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The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Until 2013, it was owned by Global Entertainment Corporation, at which point it was purchased by the individual franchise owners. As of the end of its final season in 2014, three of the 30 National Hockey League teams had affiliations with the CHL: the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, and Tampa Bay Lightning. Several teams of defunct leagues joined the CHL along its history, most notably the Southern Hockey League, Western Professional Hockey League and International Hockey League. After two teams suspended operations during the 2014 offseason, the remaining seven were accepted as members of the ECHL in October 2014, meaning the end for the CHL after 22 seasons.〔 ==History== The Central Hockey League (CHL) was revived in 1992 by Ray Miron and the efforts of Bill Levins, with the idea of central ownership of both the league and the teams. Both men were from hockey backgrounds. Miron had been general manager of the Colorado Rockies (now the New Jersey Devils), and had briefly been president of the previous Central Hockey League in 1976. In the inaugural 1992–93 season the league had six teams, including the Oklahoma City Blazers, the Tulsa Oilers, the Wichita Thunder, the Memphis RiverKings, the Dallas Freeze and the Fort Worth Fire. The Thunder and the Oilers are the last of the league's original teams extant. In 1996–97 the Huntsville Channel Cats, along with the planned 1996–97 Southern Hockey League expansion teams Columbus Cottonmouths, Macon Whoopee, and Nashville Nighthawks, joined the Central Hockey League following the SHL's demise. After Levins died, the league's championship trophy (awarded to the winner of the CHL playoffs) was renamed the Levins Cup. After running the league for eight years, Miron retired in 2000 and sold the league. The Levins Cup was renamed the Ray Miron President's Cup. After experiments in expansion and an ongoing battle for players and markets with the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) throughout the late 1990s, the CHL merged with the WPHL in 2001, with 10 former WPHL teams joining the CHL for the 2001–02 season. However, several years of gradual contraction in the former WPHL markets claimed most of these teams in the ensuing years. The last active former WPHL team, the Fort Worth Brahmas, effectively ceased operations following the 2012–13 season. Subsequently, in 2010, the International Hockey League folded and all five remaining IHL teams joined the CHL. As of the end of the 2013–14 season only the Quad City Mallards remain from the former IHL. Brad Treliving, who co-founded the WPHL in 1996, became CHL commissioner following the merger, before leaving to join the Phoenix Coyotes. Duane Lewis was named the permanent commissioner in June 2008. In October 2013, the CHL appointed former president of the Pittsburgh Penguins Steve Ryan to succeed Lewis. On March 8, 2013, the Central Hockey League announced an expansion team in Brampton, Ontario. The Brampton Beast would become the first Canadian team in the CHL's history. In October 2013, the Central Hockey League was purchased from Global Entertainment by all the team owners, putting the CHL business model in line with that of the NHL and AHL. On May 2, 2014 the St. Charles Chill ceased operations. Soon after, the Arizona Sundogs and Denver Cutthroats "suspended operations, effective immediately, and will not compete in the 2014-15 season. The teams will look to secure additional investors with the hope of returning for the 2015-16 campaign." On October 7, 2014, it was announced that the ECHL would absorb the Central Hockey League's remaining seven teams to begin play for the 2014–15 season, officially signaling the end of the CHL. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Central Hockey League」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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