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26-592: There was also a Central Hockey League team with a similar name, the Indianapolis Capitals, that in 1963 played in the same arena. They played nine games before being relocated to Cincinnati to play as the Cincinnati Wings due to an explosion that rendered the Coliseum unusable. The team was again relocated this time to Memphis, Tennessee , for the 1964–65 season, where they were renamed

52-584: A strain on relationships between the leagues. There was some speculation that the IHL was intending to compete directly with the NHL, especially when a lockout in 1994–95 threatened to wipe out the NHL season. However, in the 1995–96 season, the IHL's "soft" salary cap was just $ 1.5 million, while the lowest NHL team payroll that season was $ 11.4 million. A Fall 1994 article in Sports Illustrated praising

78-613: The 1945–46 IHL season with four teams in Windsor and Detroit , and operated as semi-professional league. In 1947, a team from Toledo, Ohio , joined the league, and the following year the IHL expanded significantly, with teams in four additional U.S. cities. The expansion did not take hold, and for 1949–50, the league was back down to teams in Detroit and Windsor as well as two nearby Canadian cities, Sarnia, Ontario , and Chatham, Ontario . Windsor dropped out in 1950, and expansion into

104-672: The Colorado Rockies . Before the end of the month, Bud Poile became league president and would hold the job until the CHL folded in 1984. For the 1974–75 season, the CHL absorbed three teams, the Denver Spurs , Salt Lake Golden Eagles , and Seattle Totems , from the folding Western Hockey League . Salt Lake would stay in the league until the end and would continue in the International Hockey League for

130-577: The Memphis Wings . Their last season was the 1966–67 season. This American ice hockey team-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Indianapolis , Indiana -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a sports team in Indiana is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Central Professional Hockey League The Central Professional Hockey League

156-1063: The National Hockey League 's alternate farm system to the American Hockey League (AHL). After 56 years of operation, financial instability led to the league's demise. Six of the surviving seven teams merged into the AHL in 2001. The IHL was formed on December 5, 1945, in a three-hour meeting at the Norton Palmer Hotel in Windsor, Ontario . In attendance were Jack Adams (coach of the Detroit Red Wings), Fred Huber (Red Wings public relations), Frank Gallagher (amateur hockey organizer in Detroit and Windsor), Lloyd Pollock (Windsor hockey pioneer), Gerald McHugh (Windsor lawyer), Len Hebert, Len Loree and Bill Beckman. The league began operations in

182-670: The St. Paul Rangers ( New York Rangers ). The only NHL team without a CHL affiliate that year, the Toronto Maple Leafs , joined the league through its affiliation with the Tulsa Oilers in the CHL's second season. After Adams's death, Emory Jones served as interim president until the appointment of lawyer Joe Kane in August 1968. Kane announced the league was changing its name on September 26, 1968, dropping Professional from

208-665: The 1950s, with another major expansion in 1959. In the 1962–63 season, the IHL played an interlocking schedule with the NHL-owned Eastern Professional Hockey League , which itself folded after its 1962–63 season. After 11 seasons as a strictly U.S.-based league, the IHL admitted two Canadian teams in 1963, with the Windsor Bulldogs and the return of the Chatham Maroons. Both teams dropped out after one season, however, and

234-558: The 1984–85 season, after the CHL ceased operations. Denver and Seattle were admitted to the CHL as a steppingstone for their eventual admission to the NHL in 1976; however, the league never followed through on the expansion, and both teams folded after 1975. For 1979–80, the CHL added the Cincinnati Stingers and Birmingham Bulls , the two teams from the World Hockey Association that were not admitted to

260-721: The AHL as expansion teams for the 2001–02 season. Between them, they have played for the AHL Calder Cup seven times, winning four—including three in a row after their arrival. As well, the Cincinnati Cyclones was readmitted to the East Coast Hockey League , which hosted the team from 1990 to 1992 before it moved to the IHL. The Orlando Solar Bears (the final IHL playoff champions) and the Kansas City Blades were not admitted into

286-698: The AHL because their owner, Rich DeVos , who also owned the Griffins, was allowed to own only one AHL franchise. The league's other two teams, the Cleveland Lumberjacks and Detroit Vipers , ceased operations along with the league. Two former IHL teams that moved to the AHL have since relocated: the Utah Grizzlies moved to Cleveland, Ohio , to become the Lake Erie Monsters (rebranded as Cleveland Monsters in 2016) in 2007 and

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312-586: The Houston Aeros moved to Des Moines, Iowa , to become the Iowa Wild in 2013. A third team, the Manitoba Moose, temporarily relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador to become the St. John's IceCaps from 2011 to 2015. Three former franchises have been relaunched in lower-tier leagues since the IHL's demise. The Utah Grizzlies name was revived by the former Lexington Men O' War of

338-588: The IHL and mocking the NHL only fueled the fire. In said article, IHL officials detailed plans to continue expanding the league to large markets in North America, as well as, "a six-team European league with franchises in England, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Sweden and France." In response, many NHL clubs shifted their affiliations to the AHL , and by 1997–98, only four of 18 IHL teams had NHL affiliations. With

364-584: The NHL that year. Also during the 1979–80 season, the United States Olympic hockey team played games against each team in the CHL that counted in the standings. The team went on to win the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics . In the 1983–84 season, both the U.S. and Canadian Olympic hockey teams played games in the CHL. The CHL's final champions, the Tulsa Oilers, were left without a home during their championship 1983–84 season when

390-543: The U.S. began again, with Toledo rejoining the league and new teams in Grand Rapids, Michigan (1950), Troy, Ohio , (1951), Cincinnati (1952), Fort Wayne, Indiana (1952), and Milwaukee (1952). At the same time, the last Canadian team left the league in 1952, when the Chatham Maroons pulled out. Three new U.S. cities were added in 1953. The league would expand and shrink between five and nine teams through

416-406: The defunct World Hockey Association or abandoned by the NHL. The IHL also entered markets that had existing NHL teams, such as Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles . In 1996, the IHL moved its Atlanta and Minneapolis–Saint Paul franchises to Quebec City and Winnipeg , respectively, restoring the league's Canadian presence and filling the void left by the departure of the NHL's Quebec Nordiques and

442-400: The late 1980s and continuing into the mid-90s, the IHL expanded or re-located existing franchises into major U.S. markets such as Atlanta , Cincinnati , Cleveland , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Kansas City , Las Vegas , Minneapolis–Saint Paul , Orlando , Phoenix , Salt Lake City , San Antonio , San Diego , and San Francisco . Many of these markets had been previously served by

468-431: The league would not have a Canadian team again until 1996. Bill Beagan served as commissioner of the IHL from 1969 to 1978. The Canadian Press cited him for turning around the league's financial situation and making it a top-tier development system for future NHL talent. Starting in the late 1960s, the IHL's quality of play significantly improved. By the mid-1970s it was on par with the American Hockey League (AHL),

494-494: The longtime top feeder league for the National Hockey League . Many IHL teams became the top farm teams of NHL teams. In 1984, the league swallowed up a few surviving members of the Central Hockey League , which had ceased operations. In 1985, the league adopted the shootout to determine tie games in place of traditional overtime. The NHL would begin using the shootout to avoid tie games in 2005. Beginning in

520-533: The loss of subsidized salaries, high expansion fees (by the end the league was charging as much as $ 8 million US for new teams), exploding travel costs and the NHL itself moving back into some of its markets, the league's rapid expansion proved a critical strain, and it folded after the 2000–01 season. Six IHL franchises (the Chicago Wolves , Grand Rapids Griffins , Houston Aeros , Utah Grizzlies , Milwaukee Admirals and Manitoba Moose ) were admitted into

546-410: The original Winnipeg Jets . The minimum requirements for an IHL expansion team in 1995 were "a 10,000-seat arena, a population base of one million, and a $ 6 million franchise fee." As the league expanded into larger markets, many of the smaller-market teams (such as Fort Wayne, Peoria, Muskegon, Kalamazoo and Flint) left the IHL and joined lower-level leagues. The IHL's expansion into NHL markets put

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572-672: The previous year's EPHL teams, while the fifth came from the International Hockey League . Its founding president was Jack Adams , who served in the role until his death in 1968. The CHL's championship trophy was called the Adams Cup in his honor. In the league's first season, all five teams were affiliated with an NHL club. The CHL initially consisted of the Indianapolis Capitals ( Detroit Red Wings ), Minneapolis Bruins ( Boston Bruins ), Omaha Knights ( Montreal Canadiens ), St. Louis Braves ( Chicago Black Hawks ) and

598-458: The team owners went into receivership. The league stepped in to keep the team operating, and the Oilers played all their games on the road from mid-February through the end of the playoffs. Their Cup-winning game on April 27, 1984, was the last game played in the CHL. The league folded the following month. * There were two separate franchised that were called 'Omaha Knights' ‡ Oilers team

624-525: The title. He served one year as president, retiring in June 1969. Kane was succeeded by Jones, who held the job until retiring in 1974. Max McNab served as league president from 1974 until becoming general manager of the Washington Capitals during his second season. Ray Miron was hired as president in August 1976, but resigned less than three weeks later to accept the job as general manager of

650-564: Was a minor professional ice hockey league that operated in the United States from 1963 to 1984. Named the Central Hockey League for the 1968–69 season and forward, it was owned and operated by the National Hockey League and served as a successor to the Eastern Professional Hockey League , which had folded after the 1962–63 season. Four of the CHL's initial franchises were, in fact, relocations of

676-487: Was left without a home after its owners in Tulsa went into receivership; played the last two months of the season and all playoff games as a road team, with salaries and expenses paid by the league. International Hockey League (1945%E2%80%932001) The International Hockey League ( IHL ) was a minor professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1945 to 2001. The IHL served as

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