Time to get out the old scorecards to track who is participating in the 2008-2009 season for the minor-league EPHL: Hudson Valley is in; Rome Copper City is gone forever; and the New Hampshire Freeze is frozen.
Time to get out the old scorecards to track who is participating in the 2008-2009 season for the minor-league Eastern Professional Hockey League: Hudson Valley is in; Rome Copper City is gone forever; and the New Hampshire Freeze is frozen.
The Hudson Valley Bears will join the league as a new team playing out of the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and the Ice Time Sports Complex in Newburgh , N.Y. The team will announce its head coach and first player signings as well as website, contact, schedule and ticket information in the coming week.
"A Bears team playing in the Hudson Valley fits perfectly into our geographic footprint," said EPHL Commissioner Jim Riggs. "It fits nicely into our business model. Both the Mid-Hudson Civic Center and the Ice Time Sports Complex are classic hockey arenas which should produce an electric atmosphere. The management at both facilities has been very cooperative and helpful in working to get the team on the ice this season."
The Bears will play 25 home games as part of a 50 game EPHL regular season schedule, with ticket prices starting at $8. The Bears will open the season on the road Saturday, November 1, visiting the Danbury Mad Hatters.
In other league news, owner Wayne Premo has folded the Rome Copper City Chiefs team. The league also announced that the New Hampshire Freeze team will postpone its debut until the 2009-10 EPHL season.
Owner Douglas Yasika has informed the league that the Freeze would not play this season and asked to be removed from the schedule. Yasika cited the recent loss of the team’s major investor as the reason for the postponement.
