An opportunity for the ECHL

[Big Z Man 1990]

The ECHL has been the only AA ice hockey league for two years now.

The problem is though they abandoned the "East Coast" moniker years before, many still interpret ECHL as standing for "East Coast Hockey League", which is now inaccurate as the league spans across much of the US plus one team in Canada.

The International Hockey League name has not been used for a North American league since its absorption by the ECHL a few years before.

With the league covering approximately the same geographic expanse as the NHL and AHL, I think the ECHL should purchase the rights to the International Hockey League name and capitalize on a well-known brand, which was in existence for decades before the ECHL came around.

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[Sports Enthusiast]

The international hockey league wasn't even international which is hilarious in bad naming.

 

[GarbageGoal]

The international hockey league wasn't even international which is hilarious in bad naming.

They were when they were named.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

They were when they were named.

I don't count Canada as really "international" when I think of "international" I think of Europe or another continent completely. Not the same continent. Although the american hockey league name is also a lie.

 

[Canucks21]

The ECHL has been the only AA ice hockey league for two years now.

The problem is though they abandoned the "East Coast" moniker years before, many still interpret ECHL as standing for "East Coast Hockey League", which is now inaccurate as the league spans across much of the US plus one team in Canada.

The International Hockey League name has not been used for a North American league since its absorption by the ECHL a few years before.

With the league covering approximately the same geographic expanse as the NHL and AHL, I think the ECHL should purchase the rights to the International Hockey League name and capitalize on a well-known brand, which was in existence for decades before the ECHL came around.

I don't count Canada as really "international" when I think of "international" I think of Europe or another continent completely. Not the same continent. Although the american hockey league name is also a lie.

Its just a ****in name get over it the American Hockey League has 3 canadian teams, The National Hockey League hasn't been National since it expanded to Boston and New York in 1924. The Southern Professional Hockey League as a team in Illinois and starting next season in Indiana which are not in the south.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Its just a ****in name get over it the American Hockey League has 3 canadian teams, The National Hockey League hasn't been National since it expanded to Boston and New York in 1924. The Southern Professional Hockey League as a team in Illinois and starting next season in Indiana which are not in the south.

I wasn't the one who brought this up...just adding.

By the way I don't care or follow the NHL but it hasn't been national since the beginning of time with those "original 6" ordeal.

The NFL is the only one that ever stayed "national"

 

[Canucks21]

I wasn't the one who brought this up...just adding.

By the way I don't care or follow the NHL but it hasn't been national since the beginning of time with those "original 6" ordeal.

The NFL is the only one that ever stayed "national"

The original 6 aren't the 6 original teams that play the 1st season 99 yrs ago. the 1st NHL season there was 3 teams the Montreal Canadiens, the 1st Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Arenas the 2 1st american teams where expansion teams in 1924 the Bruins and NY Americans.

The NL in baseball are also actually national.

 

[Scoutin1]

I don't count Canada as really "international" when I think of "international" I think of Europe or another continent completely. Not the same continent. Although the american hockey league name is also a lie.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/international

Just sayin'...

 

[GarbageGoal]

The takes just keep on comin'.....

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

The original 6 aren't the 6 original teams that play the 1st season 99 yrs ago. the 1st NHL season there was 3 teams the Montreal Canadiens, the 1st Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Arenas the 2 1st american teams where expansion teams in 1924 the Bruins and NY Americans.

The NL in baseball are also actually national.

The Nationals used to be in Montreal.

 

[PH Hockey Fan]

Maybe it is as simple as leagues should never use a geographical descriptions in their names to begin with, especially if segments their territory.

 

[Disengage]

The Nationals used to be in Montreal.

And the International Hockey League used to be international. What's your point?

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

And the International Hockey League used to be international. What's your point?

nor was the American Hockey League at its roots 8 decades ago as we know it since 1936.

the IHL branding 1st appeared in 1929 and the Can-Am League in 1926, by 1936, each league had fallen to 4 franchises each, 2 of which most know in historical terms, the Providence, (later Rhode Island) Reds & the Springfield Indians.

in 1936, the base line for the AHL as we know it began,as the Can-Am became the East, the IHL became the West, Buffalo lost its arena due to a fire a month into the inagural season and returned in 1940. Hershey replaced Buffalo for 1938 until their return; It briefly became the I-AHL from 11/36 to 1940, AND essentially has played under the AHL Banner ever since.

remember, the IHL which the AHL absorbed in 2001, had only been in business 5 decades, or was created 11 yrs after 1940.

The E is a youngster compared to the NHL/AHL, beginning in 1988, and only went to the ECHL acronym for the last dozen years after acquiring the WCHL (notably Alaska) in 2003, it has had 31 franchises, it's been 28 since 2004/05, UNTIL 2017-18, WHEN it becomes 29 w/ Worcester.

 

[CHIP72]

I don't count Canada as really "international" when I think of "international" I think of Europe or another continent completely. Not the same continent. Although the american hockey league name is also a lie.

Canada is part of North America.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Canada is part of North America.

But its a different country. Its not the north american hockey league.

Can-Am may be the truest minor league name I've ever heard. Knew there was a baseball league but not a hockey one.

 

[Disengage]

But its a different country. Its not the north american hockey league.

Can-Am may be the truest minor league name I've ever heard. Knew there was a baseball league but not a hockey one.

America is everything from Canada down to Chile.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

heh, this topic suddenly is a debate on geographic terminology?

A bit OT, but.... hey, I'm a geography nerd. In common English parlance:

America = USA
Northern America = USA and Canada only (rarely used)
North America = USA, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and most of the Caribbean
Americas = North and South America
International = more than one nation

In other languages, America/Americas obviously gets a bit more complicated, particularly Spanish. But I'm sticking to English as that, Pig Latin, and gibberish are all I can speak.

 

[Canucks21]

If they leagues wanted league to have names that represent where their teams play

NHL > Major League Hockey
AHL > International Hockey League
ECHL > North American Hockey League
SPHL > East Coast Hockey League

The only one who wouldnt have to change is the FHL

 

[210]

heh, this topic suddenly is a debate on geographic terminology?

A bit OT, but.... hey, I'm a geography nerd. In common English parlance:

America = USA
Northern America = USA and Canada only (rarely used)
North America = USA, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and most of the Caribbean
Americas = North and South America
International = more than one nation

In other languages, America/Americas obviously gets a bit more complicated, particularly Spanish. But I'm sticking to English as that, Pig Latin, and gibberish are all I can speak.

I've "known" you long enough to know you also speak a bit of Sarcasm.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

If they leagues wanted league to have names that represent where their teams play

NHL > Major League Hockey
AHL > International Hockey League
ECHL > North American Hockey League
SPHL > East Coast Hockey League

The only one who wouldnt have to change is the FHL

Evansville and Peoria are on the East Coast?

 

[Canucks21]

Evansville and Peoria are on the East Coast?

More then in the south and more then Alaska and Utah

 

[crimsonace]

The IHL brand really only resonates with people in a few Midwestern markets (Fort Wayne, Kalamazoo) and has been largely dormant in the hockey world for a generation (I don't count the rebranding of the UHL as IHL2, as that barely registered on the radar screen outside of I-469). That brand today has as much meaning as the professional North American or Western Hockey League brands/names.

ECHL is a well-known brand that people throughout hockey know - especially in the Southeast, Northeast and Upper Midwest. Since the early 1990s, it rose above the other "AA"-level leagues and became the prime one to be affiliated with the NHL, and the other leagues - all of which are now defunct, and nearly all of which have some DNA in the ECHL - were a tier below. The ECHL would be making a mistake to take on the IHL brand.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

I don't follow the NHL but I wouldn't think in many NHL markets its well known. A lot of fans don't even care about the ahl but that's no different in most sports regarding the minor leagues. Why would the major cities care?

 

[crimsonace]

I don't follow the NHL but I wouldn't think in many NHL markets its well known. A lot of fans don't even care about the ahl but that's no different in most sports regarding the minor leagues. Why would the major cities care?

To NHL fans who follow their teams' systems, the ECHL is known as the second-tier league below the AHL. We get a LOT of Blackhawks fans checking in on the Indy team. But more importantly, the ECHL brand is pretty cemented in hockey circles and in the markets the league is in (and once was in) and has a lot of equity that no other minor pro league - save the AHL - has. Resurrecting the name of a former minor league that's been out of the public eye for 15 years would toss all of that away and would only move the needle in a couple of cities.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

The league is really 2 different leagues. The East Coast Hockey League was a much better product for the fan. It had rivalries and was a more "traditional" minor league. The ECHL is a less relevant version of the AHL. Same concept but not as good "prospects" I don't think the league understands that the older product was better. I don't get why they are so worried about being "legit" as a AA league. They aren't that important and hockey is a lot closer to basketball than it is baseball in terms of roster. Although there's like 18 players a game the demand is just not there because the best players available will play. There's no room for those middle of the road guys who aren't game changers. A third team isn't even necessary for an organisation. Why? Unlike baseball your best players in the league aren't wasting a day in the minor leagues.