ECHL Confirms Expansions for Coralville, Iowa & Trois-Rivières, Québec (2021-22)

[Adam Michaels]

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[No Fun Shogun]

For anybody wondering there the **** Coralville is, it's a suburb of Iowa City.

For anybody now wondering where the **** Iowa City is, it's a town to the south of Cedar Rapids.

For anybody now wondering there the **** Cedar Rapids is, it's in eastern Iowa.

*six hours later*

.... it's in the Laniakea Supercluster.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

the only question now is which NHL Team will align w/ Coralville..... Trois Rivieres, as everyone is well aware, will be the Canadiens affiliate, and is owned by Deacon Investments, aka Dean MacDonald, who also owns/operates Newfoundland.

 

[ecco]

the only question now is which NHL Team will align w/ Coralville..... Trois Rivieres, as everyone is well aware, will be the Canadiens affiliate, and is owned by Deacon Investments, aka Dean MacDonald, who also owns/operates Newfoundland.

Deacon is actually going to own Coralville as well. As for an NHL team, it looks like St. Louis doesn't have an ECHL affiliate, so maybe them?

I'm curious to see what they come up with for a name. Guessing they will go with "Iowa" instead of "Coralville" in the name. I know there used to be an ECHL team called the Ice Hawks, but maybe Iowa Ice Hawks (Iowa is the Hawkeye state and Coralville is ~10 minutes from the University of Iowa, where the Iowa Hawkeyes play)?

 

[CanadianCoyote]

the only question now is which NHL Team will align w/ Coralville.....

Minnesota and Iowa would make sense for Coralville, I would think. Their affiliate is currently the Americans; changing their affiliation to Coralville shortens travel for prospects going between the AHL and ECHL.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Deacon is actually going to own Coralville as well. As for an NHL team, it looks like St. Louis doesn't have an ECHL affiliate, so maybe them?

I'm curious to see what they come up with for a name. Guessing they will go with "Iowa" instead of "Coralville" in the name. I know there used to be an ECHL team called the Ice Hawks, but maybe Iowa Ice Hawks (Iowa is the Hawkeye state and Coralville is ~10 minutes from the University of Iowa, where the Iowa Hawkeyes play)?

I've heard Minnesota might be but everything over ECHL expansion has been solely focused on T-R , the reason I say that, the Wild have their affiliate in Des Moines as do the T-Wolves

 

[LadyStanley]

Their twitter handles are active.

 

[GindyDraws]

For anybody wondering there the **** Coralville is, it's a suburb of Iowa City.

For anybody now wondering where the **** Iowa City is, it's a town to the south of Cedar Rapids.

For anybody now wondering there the **** Cedar Rapids is, it's in eastern Iowa.

*six hours later*

.... it's in the Laniakea Supercluster.

It's somewhere on Planet Earth, where they make the loose meat sandwiches.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

Deacon is actually going to own Coralville as well. As for an NHL team, it looks like St. Louis doesn't have an ECHL affiliate, so maybe them?

I'm curious to see what they come up with for a name. Guessing they will go with "Iowa" instead of "Coralville" in the name. I know there used to be an ECHL team called the Ice Hawks, but maybe Iowa Ice Hawks (Iowa is the Hawkeye state and Coralville is ~10 minutes from the University of Iowa, where the Iowa Hawkeyes play)?

Minnesota has been the long-rumored affiliate. Makes the most sense with Deacon's current OP of affiliating with nearby teams. Minnesota's agreement with Allen also is up at the end of this season.

 

[JMCx4]

... I'm curious to see what they come up with for a name. Guessing they will go with "Iowa" instead of "Coralville" in the name. I know there used to be an ECHL team called the Ice Hawks, but maybe Iowa Ice Hawks (Iowa is the Hawkeye state and Coralville is ~10 minutes from the University of Iowa, where the Iowa Hawkeyes play)?

If they affiliate with DSM and MN, maybe they'll be "The Iowa Wild Hawks."

ETA: Or "WildHawks" for those who miss the days of sports teams with two capital letters in their names.

 

[hurricanesfan123]

very exciting stuff!!

 

[CrazyEddie20]

If they affiliate with DSM and MN, maybe they'll be "The Iowa Wild Hawks."

ETA: Or "WildHawks" for those who miss the days of sports teams with two capital letters in their names.

Just a rumor, but sources tell me they've already trademarked Iowa Thunder. (Sarcasm)

 

[JMCx4]

Just a rumor, but sources tell me they've already trademarked Iowa Thunder. (Sarcasm)

And they've already got an amateur development team lined up - cross-training is all the rage these days: Iowa Thunder Boy's Basketball

 

[CrazyEddie20]

Hopefully Trois Rivieres can trademark La Tonnerre - a superfecta of Thunder across the league in two languages and four cities would be peak minor league hockey.

 

[Bondurant]

ECHL expansion was near the bottom of the list of things I expected to see in the COVID era.

 

[JMCx4]

ECHL expansion was near the bottom of the list of things I expected to see in the COVID era.

Hope springs eternal, when the future of a League depends on it.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

ECHL expansion was near the bottom of the list of things I expected to see in the COVID era.

Both cities build arenas for the expressed purpose of attracting a team of the ECHL calibre. I'm surprised it didn't come sooner.

 

[crimsonace]

I've heard Minnesota might be but everything over ECHL expansion has been solely focused on T-R , the reason I say that, the Wild have their affiliate in Des Moines as do the T-Wolves

The Wild were also affiliated with the Quad City Mallards for years with their AHL team in nearby Des Moines. It would make a lot of sense for the Wild to affiliate with the new Iowa team.

 

[JMCx4]

The Wild were also affiliated with the Quad City Mallards for years with their AHL team in nearby Des Moines. It would make a lot of sense for the Wild to affiliate with the new Iowa team.

I know quite a few never-say-die QC Mallards fans who are hoping for that "sense" to become a reality. But "sense" isn't an historically dominant characteristic of the minor pro hockey business.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

another rumor that's being floated is OVG is looking to add Savannah, GA as an expansion target by 2022/23..... what does that mean for Atlanta?

 

[JMCx4]

another rumor that's being floated is OVG is looking to add Savannah, GA as an expansion target by 2022/23..... what does that mean for Atlanta?

It means the Atlanta Gladiators franchise gets sold to new Savannah owners ... for a 3rd-round pick & one of those HUGE bags of buttered popcorn.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

It means the Atlanta Gladiators franchise gets sold to new Savannah owners ... for a 3rd-round pick & one of those HUGE bags of buttered popcorn.

this is an expansion team.....Atlanta will likely be back, but between the Savannah media, the ECHL and Commissioner Crelin being there on Wednesday.... between that and the WTOC report out of the SC Stingrays region of Charleston this came totally out of the blue

Hopefully, OVG will explain this...

 

[Atlantian]

another rumor that's being floated is OVG is looking to add Savannah, GA as an expansion target by 2022/23..... what does that mean for Atlanta?

Atlanta is 4+ hours from Savannah so I don’t see it affecting them other than having a new in state rival

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Atlanta is 4+ hours from Savannah so I don’t see it affecting them other than having a new in state rival

but this came totally out of nowhere.... I didn't think it would, but you never know

 

[Atlantian]

but this came totally out of nowhere.... I didn't think it would, but you never know

I had heard that there were at least two ownership groups looking at Savannah but I didn’t know there was any realistic discussions going on. Definitely out of the blue.