2006-2007 NAHL Division Allignment and Expansion

NORTH
Alpena
Cleveland
Traverse City
USNTDP

SOUTH
San Angelo (Expansion)
Texarkana
Texas
Wichita Falls

CENTRAL
Bismarck
F-M
Southern Minnesota
Minot EXPANSION

WEST
Billings
Bozeman
Colorado EXPANSION
Santa Fe

MIDWEST
Danville FORMER Minnesota Express
Debueque EXPANSION from MJHL
North Iowa
Springfield

ALASKA
Fairbanks
Wasilla
Whitehorse FORMER Former M-Valley
Peninsula FORMER Helena

heisler....what planet are you on.

You have to put the crack pipe down!!!!!!!

I guess we will find out some after the League meetings on the 15th. That might tell us a lot then. The meetings are only 9 days away and could be interesting.

mctopeka wrote:

I guess we will find out some after the League meetings on the 15th. That might tell us a lot then. The meetings are only 9 days away and could be interesting.

Thought you guys would get a laugh about that...especially Topeka...

alignment??

I must have missed something about Mahoning Valley moving. Do we have to start drug testing to post on this board??? hehe

Stephen Heisler wrote:

Thought you guys would get a laugh about that...especially Topeka...

I'm not sure what you are getting at with the Topeka comment, but I don't think anyone in Topeka would have expected to be on that list and I don't think anyone expects there to be a team, in any league, in Topeka this next season.

mctopeka wrote:

I guess we will find out some after the League meetings on the 15th. That might tell us a lot then. The meetings are only 9 days away and could be interesting.

Something tells me that the meeting will be very intersting this year.

Re: 2006-2007 NAHL Division Allignment and Expansion

Stephen Heisler wrote:

NORTH Alpena Cleveland Traverse City USNTDP SOUTH San Angelo (Expansion) Texarkana Texas Wichita Falls CENTRAL Bismarck F-M Southern Minnesota Minot EXPANSION WEST Billings Bozeman Colorado EXPANSION Santa Fe MIDWEST Danville FORMER Minnesota Express Debueque EXPANSION from MJHL North Iowa Springfield ALASKA Fairbanks Wasilla Whitehorse FORMER Former M-Valley Peninsula FORMER Helena

I don't see where the Helena Bighorns would be going anywhere?

Really think 649 fans a game cuts it? Do you realize that Mr. Butters has some ties to Alaska? The Central Peninsula Sports Center in Soldotna can seat 2,000 and is a hockey mecca. Get a good coach, be competitive, play with some class, and be a good citizen to the community. Do that and you can get 1,500 a night pretty easily. Especially at Jr "A". I got over 1,000 many nights as a WSHL team there. Jr "A" would do great there. Especially a fast team that can take advantage of the olympic sized ice.

http://www.kpha.net/homeice/sol_spts_cntr_in.html

Stephen Heisler wrote:

Really think 649 fans a game cuts it? Do you realize that Mr. Butters has some ties to Alaska? The Central Peninsula Sports Center in Soldotna can seat 2,000 and is a hockey mecca. Get a good coach, be competitive, play with some class, and be a good citizen to the community. Do that and you can get 1,500 a night pretty easily. Especially at Jr "A". I got over 1,000 many nights as a WSHL team there. Jr "A" would do great there. Especially a fast team that can take advantage of the olympic sized ice. http://www.kpha.net/homeice/sol_spts_cntr_in.html

Where in Colorado?

I guess the Garden of Eden was really in Alaska, huh Hei?

not sure about the garden (have you ever seen an Alaskan Pumpkin?)....but Helena has no excuse for lack of support. Wasilla is about 1/10th the size and draws better. Does that tell you anything?

Colorado?....there is a nice new rink at Breckenridge, and a ton of families with some serious excess income.

Stephen Heisler wrote:

Colorado?....there is a nice new rink at Breckenridge, and a ton of families with some serious excess income.

I don't know anything about the new arena - but you are right that there is some serious excess income up there. However, with a population of less than 3,000, I would hardly say there are "a ton of families" in Breckenridge.

If the NAHL wants to go to Colorado, I think places like Pueblo or Grand Junction would probably be a better idea.

Ummm... Have you ever heard of the Vail Avalanche? Yep, the Colorado Avalanche, for the most part, bought the logo from vail of the Frontier Hockey League....which turned into the American West which is now part of some league called the NAHL.

Vail had a strong program with teams at the Bantam and Midget level to go along with the Jr A club. I guess travel had a lot to do with the group not playing now.

With the RR, maybe a Colorado team along with something in Utah and Phoenix would make sense to create a SW Division.

A facility willing to house a Jr. A team in the NAHL might still be available in Utah. Willing ownership needs to be found.

Breckenridge and Vail are not that easy to get to during the Hockey season and some of the teams think it is expensive to stay in Santa Fe, think about trying to stay at or near a destination ski resort during high season.

Pueblo is only 4 hours away from Santa Fe, if you throw in a team from El Paso and combine it with something in Phoenix / Tuscon might be a good mix.

What happened to the Central Texas franchise? I thought they suspended operations for 1 year and were going to build a rink in Killeen.

I would like to see them come back or get another team in the South. That way they could move the Blues out of our division. They are too far north to be in the South division, and don't play a balanced schedule in the South.