re: “Other” Pro Leagues in America

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Local hockey team baw.

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Yeah, for some reason in the 90s there was an absolute EXPLOSION in ice hockey.

First you had the IHL, which covered a lot of the big cities outside of the NHL. Basically it was AAA level hockey. Over time they had the Atlanta Knights, Denver Grizzlies, Salt Lake City Golden Eagles, Houston Aeros, Orlando Solar Bears, Cleveland Lumberjacks, Phoenix Roadrunners, San Diego Gulls, Kansas City Blades, Detrot Vipers, Chicago Wolves, Milwaukee Admirals, Minnesota Moose, Indianapolis Ice, and Cincinnati Cyclones. For various reasons that league went kaput by 2001.

Then you had the explosion of the AA hockey leagues, such as the ECHL. Not sure why; I think it was because you had a lot of arenas/coliseums in medium-sized cities that needed dates to fill, and it was a fun way to spend a winter's evening. At one time you had the ECHL with an I-10 corridor going from the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks in the east to the Louisiana (Lafayette) Ice Gators in the west, with the Pensacola Ice Pilots, Mobile Mysticks, Mississippi (Biloxi) Sea Wolves, New Orleans Brass and Baton Rouge Kingfish in between. They also had the Birmingham Bulls and Jackson (MS) Bandits.

Other AA leagues included the WPHL that McHaig listed a bunch of teams, and the Central Hockey League.