The Motor City Chiefs were a Tier III ice hockey organization that played in the

Central States Hockey League The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) is an American Tier III junior ice hockey league that consists of teams from Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New Yo ...

(CSHL) and

Great Lakes Junior Hockey League The Great Lakes Junior Hockey League (GLJHL) was an American inline hockey league. Sanctioned by the AAU, the league is based in the Great Lakes region of the Midwestern United States. From 2008 until 2012, the league was a USA Hockey-sanction ...

(GLJHL). The team played their home games at the Canfield Ice Arena in

Dearborn Heights Dearborn Heights is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. With a population of 63,292 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census., Dearborn Heights is part of the Detroit metropolitan area, and is consid ...

, Michigan. The players, ages 16–20, carried amateur status under Junior A guidelines and hope to earn a spot on higher levels of

junior ice hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

in the United States and Canada, collegiate, and eventually professional teams. The Chiefs have also fielded select youth teams at the Squirt, Bantam, Midget Minor U16, and Midget Major U18 and girls program at the U12, U14, U16 levels as well as

roller in-line hockey Roller inline hockey, or inline hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The sport ...

teams.

History

From 1985 to 2010, the Motor City Chiefs organization fielded a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III Junior A ice hockey team in the

. At the same time, the Chiefs also fielded a Tier III Junior B team in the

. In 2010, the Chiefs sold their Junior A CSHL franchise to the local Michigan Mountain Cats organization (who were also fielding a Junior B team in the GLJHL). The Mountain Cats would actually end up using the Canfield Ice Arena for the first half of the 2010–11 season until finally moving into a home rink in nearby

Farmington Hills, Michigan Farmington Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Part of the affluent suburbs northwest of Detroit, Farmington Hills is the second most-populated city in Oakland County, after Troy, with a population of 83,986 at the 20 ...

. Since 2014, the Chiefs' and Mountain Cats' Tier III junior franchise has operated as the Southern Tier Xpress out of

Northwest Arena Northwest Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Jamestown, New York, USA. It hosts local sporting events and concerts. It is the home of the Jamestown Rebels junior hockey team in the North American Hockey League. It has been the home of two short-live ...

Jamestown, New York Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamestown is the largest pop ...

. The Chiefs continued with their Junior B GJLHL team, which was promoted by USA Hockey to Junior A in 2011, until summer 2012.

Inline hockey

In 2012, the GLJHL left USA Hockey-sanctioning for the Amateur Athletic Union. This caused eight of the former Jr. B-level ice hockey teams to leave the GLJHL for the Minnesota Junior Hockey League, not including the Chiefs. With the lack of teams, the GLJHL decided to take a new direction for the 2012–13 season and switched to junior roller in-line hockey. At this time, the Chiefs also dropped its junior ice hockey team and focused on the roller hockey team. The GLJHL changed its name to Great Lakes Inline Hockey League in 2014. As of 2015, the GLIHL appears to have ceased operations. The Chiefs played the 2014–15 season in the American Inline Hockey League but have since been quiet.

Alumni

The Chiefs have had alumni move on to higher levels of

, NCAA Division I, Division III, ACHA College, at professional levels.

References

External links

Official Team Website
Amateur ice hockey teams in Michigan Ice hockey teams in Detroit Dearborn Heights, Michigan Sports in Wayne County, Michigan 1985 establishments in Michigan Ice hockey clubs established in 1985 {{Michigan-sport-team-stub