again. “He’s big, but effortless moving from side to side. He plays with so much confidence he always challenges you to shoot him. When you don’t beat him a whole lot, it gets very frustrating.”
Teammates Quade Lightbody (Best Defensive Defenseman) and Kevin Cooper (Best Defensive Forward) joined DeCaro with honors on the back end.
“There are three or four guys (defensemen) on our team could have got it – three of four forwards, too,” DeCaro said.
Lightbody is second in the league with a plus-32 rating while the Mudbugs have gone 35-4-4 since Cooper’s arrival in late November.
“They are so good with what they do defensively that it demoralizes teams before they start playing,” Ruskowski said. “That’s a huge advantage. You go up there and get four or five, six shots and they really aren’t goal scoring opportunities -- then you’re looking for the closest exit.”
Entering Friday, the Mudbugs had allowed less than 100 goals and 49 less than the next closest defensive team.
“I don’t know how many times I look online and see another shutout by Shreveport and say, ‘How do they do it?’” Rycroft said. “It’s a credit to the players on that team -- to be that disciplined to play that system, it’s unbelievable. To have 16 shutouts – that’s unheard of.”
For the umpteenth straight season, Bossier-Shreveport was recognized as the league’s Hardest Working Team.
“It’s pretty amazing what they’ve accomplished,” Cullaton said. “It says a lot about Scott Muscutt and the systems he brings. He has them buying in every year.”
DeCaro hasn’t seen much of Bes, but that’s quite all right with him.
“He is a tremendous player,” DeCaro said. “I got a taste of him in the All-Star Game and that style suits him very well.”
The Bucks have already secured their fifth straight Southeast Division title and will soon aim for their fifth straight trip to the President’s Cup Finals. Bes, 34, has been in Laredo for five seasons now – Ruskowski sees that as no coincidence.
“If there is something that needs to be done on the ice, off the ice, he’s the type of guy I can rely on,” Ruskowski said. “He always seems to come up with the important goal. He may not be the fastest player, but he positions himself well and his shot got better the last couple of years.”
The Tillsonburg, Ontario, product stands second in CHL points this season (42 goals, 54 assists) and leads the league at plus-39. Teammate Steve Simoes collected Laredo’ other individual honor – Best Bodychecker.
Arizona's Alex Leavitt was named the Best Stickhandler. He leads the league in points (98) and assists (68). Teammate Kevin Cormier was chosen as the league’s Best Fighter (Heavyweight).
The Oklahoma City Blazers collected eight first-place honors overall – a high in the 45-category poll. The Blazers’ home, Ford Center, helped the franchise garner three honors: Best Arena, Best Locker Rooms and Best Arena Concessions. The Blazers tied Arizona for the Best One-Ice Promotions and Oklahoma City was also voted Best City.
The Blazers also walked away with Best PA Announcer (Ben Buckland) and Best Team Uniforms, but saw the Bucks nab Best Logo.
Youngstown is the lone remaining team to collect multiple individual awards – Chris Richards (Best Player on Face-Offs) and Bryan Lachapelle (Most Annoying Player).
Amarillo’s David Nimmo, 25, leads CHL freshmen in both goals (35) and assists (36) and was appropriately named Best Rookie by his peers. The timing was great for Nimmo, who recorded a five-point night Friday, including a hat trick and the overtime game-winner at Tulsa. He was joined by Stomp (Best Mascot) as winners for the Gorillas.
Josh Bogorad (Best Broadcaster) picked up Corpus Christi’s lone honor this year.
If there was a Best Bridesmaid category, the Colorado Eagles may have swept it this season. Only one individual first-place honor (Fraser Filipic, Best Fighter-Pound for Pound) was accompanied by 12 second-place honors.
Greg Pankewicz and Riley Nelson each finished as runners-up in three categories.
The Eagles did collect several team honors: Best Fans, Toughest Building to Win In (Budweiser Events Center) and Best Cheerleaders.
Colorado has been tested by its next-door neighbor this season as Cullaton’s arrival in Broomfield, Colo., has sparked the second-year Rage.
“A lot of us got together in the summer and we talked about how this was to be a big year for our team,” said Cullaton, who entered Friday’s play second in the CHL with 66 assists this season. “Thankfully, we all got on the same page early.”
Rocky Mountain finished 30 games under .500 last season. The addition of Cullaton, a 33-year-old Petawawa, Ontario, native has helped the Rage climb 12 games above .500 and into a tie with Colorado in the Northwest Division.
“He’s our backbone obviously,” said Rycroft, in his first year at Rocky Mountain, too. “He does it all. He’s a great leader, a go-to guy and great in the locker room. He’s the biggest reason for this franchise’s turnaround.”
Cullaton was happy his teammate was honored twice by his peers and is happy to hear opponents consider Rycroft – the league leader with 45 goals -- underrated.
“Not underrated to our team, but I guess from other guys,” Cullaton said of the 28-year-old Beaverlodge, Alberta, product. “He has 45 goals this season and had 25 and 26 the past two years. It’s nice to see he’s finally recognized.”
For the fifth straight season, the Wichita Thunder fans were voted the CHL's most annoying. Wichita also took two other honors, as rookie Mike Batovanja finished second in the best fighter (pound for pound) category and the Lampton Welding Supply Lightning finished third in the voting for CHL's Best Dance Team.
