Central Hockey League Goes From 14 Teams to 10 Teams in 2012

What started out as a promising 2012 season, turned into a nightmare for the Central Hockey League, when they were notified that five teams were either leaving their Conference or folding. But with the start of the 2012 CHL season upon us, the CHL has redeveloped their league, in hopes of having a better future.


With three teams, Dayton, Rio Grande, Laredo,  folding and the teams from Ft. Wayne & Evansville leaving for the East Central Hockey League, the CHL was at a loss entering this upcoming season. But with the gain of the Denver Cutthroats in early 2012, the CHL is back up to 10 teams.

After losing almost half their teams, the CHL comes into the 2012 season revamped and they are excited for the future of their Conference. "We felt this year with 10 teams spread out from Arizona to Illinois that it was a prudent measure to keep the teams in one conference.  The teams will still be fighting for playoff seeding and home ice advantage throughout the regular season, just as if they were in two divisions.  When trying to cut up 10 teams into two five team divisions, there were very few combinations that made sense from a geographical standpoint.  Our Governors voted overwhelmingly to go to one conference and fight it out during the regular season for post-season positioning and the advantage of earning more home games.  Our feeling is that the regular season will be as competitive as ever," said Bob Hoffman, Director of Operations for the Central Hockey League. 

The CHL kicks off their 2012 season on Friday, October 19. 

Central Hockey League