AHL Utica Comets

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
March 4, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets


BASEBALL

American West Baseball League: The proposed new AWBL, which plans to start play this summer, has announced a team called the Nogales (AZ) Desert Ghosts will be part of the inaugural 2013 season. The majority of players on the new Nogales team will be from Colombia. The AWBL plans to start with four teams. Other teams are planned for Las Cruces (NM) and Fullerton (CA) with a fourth team to be announced next week.

Florida State League: A developer is still working on a proposed new ballpark in the Winter Park (FL) area of Orlando that would be shared by Rollins College and a relocated high Class-A FSL team. Last year the group was targeting the league's Brevard County Manatees team, based about 60 miles southeast in Viera. The Orlando area has been without a minor-league team since the Orlando Rays of the Double-A Southern League moved to become the Montgomery (AL) Biscuits for the 2004 season.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball League of Canada: The proposed new NBL-Canada team to be based in Ottawa starting next season announced its name as the Ottawa Tomahawks. There was some backlash about selection of this name with its reference to Native American history and how it offended Canada's Native American community. The Ottawa ownership quickly announced it would select a new team name.

International Basketball Association - Premier Basketball League: The merged IBA-PBL started its inaugural spring 2013 season this weekend with an eight-team Central Division and a nine-team East Division. The Central Division features six IBA-affiliated teams called the Chicago Redline, Kankakee County (IL) Soldiers, Kenosha (WI) Ballers, Lake County (IL) Stars, St. Louis Trotters and Springfield (IL) Xpress, and two PBL-affiliated teams called the Sauk Valley (IL) Predators, and Bloomington (IL) Flex, which was the Central Illinois Drive in 2012. The East Division has five IBA-affiliated teams called the Albany (NY) Legends, Gary (IN) Splash, Holland (MI) Dream, Lansing (MI) Capitals and the new West Virginia Miners (Charleston); three PBL-affiliated teams called the Indiana Diesels (Columbus), Lake Michigan Admirals and Rochester (NY) RazorSharks; and the New Jersey G-Force from the 2012 International Basketball League. The IBA started play in 2011 and has completed a 2011-12 winter season, a 2012 spring season, and a 2012-13 winter season. The PBL has been around for the past five seasons (2008-12) playing a January through March schedule.

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced a new team called the Mobile Bay Tornados will join the league for the 2013-14 season. The league had two previous Mobile-area teams called the South Alabama Bounce in the 2006-07 season and the Mobile Bay Hurricanes in the 2010-11 season.

FOOTBALL

Ultimate Indoor Football League: The UIFL will start its 2013 season this coming week with six teams after announcing its proposed new Miami Sting team will not be part of the 2013 season. The league terminated the Sting's affiliation with the league and was not able to find new ownership in time for this season. The league had a travel team called the Western Pennsylvania Sting last season that was transferred to the Miami ownership after the 2012 season.

Arena Football League: The new ownership of the Chicago Rush has signed a lease to play seven of its nine home games at Allstate Arena in suburban Chicago for the 2013 AFL season. The team plans to play its two other home games in Rockford (IL).

Continental Indoor Football League: The CIFL announced the Roc City Thunder, which was originally announced as a 2013 expansion team in American Indoor Football and recently came under new ownership, has been granted associate membership in the CIFL for the 2014 season. The Thunder will play an independent indoor season in 2013 as it prepares for the 2014 CIFL season. The CIFL currently has a team called the Detroit Thunder that started play in the 2013 season.

American Indoor Football: Some of the AIF teams are planning to play games against the Virginia Crusaders semi-pro outdoor team from the Mason Dixon Football League to fill in their 2013 schedules.

Western Indoor Football Association: The new semi-pro WIFA developmental league plans to start its inaugural 2013 season in April with eight northern California-based teams called the Fat City Brawlers (Stockton), Merced 49ers, Modesto Wildcats, Patterson Rangers, Sacramento Spartans, Sacramento Warriors, Tracy Raiders and Yuba City Vikings The schedule runs from early April to mid-July with all games played at Metro Indoor Soccer Facility in Rancho Cordova (CA), just west of Sacramento.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: There were several reports this past week that the Abbotsford Heat (British Columbia), the AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames and the league's only true western team, will move to Utica (NY) for the 2013-14 season. The Heat suffers from low attendance and pays subsidies to other teams to travel to British Columbia for games. The Flames reported they were approached by Utica, but remain committed to Abbotsford. A former AHL team called the Utica Devils played six seasons (1987-93) in the league before relocating to become the Albany River Rats.

Central Hockey League: The general manager of the CHL's Bloomington Blaze has denied reports the league is on the verge of taking over the franchise.

National Hockey League: The NHL and the NHL Players' Association are discussing another version of realignment into a two-division Eastern Conference and a two-division Western Conference. The previous alignment had the 30 teams aligned into four unnamed regional conferences. This latest version moves the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets from one of the previous western conferences into the Eastern Conference divisions.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer: The MLS has started its 2013 season that will have the same 19 teams and league alignment as last season. The league wants to add its 20th team in Queens (NY), but stated it will start to look at other markets if a deal on a soccer-specific stadium there is not worked out in the near future. The Orlando market has been mentioned as next in line for a team after the New York City area. Apparently, the MLS is no longer working with the New York Cosmos team, which originally was targeting the MLS and will start play in the Division II North American Soccer League in 2013. The Cosmos were working on their own new stadium to be built on Long Island in Elmont (Nassau County).

North American Soccer League: The new Ottawa-based franchise that will join the Division II NASL in 2014 has announced the team will be called the Ottawa Fury FC. The Ottawa Fury is an established soccer organization in the city and has teams by that name in the lower-level men's United Soccer Leagues (USL) Premier Development League and the women's USL W-League. The new NASL team will play in the city's renovated football stadium that will also become home to a new Ottawa-based Canadian Football League franchise scheduled to start play in the 2014 season.

OTHER

Major Lacrosse League: The outdoor (field lacrosse) MLL announced its Hamilton Nationals team will host one of its 2013 regular-season home games in Boca Raton (FL) against the Rochester Rattlers. Boca Raton hosted the league's 2012 All-Star Game and a local sports institute is trying to bring an MLL expansion franchise to Palm Beach County. The Rochester Rattlers previously announced it would play its 2013 home opener against the Chesapeake Bayhawks in St. Petersburg (FL). The Tampa/St. Petersburg area was also under consideration for expansion by the league.

National Pro Fastpitch: The four-team NPF announced its 2013 regular season schedule will run from June to August with each team playing 54 games. Teams include the new NY/NJ Comets team along with the returning Akron Racers, Chicago Bandits and USSSA Florida Pride (Kissimmee). The NPF evolved from the Women's Pro Softball League in 2002 and restarted league play in 2004.

American Ultimate Disc League: The Bluegrass Revolution (Lexington, KY) team, which was part of the inaugural 2012 season of the professional AUDL, has relocated to become the Cincinnati Revolution for the 2013 season that starts in April. The league had 8 teams last season and will grow to 12 teams split into Eastern and Western divisions.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the "The Leagueology Almanac 2011-12", which tracks the changes in league alignments, franchise movements and team nicknames in today's sports world. The publication is currently available at www.amazon.com.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 4, 2013


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