Central Hockey League - Definition and Overview

The Central Hockey League (CHL) in its present incarnation is an American professional hockey league playing at the minor double-A level. It was created for the 1992-1993 season with six inaugural teams, all of whom remain in existence today. After several experiments in expansion and a long battle for players and markets with the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL), the two merged in 2001. Some teams are affiliated with AHL and NHL clubs for player development.

The league is divided into four divisions. Active teams, listed by division and with their affiliated teams (NHL, AHL), include:

Northeast Division

• Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (Shreveport, LA) (Rochester Americans)
• Fort Worth Brahmas
• Oklahoma City Blazers
• Memphis RiverKings
• Tulsa Oilers

Northwest Division

• Colorado Eagles (Windsor, CO)
• New Mexico Scorpions (Albuquerque, NM)
• Topeka Tarantulas
• Wichita Thunder

Southeast Division

• Austin Ice Bats (Minnesota Wild, Houston Aeros)
• Corpus Christi Rayz
• Laredo Bucks (Florida Panthers, San Antonio Rampage)
• Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees

Southwest Division

• Amarillo Gorillas
• Lubbock Cotton Kings
• Odessa Jackalopes (Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Roadrunners)
• San Angelo Saints

Former CHL teams include:

• Border City Bandits (Texarkana, TX)
• Columbus Cottonmouths (Columbus, GA - now members of SPHL)
• Dallas Freeze
• El Paso Buzzards
• Fayetteville (NC) Force
• Fort Worth Fire
• Huntsville (AL) Channel Cats/Tornado
• Indianapolis Ice-moved to Topeka-now Indiana Ice in USHL
• Macon Whoopee (ECHL)
• Nashville Ice Flyers/Nighthawks
• San Antonio Iguanas
• Topeka ScareCrows-went to USHL-moved to St. Louis in the league

See also

List of ice hockey leagues

External links

• Official CHL website (http://www.centralhockeyleague.com)
• Standings and statistics (http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/chl1993.html) - Internet Hockey Database