My Scenario's for Central Hockey League Alignment

With now 18 teams joining the Central Hockey League for next season with the announcement of the Evansville Icemen. I have already mentioned what a North & Southern Conference Alignments. I will show you my first alignment idea, but I will also show you would a possible 2nd alignment if they decide with 3 divisions with an East/Central/West idea as well.

As for my playoff format in both possible scenarios, I would drop the number of playoff teams from 10 to 8 as the Play In Round for the most part have proved to be useless since it was introduced back in 2008.

Scenario #1: North/South

For my first idea, my 2 9 Team Conferences would have a North/South with the 4 Incoming IHL Teams along with Colorado, Missouri, Rapid City, Wichita along with the expansion Evansville Icemen. So this would cover the states of Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.

My Southern Conference would have the 5 Texas teams in Allen & North Richland Hills in the D/FW Area. Odessa which is out west along with Laredo & Rio Grande City which are along the Texas/Mexico Border. Joining them would be the Arizona Sundogs, Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, Tulsa Oilers. And joining them from the North would be the Mississippi Riverkings who have been Northern Conference Regulars since they moved from Memphis. In all, the Southern Conference would cover the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Lousiana, Arizona and Mississippi.

Playoff Format: I would keep the 2 Conferences with the North/South format with the #1 VS. #4 & #2 VS. #3 as the Conference Semifinals, Conference Finals, then the Presidents Cup Championship.


My Northern Conference:
Bloomington Prairie Thunder
Colorado Eagles
Dayton Gems
Evansville Icemen
Ft. Wayne Komets
Missouri Mavericks
Rapid City Rush
Wichita Thunder
Quad City Mallards

Southern Conference
Allen Americans
Arizona Sundogs
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs
Laredo Bucks
Mississippi Riverkings
Odessa Jackalopes
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees
Texas Brahmas
Tulsa Oilers


Scenario #2: East/Central/West

A 2nd possible scenario could be going to an East/Central/West Division Format with 3 divisions 6 Teams in each Division as the league is starting to spread out a lot more with the addition of the IHL Teams. Prior to the merger, it would be very hard for me to see this happening. But with it now, I could definitely see something like this happening.

My East Division would be a majority of the IHL Teams as states like Indiana, Illinois and Ohio are starting join the league. I would put Mississippi in the East as they are one of the Eastern most teams in the Central Hockey League right now of the existing teams.

For the Central, the 2 North Texas Teams in the D/FW Area (Allen Americans & Texas Brahmas) along with the Tulsa Oilers, Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs would make up a very interesting battle in the Southwest as those 4 teams are only about a 4 hour drive from Dallas. Joining them would be the Wichita Thunder and Missouri Mavericks would make the northern half of the Central.

The West would have the 3 Mountain Time Zone Teams (Arizona, Colorado, Rapid City) would be joining the other 3 Texas Teams (Odessa, Rio Grande Valley, Laredo). This would be an interesting division with several preannual title cotenders with Colorado, Odessa plus the defending Champion Rapid City Rush. It could make up some interesting battles.

Playoff Format: I would still keep the 8 teams. But I would have it open ended as we have 8 teams with no conference or divisional formats. The 3 division Champions would be ranked 1-2-3 overall. All 3 2nd Place Teams would also advance to the playoffs as well as the top 2 3rd Place Teams would round out the Playoff Format. It would go Quarterfinals, Semifinals then the Presidents Cup Championship

East Division
Bloomington Prairie Thunder
Dayton Gems
Evansville Icemen
Ft. Wayne Komets
Mississippi Riverkings
Quad City Mallards

Central Division
Allen Americans
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs
Missouri Mavericks
Texas Brahmas
Tulsa Oilers
Wichita Thunder

West Division
Arizona Sundogs
Colorado Eagles
Laredo Bucks
Odessa Jackalopes
Rapid City Rush
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees


So take a look at the scenario's and which one do you think would fit the Central Hockey League better for the 2010-2011 Season?

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