IIHL Holiday Tournament

[Anonymous]

Wasn't there suppose to be a IIHL Thanksgiving Pre-Season Tournament in both Harbor Springs and Chelsea???? I seem to remember them making a big deal about it.

[Big Chris]

Sure was,

IIHL News

Posted by: staff on Sep 18, 2003 - 02:41 AM
IIHL

Media members and community leaders are invited to attend a monumental press conference at 11 am on Thursday, September 18 at the Ameri-Host Inn & Suites, located at 20 Home Street in Athens.





League officials from the International Independent Hockey League (IIHL) will be in Athens to make a special announcement.

The IIHL is a new pro league aiming to carve a nich for itself at the bottom level of minor league ladder. The IIHL is filling the current void at the "A" level to serve as a feeder system to the various AA leagues, European pro leagues, the American Hockey League (AHL) and the National Hockey League (NHL).

The new IIHL has gained plenty of national media attention with its mission to present more pro opportunities for Americans by imposing rules restricting rosters to no more than 6 foreign-born players. Fewer than 2.5% are Americans within the NHL and the two leagues that supply most of its players, the 28-team AHL for AAA affiliates and the 54 Major Junior teams for 20-&-under talent within the Canadian Hockey League.

The IIHL was launched after 3 1/2 years of planning by a Florida-based company aiming to supply marketing training for minor league franchises in all sports. Players in the IIHL will be paid about $500 monthly in hopes of reaching the NHL where the average salary last season was $1.8 million. The salaries are similar to what players are paid at the bottom levels within baseball's "Indy Ball" world. Major League Baseball's affiliates in A-ball and Rookie leagues pay all rookies only $840 monthly when signing them to 6-year contracts after draft day.

Baseball's "Indy Ball" leagues combine undrafted players with veterans cut from the AAA ranks who often have experience at the Major League level. The IIHL will attempt to copy the philosphy while concentrating on developing more pro opportunities for American players.

The IIHL office can be reached at (810) 610-1020 but no further details about Thursday's big announcement will be revealed until the press conference.

Marcus Marazon of Bird Arena at Ohio University will be at Thursday's press conference but won't be answering any questions for reporters prior to the event. Marazon is also the faculty advisor for the Ohio University Bobcats hockey club that has won three ACHA national championships while developing a noisy, packed hosue style atmosphere that is the envy of hockey teams everywhere.

Howard Rudolph, lead broadcaster for last year's radio broadcasts of the ACHA National Championships in Athens, calls it an atmosphere hard to match in the sports world. "It's electric, simply electric," Rudolph said about the atmosphere inside Bird Arena at games.

The IIHL has already announced two franchises on college campus settings within Michigan and is staging special games in several cities across the midwest in hopes of attracting ownership groups in key markets. One IIHL ownership group also includes long-time NHL star Jason Woolley in Harbor Springs, Michigan.

Woolley, who was traded to the Detroit Red Wings last season after many years with the Buffalo Sabres, runs summer camps in Harbor Springs at a rink managed by Buffalo native Joe Kolodziej. They're partners in the Northern Michigan Predators franchise with two prominent Harbor Springs businessmen who own the new Polar Bear Ice & Fitness with Kolodziej.

IIHL training camps open on Nov. 24 and will include a Pre-Season Fall Showcase Tournament from Nov. 26-30. Regular season play begins Dec. 7. The playoffs will conclude with a championship game on April 17 at Ann Arbor's Yost Arena on the campus of the University of Michigan.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2003

IIHL PRESS RELEASE