A familiar sight we are seeing, as some of youth hockey's most prestigious organizations have left the TIEHL, and they have formed a new league that suits their needs better. If some of you have forgotten, many of the same organizations who are ditching the TIEHL did the same thing to the Michigan National Hockey League not so long ago. It was on June 20, 2000 that eight organizations left the Michigan National Hockey League, after the MNHL decided to make an A & B divisions. Former President of the MNHL, John Kay, became president of the new league. The new league was called the Midwest Elite Hockey League (MWEHL), and now holds the name Tier I Elite Hockey League (TIEHL). Although the organizations who left the MNHL said they left because they desired more day-to-day control, the other MNHL board members knew the real reason why. The organizations had teams that would have to drop into the lower division and travel more outside the metro Detroit area.
"It was clear that they were trying to create a position that will allow them to maintain as individual clubs without having to earn it year-to-year," said the Chicago Chill's Larry Pedrie, the Chill was among those teams assigned to the B division in the MNHL. "They see us as a threat. And instead of working within your own organization to make it better and identify you weaknesses, they instead choose to cannibalize other clubs and take their players."
MNHL treasurer Gale Cronk also displays feelings that the "eight organizations" who left the league because they couldn't get what they wanted in the MNHL. "The Detroit teams are crybabies," Cronk said. "They don't want anyone outside of Detroit to win anything. Now those guys want four teams out of Detroit to run it all. And those four teams, no matter how good or bad they are, want to be in the A Division and never move. And only play who they want to play, when they want to play, if they want to play."
The newly formed MWEHL started off with teams including Little Caesar's, Compuware, Honeybaked, Ice Dogs (now Victory Honda), Belle Tire, Chicago Young Americans, Team Illinois, and Cleveland Barons.
And now, most of the same organizations who left the MNHL, have left the league they created to form a new one. Its like once they create a league by their standards, they screw it up enough, and then they leave it behind and move on to create a new one. Will they ever stop this madness? Who knows.
The new HPHL has been created by the forefathers of the MWEHL/TIEHL. Little Caesars, Honeybaked, and Compuware are the Detroit teams who've joined the HPHL, and Team Illinois, Chicago Young Americans, and Chicago Mission are the Chicago teams who've abandoned the TIEHL to join the HPHL. How will this affect the TIEHL? What will Victory Honda and Belle Tire do in Detroit? Chicago Fury is now stranded by themselves with no Chicago teams to play. Can the TIEHL still be supported at a national level? What will this move do to the younger teams at VH, Fury, and BT, because they don't play in a nationwide league?
Check out the website for more information on the HPHL.
Courtesy & Source: Michigan Hockey Magazine. V.21:1:17 / March 7, 2011
Article: MNHL Breaks Up, Midwest Elite League Formed.
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