Dilbert

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.

Yes, but in fairness its a sky blue and not a dark blue like most others.

No just the branding.

Honestly its not bad. Its not a cartoon water tower swinging a bat which is what I was expecting.

Florence Freedom of the independent Frontier League will reveal their new name tonight. The Top five choices were the Go-Goettas, Fossil Jockeys, Y'alls, Pop Flies, and the No Sox. florenceyalls.com redirects to the Freedom website.

Florence Y'alls has significant meaning to the area. Across the highway from the ballpark is a water tower and the Florence Mall. The water tower originally read Florence mall but was changed to Florence Y'all after legal concerns. I got a feeling this name will win out. They already have Wally, the water tower as their mascot. Go-Goettas also works locally after a local meat called goetta (pronounce "getta"), usually made with pork and or beef with oats and spices. Its similar to scrapple (a similar version found on the east coast).

Well okay at least it isnt the (unnecessary adjective) animals. Im fine with Worcester Red Sox or WooSox. Oh and apparently Worcester is the birthplace of the iconic smiley face. As for the Heart W, Worcester was also the home for the first commercial valentine.

So a video is up on their twitter showing a brick wall and someone shaking a can of spray paint. Worcester Taggers?

The Missoula Osprey will unveil their new name and logo on Monday at around 10:30 am (Missoula time) on their facebook page.

Studio Simon I believe. Good work.

At this point the Atlantic League and American Association should merge too. Supposedly New Britain is leaving the Atlantic League, leaving them with an uneven team count, not to mention their lone team outside the Atlantic footprint in Sugar Land Texas. The American Association may or may not lose Kansas City. The T-Bones were just evicted from their stadium, and are looking for a buyer.

If anything it more reminds me of the Northern League/ Northeast League merger in 1999-02. its pretty much the same footprint but i think this one could work as the Frontier and Can-Am are more stable leagues than what was the GBL/Northern League/UBL combo.

Ive heard rumors of a possible frontier league- Can Am merger. Ive also heard the ballpark and city are looking at putting a new team in the Frontier League to replace the Rascals. Meanwhile in the American Association the Kansas City T-Bones are being evicted from their ballpark at seasons end.

the wave one

ECHL Brampton Beast with new jerseys and logo