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Electricians Join MAHL

June 5, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Marquette Rangers News Release


Marquette - It's been an action packed off-season so far for the Marquette Electricians Midget AAA team. First, Mike Dagenais was hired as the new head coach, and now the team has a new league to call home. The Electricians have become one of several new members of the Mid-American Hockey League for the upcoming hockey season.

The Electricians will skate in the MAHL North Division along with fellow U.P. teams the Soo Indians and Ojibwa Eagles, along with the Green Bay Junior Gamblers. The Thunder Bay (Ontario) Kings will play the 2008 - 09 season as a charter member of the league before officially joining the MAHL in 2009 -10.

"This is an exciting time for our group on a lot of levels," said Electricians board chairman Glenn Andrews. "We're not as spread out as we were before, we'll have more home and home opportunities on our schedule; and the chance with Soo and Ojibwa to create some really good rivalries for our local communities."

Andrews went on to say that the non-league portion of the upcoming season may actually be an improvement from the past, with some big players showing up on their radar screen.

"We're scheduled to play Shattuck St. Mary's this year for this first time in a long time, and we're negotiating with Culver Military Academy from Indiana who is another traditional power at this level. Our level of competition will remain very high for our players," Andrews added.

Electricians head coach Mike Dagenais sees the move to the MAHL as an improved opportunity for moving Electricians players on to Junior hockey.

"In the past we were playing in a lot of our league showcases," Dagenais said. "Now we have the opportunity to skate in USHL and NAHL showcases and get our players in front of coaches and scouts from those leagues. We're free to seek out the best places to play now and do what's best to get our players the exposure to move them on. With a good core group returning for this season, and an exciting incoming bunch I think this will work out very well"

Another move towards the goal of moving players on to Junior hockey was reached earlier this spring with an alliance formed between the Electricians and the Marquette Rangers of the NAHL.

The Electricians 2008 - 09 hockey schedule will feature around 60 games on the year, 15 of them within the North Division; and will continue to feature the 20 team Electricians Fall Classic in September in Marquette.

If the future mirrors the past, the Electricians may indeed have big days ahead of them.

To date, the team has moved 170 former players on to Junior "A" hockey, and 4 on to Major Junior (OHL) hockey. 100 former Electricians have played collegiately, including 23 NCAA Division 1 programs, with 24 of those 100 having played collegiately at Northern Michigan University.

According to Dagenais, five or six former Electricians could be on the roster for NMU this fall alone.

"Not much has changed," Andrews added. "We're still a top Major Midget organization, we're still sponsored by the Marquette Electricians local 1070 and we'll still feature the best players to represent Marquette and the Upper Peninsula. Add to that a quality league and the future is very bright for continued success."

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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