The Eastern Professional Hockey League (EPHL) was a low-level professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

league. The league was developed by Curtis Russell, Tim Kolpien, Igor Mrotchek, and Jim Riggs, the former commissioner of the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League in 2007.

League history

Jim Riggs was hired to become the commissioner of the EPHL after being the commissioner of three leagues that folded. In October 2008, weeks before the first games were scheduled, two franchises (the

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-based

Copper City Chiefs The North Eastern Hockey League was a semi-professional ice hockey 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 ...

and the

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-based New Hampshire Freeze) were replaced by the Hudson Valley Bears, based in

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and

Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a City (New York), city in Orange County, New York, United States. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Kiryas Joel–Poughkeepsie–Newburgh metropolitan area. ...

. The four-team league played the 2008–09 season with the Brooklyn Aces winning the regular season title. The Aces lost a three-game championship series to the Jersey Rockhoppers, two games to one. Average league attendance was 821. The Hyannis Storm were announced as an expansion team to begin play in the 2009–10 season, however, Dan Adams, the chief investor of the Storm, said he would not be moving forward with bringing the team to the Hyannis Youth and Community Center that year. On April 10, 2009, Curtis Russell became President of the EPHL after Tim Kolpien resigned. The Eastern Professional Hockey League did not return for a second season. Mad Hatters principal owner and former EPHL president Tim Kolpien all but acknowledged the minor ice hockey league no longer exists. "Frustrating to say, but no consensus or agreement has been reached," Kolpien said by e-mail, "But given where we are on the calendar, I don't see any way the Mad Hatters or EPHL can play in 2009–10.

2008–09 season

Standings

Teams

The league had four teams located in the Northeast portion of the

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Champions by year

2008–09 — Jersey Rockhoppers: On March 28, 2009, the Jersey Rockhoppers won the first EPHL Championship with a 4–1 victory over the Brooklyn Aces at the Aviator Arena in Brooklyn, New York. Jersey prevailed in Game 3 of the Finals, winning two straight after dropping the series opener.

Awards

*2008–09 MVP Nick Niedert, Goaltender, Jersey *2008–09 Rookie of the Year C.J. Tozzo, Forward, Brooklyn *2008–09 Defensemen of the Year Nick Grove, Jersey and Chris Clark Hudson Valley, co-winners *2008–09 Finals MVP Chris Ferazzoli, Forward, Jersey

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastern Professional Hockey League (2008-2009) Defunct ice hockey leagues in the United States Minor league ice hockey 2008–09 in American ice hockey by league