Eastern Professional Hockey League (2008–09)

Eastern Professional Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Founded 2008
Ceased 2009
CEO Jim Riggs
No. of teams 4
Country  United States
Last champion(s) Jersey Rockhoppers
Official website Official Site

The Eastern Professional Hockey League (EPHL) was a low-level professional ice hockey league. The league was developed by Curtis Russell, Tim Kolpien, Igor Mrotchek, and Jim Riggs, the former commissioner of the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League in 2007.

League history

Jim Riggs was hired to become the commissioner of the EPHL after being the commissioner of three leagues that folded.

In October 2008, weeks before the first games were scheduled, two franchises (the Rome, New York-based Copper City Chiefs and the Exeter, New Hampshire-based New Hampshire Freeze) were replaced by the Hudson Valley Bears, based in Poughkeepsie and Newburgh, New York.

The four-team league played the 2008–09 season with the Brooklyn Aces winning the regular season title. The Aces lost a three game championship series to the Jersey Rockhoppers, two games to one. Average league attendance was 821.[1]

The Hyannis Storm were announced as an expansion team to begin play in the 2009–10 season, however, Dan Adams, the chief investor of the Storm, said he would not be moving forward with bringing the team to the Hyannis Youth and Community Center that year.[2]

On April 10, 2009, Curtis Russell became President of the EPHL after Tim Kolpien resigned.[3]

The Eastern Professional Hockey League did not return for a second season. Mad Hatters principal owner and former EPHL president Tim Kolpien all but acknowledged the minor ice hockey league no longer exists. "Frustrating to say, but no consensus or agreement has been reached," Kolpien said by e-mail, "But given where we are on the calendar, I don't see any way the Mad Hatters or EPHL can play in 2009–10.[4]

The league website, www.ephl.com, currently has a message indicating that the league will return in 2010.[5]

2008–09 season

Standings

GP W L OTL SOL GF GA Pts
Brooklyn Aces 50 35 9 42 278 157 76
Jersey Rockhoppers 50 32 16 11 243 198 66
Danbury Mad Hatters 50 30 18 02 222 171 62
Hudson Valley Bears 50 3 45 11 145 362 8

Teams

The league had four teams located in the Northeast portion of the United States.

Team City Arena (Capacity) Avg. Attendance
Brooklyn Aces Brooklyn, New York Aviator Arena (2,500) 1,098[1]
Danbury Mad Hatters Danbury, Connecticut Danbury Ice Arena (2,344) 984[1]
Hudson Valley Bears Poughkeepsie, New York Mid-Hudson Civic Center (650)
Ice Time Sports Complex (400)
235[1]
Jersey Rockhoppers West Orange, New Jersey Richard J. Codey Arena (2,500) 935[1]

Champions by year

2008–09 — Jersey Rockhoppers: On March 28, 2009, the Jersey Rockhoppers won the first EPHL Championship with a 4-1 victory over the Brooklyn Aces at the Aviator Arena in Brooklyn, New York. Jersey prevailed in Game 3 of the Finals, winning two straight after dropping the series opener.[6]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 ":: Ephl ::". Leaguestat.com. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
  2. "Cape minor-league hockey plan hits snag". Cape Cod Online. February 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  3. "Curtis Russell Named as Eastern Professional Hockey League President - OurSports Central - Independent and Minor League Sports News". OurSports Central. 2009-04-10. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
  4. https://web.archive.org/20090809014513/http://www.connpost.com:80/news/ci_13009855. Archived from the original on August 9, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. "ephl.com". ephl.com. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Eastern Professional Hockey League". 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, May 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.