FHL revises final leg of 12-13 season, playoffs

[wildcat48]

FHL revises final leg of season
Playoff format and dates announced

The Federal Hockey League, in its 3rd professional season, has announced the final leg of the season with opponent revisions and the playoff format.

With the relocation of the Cape Cod Bluefins to upstate New York and the Outlaws on ice franchise being taken over by the Federal Hockey League, the FHL Board of Governors and League Officials have reviewed the remaining home dates for each organization (Danbury, Danville, Dayton, and 1000 Islands) and have determined that with each of the four existing teams picking up additional road games, the home dates for each club can be completed for 34 of the remaining 36 Federal Hockey League dates. With the 2 conflicting games, the FHL will use the Pennsylvania Blues. The Blues final game will be Sunday, February 17th in Danbury.

FHL Commissioner, Don Kirnan commented, "As a group, our Board of Governors and staff came together and reviewed numerous potential scenario's on how we could most effectively complete each team's home dates without compromising the integrity of our schedule and making it the most cost effective, competitive and practical solution."

Vice Commissioner, Andrew Richards stated, "The Board of Governors in this league made a strong statement to the fans of this league over the last few months. Each member felt protecting the home dates for their fans, supporters, and sponsors, was the only goal they had. While adding additional road games and effectively supporting two other member teams, all ownership groups and league officials agreed that regardless of the added cost this was the move to make.

In an effort to effectively complete all home dates, the BOG and league officials all agreed upon a revision to the existing playoff format. The four franchises will be broken into East and West Divisions. Danbury and 1000 Islands comprise the East while Danville and Dayton the West. Following the regular season, all teams will meet in a first round best of 5 series. The winner of those matchups will then meet for the 3rd Commissioner's Cup. Click the link below for the 2013 Playoff Schedule.

http://fhl_league.stats.pointstreak.com/leagueschedule.html?leagueid=1018&seasonid=9924

FHL Director of Hockey Operations, Phil DeFranco commented, "With the way the schedule fell, Danbury has three dates on the last weekend and 1000 Islands will have completed their home schedule. We were faced with a position where we had to complete those games in Danbury and could not find a format that would fit other than the one we have chosen. While certainly rare for a team to play the first three games of a best of five series on the road, it is not the first time a league has had to make adjustments to a format."

Board of Governors / Team Owners Barry Soskin, Nicole Kirnan, Alan Friedman, and Herm Sorcher released a joint statement, "We have seen a great commitment from all the fans throughout the league to support our franchises". Our message to them to today is "we are committed to our markets, we are committed to our mission, and we look forward to what is going to be a great finish to our regular season and an incredible playoff run". Thank you for your continued support as we grow our league."

The Federal Hockey League, in its three seasons has drawn over 400,000 fans to its venues. In its 3rd season, the FHL owners have paid out over 2 million dollars in salaries to players and coaches. With over 150 player call-ups to the ECHL, Central Hockey League, Europe and the American Hockey League, we continue to provide AA and AAA league's the players and coaches they need on a daily basis. The FHL offers quality affordable fun family entertainment with a high energy quality product on the ice. Come check us out at www.thefhl.net .

Click to read more...

 

[ForsbergForever]

Looks like this abortion of a league is winding down to its merciful end...

What shall we all do in its wake?

 

[lennysundahl]

Looks like this abortion of a league is winding down to its merciful end...

What shall we all do in its wake?

Get smashed and dance naked. Only fitting for this level of trainwreck.

 

[CrazyEddie20]

But hey, there's a need for Class-A hockey!

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

ROFL.

Grow?

How is the league GROWING?

 

[No Fun Shogun]

ROFL.

Grow?

How is the league GROWING?

A corpse tends to bloat when it's left out for too long.

.... actually, that's a surprisingly apt analogy....

 

[TopCityAirCapHockey]

Should have done a 2x round robin at a neutral site with the 1st and 2nd place teams playing a 2 game aggregate. It makes as much sense as what they are going to do.

 

[lennysundahl]

Should have done a 2x round robin at a neutral site with the 1st and 2nd place teams playing a 2 game aggregate. It makes as much sense as what they are going to do.

That would require a basic grasp of math to figure out the goal aggregate; had this skill existed, it's likely at least one extra team would be skating

 

[ForsbergForever]

So the FHL regular season ended last night, I guess we can all get psyched for playoff action now...I'm thinking Dayton wins it all.

As a side note, the league website says Dayton beat Danville 5 -1 but its not listed on their schedule which only had 1000 Islands vs. Danbury the last two nights. Whats the deal?

Edit: Nevermind the Dayton/Danville game was actually the start of the round robin so its listed in the playoff results section.

 

[CrazyEddie20]

So the FHL regular season ended last night, I guess we can all get psyched for playoff action now...I'm thinking Dayton wins it all.

As a side note, the league website says Dayton beat Danville 5 -1 but its not listed on their schedule which only had 1000 Islands vs. Danbury the last two nights. Whats the deal?

Edit: Nevermind the Dayton/Danville game was actually the start of the round robin so its listed in the playoff results section.

If a four-team league holds playoffs and no one goes, was there really a champion?

 

[Jackets Woodchuck]

But hey, there's a need for Class-A hockey!

I'm thinking hockey needs to get away from the baseball nomenclature for it's various minor-league levels. "AA" makes no sense in a sport where "A" is a laughable concept.

Yes, I realize that in minor-league hockey, "AA" has come to mean a relatively stable/solvent sub-AHL league while "A" has come to symbolize those leagues not necessarily stable nor solvent, but trying to explain that "A" essentially means a bankrupt, no-chance league in hockey, rather than merely a fourth-tier competitive level, has generally gotten me looks as if I had two heads. It makes no sense to most people.

 

[HansH]

I'm thinking hockey needs to get away from the baseball nomenclature for it's various minor-league levels. "AA" makes no sense in a sport where "A" is a laughable concept.

I've agreed with this for years -- that's why I personally _try_ to use the phrases "high minors", "mid minors" and "low (and sometimes lowest) minors".

 

[CrazyEddie20]

I'm thinking hockey needs to get away from the baseball nomenclature for it's various minor-league levels. "AA" makes no sense in a sport where "A" is a laughable concept.

Yes, I realize that in minor-league hockey, "AA" has come to mean a relatively stable/solvent sub-AHL league while "A" has come to symbolize those leagues not necessarily stable nor solvent, but trying to explain that "A" essentially means a bankrupt, no-chance league in hockey, rather than merely a fourth-tier competitive level, has generally gotten me looks as if I had two heads. It makes no sense to most people.

While I don't totally agree with the baseball analogy, it does work fairly well if you realistically evaluate each league's talent in relation to the others.

We all know that the American Hockey League is Class-AAA.

Based on the quality of play, quality of players, number of call-ups, and other factors, any realistic observer would classify the ECHL as Class-AA and the CHL as Class-A.

The SPHL is clearly below the CHL. Rookie League.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

While I don't totally agree with the baseball analogy, it does work fairly well if you realistically evaluate each league's talent in relation to the others.

We all know that the American Hockey League is Class-AAA.

Based on the quality of play, quality of players, number of call-ups, and other factors, any realistic observer would classify the ECHL as Class-AA and the CHL as Class-A.

The SPHL is clearly below the CHL. Rookie League.

I think that this is the realistic categorization of minor league hockey.

I bolded the CHL because it really is more of an "A" league if one realistically compares its level of play to the other viable professional hockey leagues. In fact, the CHL's only hope of survival may rest in its embracing such a designation and lowering its cost structure. The quality of play of the CHL is significantly beneath the ECHL as well. The play of Fort Wayne and Evansville this season should probably clinch that for fence-sitters on the topic. Add in the fact that NHL affiliated players (many earning in the $100-140k range) almost all play in the ECHL, and the baseball-similar hierarchy of hockey (NHL-AHL-ECHL-CHL-SPHL) makes complete sense.

 

[Jackets Woodchuck]

I think that this is the realistic categorization of minor league hockey.

I bolded the CHL because it really is more of an "A" league if one realistically compares its level of play to the other viable professional hockey leagues. In fact, the CHL's only hope of survival may rest in its embracing such a designation and lowering its cost structure. The quality of play of the CHL is significantly beneath the ECHL as well. The play of Fort Wayne and Evansville this season should probably clinch that for fence-sitters on the topic. Add in the fact that NHL affiliated players (many earning in the $100-140k range) almost all play in the ECHL, and the baseball-similar hierarchy of hockey (NHL-AHL-ECHL-CHL-SPHL) makes complete sense.

I live in the home market of the lone AHL team to have a true primary "AA" affiliate in the CHL (Lake Erie Monsters - affiliate is the Denver Cutthroats) and I can vouch for this. The Monsters have mostly opted for PTOs from the ECHL to fill roster vacancies rather than calling up Avs "prospects" from the Cutthroats and, even then, they have suffered a bigger decline in quality of play than most AHL teams between the usual call-ups and injuries as well as the massive call-up of players for the start of the shortened NHL season due to being saddled with a CHL affiliate.