Junior Hockey Blog has a rundown on a recent interview with new NAHL commish Eric Krupka. I'll preface these comments by saying that Krupka was hired as more of a "business first" type guy, which the NAHL probably needed. Anyway, if you read between the lines in his comments, you might notice that he kinda mentions contracting some teams in the league:
The league was the best when it was 12 teams. I would like to have just 12 teams in our league
Ok, maybe you don't have to read too closely between the lines.
He gives a glowing report of one team in the league:
Some teams aren’t run right, they’re in the wrong market. For example, Santa Fe is not a market that’s going to work for hockey.
Ouch. It's never a good sign for your franchise when your commissioner's first interview talks about getting rid of you. It's probably not a terrible idea though. I like the idea of a lot more getting kids having the opportunity to play hockey post-high school, but it's probably not financially feasible at this point.
I can only imagine what the rest of the cutdown process will be like.
"So Bismarck, what is it ya do here?
The news is a little cheerier in the USHL. They recently decided against adding another team, but things are going pretty well for them.
Things got even better this week when it was announced that Omaha will play 10 games on ESPNU this season. I think this is a great move in terms of exposure for the USHL, and great for college hockey fans who will get to see the future of college hockey.
Of course there's the problem that nobody gets ESPNU. It just makes you wonder what would have happened if, instead of flushing millions down the toilet with the ridiculous ESPN Mobile, which ESPN finally euthanized last week, they put some of that money towards making sure ESPNU could be seen around the country, or at least in more college hockey markets.
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