The North Eastern Hockey League was a semi-professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

league from 2003 until 2008. It was created by entrepreneur Jim Cashman, who served as league president. The NEHL was built to focus on giving players that were not quite ready for the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

United Hockey League The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league, with teams in the Unite ...

, and the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

a place to play and develop after their Junior and college careers had finished. In the 2003-04 season, nine total players moved up to the "AA" level and remained there and six of those players came from the York IceCats alone.

History

The League started with four franchises, the York IceCats out of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Jamestown Titans The Jamestown Titans were a semi-professional ice hockey team in North Eastern Hockey League (NEHL) based in Jamestown, New York. A postmortem on the team and the league written by ''The Post-Journal'' noted that the team was not particularly we ...

out of Jamestown,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Mohawk Valley Comets They Mohawk Valley Comets are a former professional ice hockey team based in Utica, New York. They were a member of the North American Hockey League The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the ...

out of Whitestown,

and the Poughkeepsie Panthers out of

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

. After very low attendance in the first few games in Poughkeepsie, the team was to be relocated to Connecticut and renamed the

Connecticut Cougars The Connecticut Cougars were a semi-professional ice hockey team in North Eastern Hockey League (NEHL). The team was originally the Poughkeepsie Panthers and was based in Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Pough ...

but negotiations with an arena broke down and the Cougars finished as a road team for the remainder of the season. When concerns of Comets players not being available for the final month of the season due to their summer jobs starting, Coach Brett Boake requested a schedule change and the season was shortened a month. The Comets decided two days before the playoff weekend that they were not going to participate as not enough players were available and they had financial concerns. With the Comets as the league regular season leaders, they were to get a bye straight to the finals, which was to be played on Sunday. York and Jamestown (the second and third place teams) were to play on the Saturday to see who went on to face the Comets. Once the Comets had informed the league that they would not be playing, the league changed the playoff structure. York and Jamestown would play a two-game series that weekend. If there were a tie after the two games they would play a mini-game lasting twenty minutes. York won the opening game, 8-5. Jamestown defeated York 9-1 in the second game and then won a 20-minute tiebreaker game 6-1. As league champions, the Titans received the

Herb Brooks Herbert Paul Brooks Jr. (August 5, 1937 – August 11, 2003) was an American ice hockey player and coach. His most notable achievement came in 1980 as head coach of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team at Lake Placid. At the Games, Brooks' ...

Memorial Trophy. The league went dark for the 2004-05 season, then attempted to return in 2005-06 as the Continental Professional Hockey League with teams in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The regular 44-game season was supposed to start in early November 2005, was postponed, saw six games played, and was cancelled in mid-December 2005. In the 2006-2007 season, The New England Stars finished first with a record of 20-0, and cruised in the Championship series beating the Mohawk Valley Icecats 2 games to 0 (8-5 and 9-2) to capture the 2006-2007 NEHL Crown. The league announced on January 23, 2008 that it was suspending operations for the remainder of the 2007-08 season.

Teams

;2003–2004 *

(resurrected as the Copper City Chiefs 2007-08) * Poughkeepsie Panthers (later known as the

) * York IceCats (relocated to St. Catharines, ON for 05-06) ;2005–2006 ''(teams only played six games until the league suspended operations for a season)'' *

Philadelphia Comets Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

(travel team) *

Pittsburgh Pounders The Kensington Valley Pounders was a semi-professional ice hockey team in the North Eastern Hockey League. The team was based in Brighton, Michigan in the greater Detroit metropolitan area, and was temporarily known as the Detroit Pounders before ...

(became Danville Pounders for 06-07) * St. Catharines IceCats * Sault Ste. Marie Stampede ;2006–2007 *

Danville Pounders The Kensington Valley Pounders was a semi-professional ice hockey team in the North Eastern Hockey League. The team was based in Brighton, Michigan in the greater Detroit metropolitan area, and was temporarily known as the Detroit Pounders before ...

(relocated to Detroit/Brighton, Michigan for 2007–2008) *

Findlay Freedom The Findlay Freedom was a semi-professional ice hockey team. The team was a member of the now defunct NEHL team based in Findlay, Ohio. They played their home games at the Clauss Ice Arena on the campus of University of Findlay. The Freedom finis ...

: ''(

Findlay, Ohio Findlay ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Ohio, United States. The second-largest city in Northwest Ohio, Findlay lies about 40 miles (64 km) south of Toledo, Ohio, Toledo. The population was 40,313 at the 2020 United St ...

)'' *

Mohawk Valley IceCats The Norfolk IceCats were a semi-professional hockey team in the North Eastern Hockey League (NEHL) based in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada owned by Jim Cashman. The franchise was previously known as the York IceCats until a move to St. Catharines, Onta ...

(relocated to Simcoe, ON for 2007–2008) *

New England Stars The New England Stars were a North Eastern Hockey League (NEHL) team based in Danbury, Connecticut who started play at the end of 2006. The team filled the void when the Danbury Trashers left the Danbury Ice Arena, after the Trashers folded due t ...

;2007–08 *

Copper City Chiefs The Copper City Chiefs were a low-level professional ice hockey team located in Rome, New York. The team was owned by Wayne Premo. Franchise History The Chiefs joined the NEHL as an expansion team for the 2007-2008 season. When the season was ca ...

: ''(

Rome, New York Rome is a city in Oneida County, New York, United States, located in the Central New York, central part of the state. The population was 32,127 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Rome is one of two principal cities in the Utica–Ro ...

)'' *

: ''(

)'' *

Kensington Valley Pounders The Kensington Valley Pounders was a semi-professional ice hockey team in the North Eastern Hockey League. The team was based in Brighton, Michigan in the greater Detroit metropolitan area, and was temporarily known as the Detroit Pounders befor ...

: ''(

Brighton, Michigan Brighton is a city in the Detroit metropolitan area in southeastern Livingston County, Michigan, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,444. Brighton forms part of the South Lyon-Howell-Brighton Urban Area. It is one of ...

)'' *

Norfolk IceCats The Norfolk IceCats were a semi-professional hockey team in the North Eastern Hockey League (NEHL) based in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada owned by Jim Cashman. The franchise was previously known as the York IceCats until a move to St. Catharines, Ontar ...

: ''(

Simcoe, Ontario Simcoe is an unincorporated community#Canada, unincorporated community and former town in Southwestern Ontario, Canada near Lake Erie. It is the county seat and largest community of Norfolk County, Ontario, Norfolk County. Simcoe is at the junct ...

)''

Previous NEHL

A previous league was also known as the

Northeastern Hockey League The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

during the 1978-79 season. This league renamed itself the

Eastern Hockey League The Eastern Hockey League was a minor professional United States ice hockey league. Eastern Amateur Hockey League (1933–1953) The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL). The league was founded by Tommy Lockhart, ...

for the 1979-80 season.

References

External links

NEHL website
{{NAProHockey Sports leagues established in 2003 Defunct ice hockey leagues in the United States Minor league ice hockey 2003 establishments in Canada 2003 establishments in the United States 2008 disestablishments in Canada 2008 disestablishments in the United States Defunct ice hockey leagues in Canada