Dilbert

Does anyone else have this issue? Everytime Im on the boards the page constantly is bouncing up and down. I think it may be because of the ads but Im not for sure. Its been happening for quite a while now.

I honestly think Delaware State would be okay in the NEC. The NEC unlike America East hosts football. If the MEAC does implode like it looks like it might, I can see Howard and Morgan State join them, Basketball wise these three would have Mount St Marys in Emmitsburg MD not far away, plus Coppin State and Maryland Eastern Shore could join them. As for Norfolk State, South Carolina State and North Carolina Central I see them going to the Big South or even the Southern Conference

ECHL Kansas City Mavericks change up their look

Yeah cant forget about Cincitucky

Because there is already an Indianapolis (University of Indianapolis). They are in division II. Now if they go the route that Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne did (Now Purdue Fort Wayne) and become say Indiana University Indianapolis it could be a little better.

Not as confusing as Grand Canyon University, which is located in Phoenix,almost three and a half hours from the Grand Canyon

That flaming cow would have been awesome back in 98. Id love to see if modernized for today. It would beat the crap the Fire call a logo today by far.

St Cloud Blizzard rebranded as the Norsemen http://nahl.com/news/story.cfm?id=29502

I think St Louis going to Springfield puts the Blues to Kansas City rumors to rest for a while. A multiyear deal, plus the AHL isnt about to leave Springfield leave the league anytime soon. The Mavericks will remain in the ECHL and in Independence. While Lamar Hunt Jrs NAHL Topeka club will be moving to a new facility in nearby Olathe.

That would have been awkward if they were playing Brampton. The night was to celebrate The Beasts 40th anniversary at Kings Island last year.

Well with the news today that Hunt is moving the NAHL Topeka Pilots to the Kansas City area, I imagine he'll put them in Independence. I know he was committed to keeping the Mavericks there and in the ECHL but maybe the time has come for him to work with the Blues for an AHL club at the Sprint Center. Sprint Center doesnt have a primary tennant and they could easily curtain off the upper levels and it would work just fine for an AHL club, as would the arena in Independence. The issue here is that they would have to purchase a current AHL club and right now a lot of them arent available. A majority of AHL clubs are owned by their NHL parents.

I honestly would have loved to see the Blades, as well as the Solar Bears in the AHL. At least the Solar Bears are back now in the ECHL. I always loved their brand.

Just the history of Flames affiliations over the years. Some teams were owned by the NHL club, others, werent. -1972-75 (3 seasons) Omaha Knights CHL- picked up the affiliation from the Rangers, Omaha Knights folded after the 1974-75 season -1975-79 (4 seasons) Tulsa Oilers CHL- picked up the affiliation from Phoenix and Vancouver of the WHA. The Flames would share the Oilers with the Canucks until 1978. -1975-76 (1 season) Nova Scotia Voyageurs AHL- along with the CHL Oilers, the Flames also affiliated in the AHL with Nova Scotia Voyageurs as a secondary affiliate. The Voyageaurs were primarily with Montreal. -1979-81 (1 1/2 seasons) Birmingham Bulls CHL- upon the collapse of the WHA, the Atlanta Flames would pick up their southern hockey counterpart as their affiliate. Atlanta would relocate to Calgary for 1980-81 but the Bulls would fold 58 into the season) -1981-82 (1 season) Oklahoma City Stars CHL- The Flames would pickup the Stars after 3 years of OKC hooking up with Minnesota. Oklahoma City would fold after the lone season with Calgary. -1982-84 (2 seasons) Colorado Flames CHL- The Flames put a new expansion club in Denver, replacing the departed NHL Rockies for the CHLs final two seasons. Colorado folded with the league. -1984-87 (3 seasons) Moncton Golden Flames AHL- The Flames came into Moncton replacing the Oilers who moved their AHL affiliate to Nova Scotia. The Flames shared the team with Boston for the final two seasons. The Flames and Bruins pulled out of Moncton, with Winnipeg replacing them. -1984-93 (9 seasons) Salt Lake Golden Eagles IHL- The Flames were a secondary affiliate with Salt Lake during the 3 Moncton seasons but became a full affiliate in 1987. The Eagles would play one more season after Calgary pulled out, with the Islanders as affiliate. -1993-03 (10 seasons) Saint John Flames AHL- The longest affiliation. The Flames bought the Utica franchise from New Jersey and moved them to Saint John. The Flames put their AHL franchise on hiatus for two seasons after pulling out of Saint John. -2003-05 (2 seasons) Lowell Lock Monsters AHL- While their AHL franchise was dormant, the team shared Lowell with Carolina for two seasons. -2005-07 (2 seasons) Omaha AkSarBen Knights AHL- Although Omaha had junior hockey since 1986, it had not had pro hockey since the Flames were last in Omaha in 1975. Two years was enough and the Flames moved the team again -2007-09 (2 seasons) Quad City Flames AHL- The Knights were moved to Moline kicking out the fan favorite UHL Mallards. The fans didnt care for the higher level Flames product and the team was shipped off again. -2009-14 (5 seasons) Abbotsford Heat AHL- In a strange move the Flames moved the club to Abbotsford BC, who had no pro hockey experience. Right in Canucks territory and the westernmost and most isolated team in the league.(closest clubs were either Manitoba or San Antonio). The team was moved for a lame duck year for 2014. -2014-15 (1 season) Adirondack Flames AHL- One season before the mass west coast AHL expansion the Flames put their team in Glens Falls replacing the Phantoms who had just moved to Allentown. -2015-pre (5 seasons, so far) Stockton Heat AHL- Resurrecting the Heat name the Flames moved their east coast AHL club to the west along with a bunch of other NHL clubs. The Flames swapped their AHL and ECHL cities with Stockton moving to the AHL and Adirondack to the ECHL.

Honestly the Flames should not be in charge of an AHL club. And i dont see Colorado Springs as a good fit for the AHL. I see Colorado Springs as a better fit for the ECHL. It would be a good ECHL affiliate for Colorado Avalanche/Colorado Eagles, plus it would give Idaho, Utah and Rapid City another team not as far from them than Allen, Tulsa, Missouri or Wichita.

It may be an older venue but for the Chicago market the arena is conveniently located for teams flying in to O'Hare.

Doubt that would happen. AHL bylaws say they have to have an NHL parent affiliation, no independents. Its what killed Cincinnatis team back in 2005. The Ducks terminated the affiliation agreement and we couldnt find another one. After sitting out a year trying to restart under the Cincinnati RailRaiders brand, that failed when not enough season ticket interest and affiliate could be secured and the team was sold to Rockford. The ECHL would prefer for teams to affiliate but independents are still allowed. The Wolves could surrive in the ECHL with plenty of teams nearby (Indy, Fort Wayne, Kalamazoo, Toledo, Cincinnati). Chicago did fail in the ECHL with the one year wonder of the Chicago Express a few years ago, but they played in Hoffman Estates. Although Manchester failed, former AHL markets havent done bad in the ECHL. Utah, Worcester, Newfoundland, and Adirondack arent doing bad but Norfolk and Maine are near the bottom of attendance.

Chicago just needs to find another NHL club to affiliate with. Not many options to chose from, and even though St Louis may not want to go back to the Wolves, they may not have a choice. An AHL club has to have an NHL parent club per league bylaws. Chicago wont go to the ECHL.

Currently Bridgeport, Hartford, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Belleville, Binghamton, Laval, Rochester, Toronto, Utica, Iowa, Manitoba, Texas, Bakersfield, Ontario, San Diego, San Jose, Stockton, Tucson and the future Palm Springs franchise are owned by their NHL parent clubs with Vegas purchasing San Antonio. This leaves, Charlotte, Hershey, Lehigh Valley Providence, Springfield, Cleveland, Syracuse, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Rockford, and Colorado with outside ownership. So yes 20 out of 32 clubs are NHL owned leaving slim picking for another AHL team.

Maybe someone can come in like the Leafs did with the Coca Cola Coliseum in Toronto and give Freeman some new life. Unless they can make a deal with SSE to use AT&T, the Coliseum might be the best choice. San Antonio drew decent crowds for the Rampage, and the Iguanas were well loved.

If I can remember right the IHL San Antonio Dragons played some games there when Freeman Coliseum was unavailable due to the rodeo. The Stars also played some preseason games there when they first moved to Dallas. I believe it was in the arena setup and not the whole dome.

Is Freeman Coliseum no longer capable of ice making? It may be an older venue but the capacity would work just fine for an ECHL club. Heck the Alamodome once hosted some hockey too.

Prepare to be disappointed. I have a strong feeling they will go with Silver Knights. It was one of the names the Golden Knights almost went with, plus, Nevada is the Silver state, and While the the 1st team is Golden it would make sense that the second team is Silver. If they make a third Vegas club they would be bronze. The Wranglers was a good name and brand but Id hardly call 11 seasons a long enough time for it to be a tradition. Sure they were the longest lasting team in Las Vegas with that name but they were the only ones with that name.

The Wolves arent going anywhere. They are a good draw and hold their own in the Chicago market.If anything I see them hooking up with St Louis again since the Blues will be losing their affiliate in San Antonio. I think if San Antonio still wants hockey under a different ownership from the Spurs, then the ECHL will probably be it. The ECHL has room for expansion and a team there will work in a thinning western conference. Itd be a great rivalry for Allen. I think Vancouver is still committed to Utica for now but I could see them moving the Comets probably to Vancouver or Abbotsford. Putting them at Pacific Coliseum could work but can Vancouver support the Canucks, an AHL club, and the Giants in nearby Langley? The Mavericks arent going anywhere I dont see them going to the AHL. Ownership is commited to the ECHL. As for Calgary and Stockton, I know they are having arena issues in Stockton and Calgary can never seem to hold an a affiliate in a market for long but their time in Stockton has actually lasted longer than i thought they would. If they are looking to move to be closer to Calgary Im not sure where they would go. Maybe Billings could work? Finally from what I heard the San Jose Barracuda will likely be moving to a new, 4,200 seat arena as part of a Sharks Ice complex in San Jose, so apparently they are staying in San Jose.

Vegas Golden Knights have purchased the San Antonio Rampage from Spurs Sports and Entertainment and plan on relocating them to Henderson/Las Vegas area for 2020-21 pending AHL board approval. Maybe San Antonio can pick up an ECHL team. It be a shame for San Antonio to lose out on hockey.