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Information About

United Hockey League




  Pixels 150px
  Caption United Hockey League logo
  Sport Ice Hockey
  Founded 1991
  Teams 6
  Champion Rockford IceHogs
  Website wwwihl-hockeycom


The International Hockey League (IHL) is a Professional Ice Hockey league with teams in the United States . The league is headquartered in Rochester, Michigan

Formed in 1991 as the Colonial Hockey League with the intent to fill the low minor league http://www.pjstar.com/stories/062207/DAV_BDIQEB62.077.php http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/05/15/news/local/doc464a3e0694b79469104694.txt Article from the Chicago Sun-Times http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20050601/ai_n14662889 http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/05/23/news/local/doc4654e4c9ad9bc691549463.txt http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Sports/2007/1/4/Put_theUHL_on_a_dead_pool_list http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/2362 Great Lakes region niche abandoned by the original International Hockey League as it went upmarket, it had teams in Brantford, Ontario ; Detroit, Michigan ; Flint, Michigan ; St. Thomas, Ontario ; and Thunder Bay, Ontario . As the ECHL moved westward (into Toledo, Dayton, and Peoria), the CoHL moved eastward, into places like the Adirondacks, Danbury, CT, and Richmond, VA to name a few. During that expansion, the league became known as the '''United Hockey League''', before renaming itself to the International Hockey League in 2007.

The name change rekindles memories back to the days when the original IHL (1945-2001) had teams in Flint, Fort Wayne, Kalamazoo, and Muskegon, before it, as mentioned above, branched out into larger cities - sometimes trying to compete head-to-head in the same city as existing NHL franchises - spread across North America and eventually became defunct through mismanagement and escalating player salaries. Many of the current IHL players have American Hockey League as well as European pro league experience.

On June 27th, 2007, a dispersal draft was held among the six IHL teams, selecting players from the four 2006-2007 UHL franchises that are no longer part of the newly-named league.

The results of the first round:

2007 IHL dispersal draft

Round 1

Bloomington -- Don Parsons (F), Quad City

Port Huron -- Marty Magers (G), Chicago

Flint -- Steve MacIntyre (D), Quad City

Kalamazoo -- Chris Busby (D), Chicago

Muskegon -- Todd Grant (LW), Chicago

Fort Wayne -- Sergei Durdin (D), Quad City

Currently, Paul Pickard serves as President and CEO of the IHL; he is also president of Stadium Management Corporation.


2007-08 TEAMS

''(official affiliations in brackets)''


COLONIAL CUP WINNERS


The Colonial Cup is awarded to annual playoff championship. The name Colonial Cup has been maintained since the league was called CoHL. The past winners are:


DEFUNCT TEAMS





SEE ALSO



REFERENCES



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