The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

After 23 seasons the Central Hockey League has ceased to exist.  The ECHL (used to be know as the East Coast Hockey League) has 'absorbed' the remaining seven teams into the league for the 2014-2015 season.

http://www.echl.com/echl-accepts-seven-new-members-p194005

http://www.centralhockeyleague.com/news/?article_id=11233

http://www.tulsaoilers.com/news/entry/oilers-accepted-into-echl-for-2014-15-season

It's been headed that way for some time.....

Yep.  Worst kept secret in hockey over the course of the off-season.  I'd been hearing about this since about June.  The Steven Brothers purchasing the league saved it from itself, but some stupid markets put a strain on it.

Do people still watch hockey??



Sorry....just a little bit...I couldn't help myself!  It's almost like soccer...

Uh yes.  Average attendance last season was right at 5,000.

This looks like a fantastic move for the Oilers. Coast to Coast teams and the League has affiliation with almost all NHL teams. There is even a team in Alaska. This will be exciting and I think a big boost to ticket sales. Without a variety of teams to go watch them play. It became very boring seeing the same teams over and over again.

The likely scenario for this season though is that each of the acquired teams will use the schedule released by the CHL about a month ago.  However, since the CHL plays a 66 game schedule and the ECHL plays 72 games, a modified schedule that may include 6 extra games for the CHL entrants is likely.  Those 6 games MAY be against any number of the potential new opponents from the ECHL.

The ECHL however tries to keep a self-contained schedule to reduce travel costs.  So it's mainly intra-divisional play for the most part.  If there were teams to be played outside of the CHL acquirees it would likely be teams like Colorado (who are former CHL opponents) and maybe any of the Indiana members.

The schedule should be released either Friday or Monday.

That is true Hoss. I was thinking that maybe a team from an East or West coast division could be scheduled to play a three game stretch when visiting another division. Like the South Carolina team going to Missouri then Tulsa then Wichita. That way we get to have a variety of teams to go root against. I'm just hoping. Still exciting news. But when it comes to playoffs and a Championship. Winning a 28 team League will really mean something.

That's kinda sad. The founder of the CHL, Ray Miron, was good friends with my grandfather. He was a good guy.

After the merger with the WPHL in 2001, it kinda went downhill.  Stupid expansion ideas in marginal markets just to make their spinoff company (Global Entertainment, which build cookie cutter multipurpose arenas) money.  When an ownership group led by the Oilers current owners (Steven Brothers) bought out the league 2 seasons ago it was writing on the wall.  The CHL post WPHL merger wasn't Ray's CHL anymore.  Once ownership was de-centralized, that ship sailed.

Finally. Can't wait for the new start of the season!

Unfortunate to see the CHL name go, but it's a good move for hockey and I'm glad it finally happened. I hope my expectation of league competence and stability in the ECHL is realized. Sadly, any hope of any sort of championship just faded quite a bit.

In a league schedule, there needs to be a balance of playing regional teams enough and bringing in some of those far away teams for variety. Especially at this level, the games against regional rivals are what will attract the most interest and build the strongest rivalries. Contrast Tulsa/Wichita and Tulsa/OKCAllen vs Tulsa/Elmira and Tulsa/Bakersfield. The CHL took that to far when it expanded where you would see half the season against 2, maybe 3 teams. That's to much. Not to mention the competitive inequality of such an unbalanced schedule.

A switch in leagues won't help attendance. But there are only two things that can. 1) On-ice performance. 2) Supply and demand. Of course a winning team will draw attendance, everyone likes a winner. But you can't win all the time, and since we're talking about the Oilers, you can win maybe half the time. However, make it dirt cheap to buy tickets and get a lot of people in the doors for a sustained amount of time and the crowd will start drawing itself. "Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd."

what league is OKC's hockey team in? Wish we could go where ever they are playing. Growing up in the early - mid 90's the Blazers / Oilers games were always a blast.

AHL.  And maybe not for long if rumblings I hear are correct.

I have heard nothing about that team since it went to the AHL......It has to be painful to watch.....

They're actually pretty good.  Problem is that they alienated a pretty large fanbase of Blazer faithful so the attendance is down.  Also, Blazer/CHL fans are used to fan access to players for autographs and functions and the like.  The AHL really doesn't do much of that is my understanding.

Thats what I was getting at......

The stupid vet rule killed the CHL.....

Blame that on the Thunder from back in the nineties.

If they would have kept it about entertainment it would still be thriving.....

Not in Tulsa.  Especially if Lund would have still had the team.  He damn near ran it into the ground.  Plus, some people like hockey for hockey, not just for fighting.

The Oilers have won their first two games as a member of the ECHL.  9-6 over Allen (in Allen, TX) on Friday, and a thriller in OT yesterday 6-5 versus the Wichita Thunder.

It's evident that the talent is better in the ECHL.

An acquaintance of mine takes photos for the team.  Sometimes his photos make the Tulsa World article.

http://photopyle.zenfolio.com/p503271205

What's sad is only one of the TV media outlets even reported on the game (KJRH).  KOTV and KTUL didn't.  At least KOTV ran the score in the crawler.  KTUL wasn't even bothered enough to do that.

Your not going to win many with that GPA.....

2-0.  If you have guys that can score more than the other team...

 ;D

My thought is that all seven former CHL teams will probably not do so well.  The ones that settle in and work as ECHL teams instead of tailoring a CHL game/roster to ECHL will do ok.  Mainly young kids on this team and there is quite a bit of talent.  I'm not hinging the season on 2 games, but the on-ice product is definitely better.

So if they had smarter vets, it would have been fine...?  OSU has a great vet school...very smart vets...they could/should have tried to get some of them....!!








lol...

I'm more of a hockey fan then just about anybody I know, but watching Dougie Lawrence, Craig Johnston, and Ron Aubrey get after it was pretty awesome. God, how to I remember those guys names? lol. The mid 90's was a fun time for hockey in Oklahoma.

Let's not forget Bruce Shoebottom v the Tulsa Police.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcV3l7aRrlg[/youtube]

Craig Johnson....Chris Johnston.....Dougie wasn't a fighter, he tried but was not good at it....Excellent winger and sh!t disturber......

He was better at it than you think he was.  His grandfather taught him a few things.  He (his grandfather) was a golden glove boxer.  He didn't like fighting unless he had to.  He was better as the agitator.  Teams hated him unless he was on your team.  That's why OKC fans hated him until the season he played for them.  When he left (OKC) he was asked why.  His answer was "Have you seen the women in OKC?".   ;D

Plus, the first three or four seasons no one fought anybody on the Oilers anyway, lest they incur the wrath of Craig Coxe.  Coxe went a few with NHL greats Kocur, Probert and the like.

Epic mullett, eh?

It *was* the early nineties.  I'm sure I don't want people rehashing old pictures of me from that same period.   ;)

Sure they did.....Saw many fights while Coxe was on the team.....Coxe didn't have to drop the gloves much but that didn't stop anyone else......

Sasha Lakovic comes to mind.  He called out the entire San Antonio bench one night.  They didn't want any part of him.  He was a couple of beers short of a sixpack.

Mike Bajurny...Dan O'Rourke.....Jason Rushton....Mike MacWilliams.....Just to name a few......Sasha had it all....It got him to the show.....

Badger (Bajurny) was all fighter.  Was as tough as anyone I ever saw.  His problem later was he tried to be more of a rounded player but didn't have the skills for it.

Rushton was the whole package.  Fighter who could score as well.  Too bad he loved stealing more than he loved his team.  That kid had potential to move up more than anyone in the CHL at that time did.

Bajurny could not skate.....

You’d think that would be a deal-killer in hockey.

He could skate, just not as well as some of the other players.  He skated well enough.

If he could skate he would have had a shot at going to a higher level....Not languishing in the QSPHL/LNAH....

Oklahoma City Barons hockey team to cease operations after season
http://newsok.com/article/5377128

If OKC wants hockey to survive, much like what Lund did to the Oilers is what Funk has done for hockey in the OKC metro.

I wouldn't be surprised to see an ECHL team there soon, but probably not until 2016.  The Baron attendance was dismal (bottom 5 out of 30 in the AHL).  The AHL is positioning themselves to place teams in markets for the Western NHL teams, so many ECHL teams that were the old WCHL clubs (Bakersfield, Stockton, etc) will likely get AHL franchises.

About 17 home games in to the ECHL season, the Oilers rank 11th out of 28 (and rank 2nd of the 7 old CHL teams) at about 4400 per game.

The Barons after 12 home games were averaging about 3200 a game.

OKC makes better sense at the AA level of hockey.  The Thunder is already a BIG competitor for dates, and even on days when the Thunder aren't playing, the building isn't what it used to be.  It would benefit three of the new ECHL teams (Wichita, potential OKC club and Tulsa) because that rivalry always drew more in attendance.  ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna has been quoted as saying that he is very interested in fielding a team in the OKC area for that very reason.

I would consider tickets again if Okc comes back.....

Do the Barons play in Chesapeake or the Cox center?

Cocks....

As BB said, the Myriad.  Part of the deal with Bennett moving the Thunder from Seattle was two fold:

1.  The Thunder got first rights on dates in the Ford Center, essentially pushing any hockey club to the Myriad.
2.  Since they got first rights on dates, the Thunder agreed to pay for an upgrade to the Myriad ice, which was old.  I believe they also paid for a new scoreboard.

I didn't even know the Myriad was still open.

It's called the Cox Convention Center now, but yes it's still open.

Wow I did not even realize that is where it was. I saw Queen there in 1980 and it seemed like it was way out by itself off a Highway. What a huge change that area underwent. I love Bricktown.

I went there a handful of times, back when my alma mater (OCU) still had an NCAA D-1 basketball team in 1984... Bricktown was a walk on the wild side back then.

A little weekend satire:

Politics
Thunder Management Celebrates Win Over Barons
December 20, 2014
http://landrunnews.com/2014/12/thunder-management-celebrates-win-over-barons/