Monday musings
Today’s tour takes us from the North American Hockey League to the Canadian International Hockey League over to the Midwest Jr. Hockey League.
WARRIORS ON THE MOVE?
Are the Michigan Warriors of the North American Hockey League done in Flint after this season?
To be sure, the future of the Warriors is even less clear with new ownership slated to take over the Perani Arena and Event Centre in Flint.
The Warriors are in their fifth season playing out of Perani Arena and the word is that team ownership — which includes coach-general manager Moe Mantha — has had the franchise for sale for a while now.
And with the new owner of Perani Arena reportedly seeking to put a United States Hockey League franchise into the Flint facility, it appears the Warriors could be headed out of town — either by sale or relocation.
RHINOS ON THE ROAM
Coached by former National Hockey League tough guy Krzysztof Oliwa, the Michigan-based Kalkaska Rhinos are becoming a respected entry in the new Canadian International Hockey League.
The Rhinos, who began the 2014-2014 season as an independent team before joining the CIHL last month, split a pair of weekend games with the second-seeded Espanola Rivermen.
Kalkaska has a record of 2-4-1 since becoming a member of the CIHL and is 7-14-1 overall this season.
Espanola coach Tom McCarthy and Batchewana Attack bench boss Denny Lambert have both praised the work ethic and preparation of the Oliwa-coached Rhinos.
Batchewana, by the way, swept a pair of weekend games from the Sudbury Royals to improve its record to 16-0-1 on the season.
CROWDED CREASE
With four goalies on the active roster, it stands to reason that the Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League is looking to move one of its puckstoppers.
With a record of 17-6-3, first-place Detroit has been using Kory Dombrowski, George Hill, Austin Stefan and recently-acquired Jacob Gorzelski between the pipes.
Dombrowski and Hill were both born in 1995, Gorzelski has a 1996 birth date and the youngster Stefan was born in 1998.
Randy any expansion plans or new teams to be announced for 2015 year in the CIHL that you have heard about thanks Shawn
There are plans, Shawn, nothing firm as of yet.
Randy,
Any early rumors as to where the Warriors may move to? Maybe Jamestown NY can be an option, considering their current NA3HL team is averaging over 1,000 fans per game with local ownership running the team.
David,
A return to Port Huron, perhaps?
My personnal opinion is that Hill is the best one of the Irish goalies however Stefan is the “Goalie of the future” in my opinion.
Coach Vasquez needs to get down to 3 goalie’s and stop this charade. Let the kid play Major Midget or High School and be the #1 Guy. Come on Danny you have a shot at winning it all with so many kids who can score. Fix the Goalie situatien for once and for all Coach. Come on man.