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CHL Announces Alignment
June 6, 2003
The Central Hockey League has finalized the
Conference and Divisional alignment for the upcoming 2003-2004 season. The CHL alignment for 2003/2004 will feature four divisions and 17 teams, including the CHL's two expansion teams for the coming season.
The Colorado Eagles have been placed into the Northwest Division, while the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees will join the Southeast Division.The Oilers will once again compete in the Northwest Division of
the Northern Conference, but a few of their divisional opponents have changed. The Oilers will compete against the Eagles, the Oklahoma City Blazers, the Wichita Thunder, and the New Mexico Scorpions for the
Northwest Division title. "From a geographical standpoint, this makes the most sense," said Oilers general manager Corey MacIntyre. "With 17 teams in the league, we will be playing an unbalanced schedule.
Much like Amarillo last season, (who was in the Northwest Division, but played a majority of their games against Southern Conference opponents), we expect the same situation with New Mexico this year. The
league is also looking into the possibility of having teams play two games when they make long trips to Colorado or Indianapolis, but nothing has been finalized yet." The remaining divisions are as
follows: The Northeast Division: Bossier - Shreveport Mudbugs, Fort Worth Brahmas, Indianapolis Ice, and Memphis RiverKings. The Southwest Division: Amarillo Gorillas, Lubbock Cotton Kings, Odessa
Jackalopes, and San Angelo Saints. The Southeast Division: Austin Ice Bats, Corpus Christi Rayz, Laredo Bucks, and Rio Grande Valley. Operationally, the CHL will implement two significant rule changes for
the coming season. Both the "tag-up offside" rule and automatic icing will be adopted when the CHL begins play this October. Additionally, the CHL Board of Governors ratified maintaining the playoff format
used in the 2002/2003 season, with eight teams again qualifying for post-season play. The playoff format will also maintain the number of games in each series, with the opening round a best of five games
series, and both the Conference Finals and President's Cup Finals played in a best of seven games format. |
