With the OHL Brampton Battalion moving to North Bay Ontario for the 2013-2014 season the City of Brampton was anxcious to secure another hockey franchise. Today that franchise has been secured in what many will say is an unlikely league.
Welcome the Central Hockey League to Brampton. The minor pro circuit will make its entry into Brampton next season after recieving approval on a lease with the Powerade Centre. The new franchise has until the end of the month to finalize the lease agreement. City officials and Realstar Group, owners of the Powerade Centre, were in negotiations yesterday trying to iron out their part of the 15-year lease agreement.
Brampton’s CHL franchise will be guided by George Rosen, owner of Kimco Steel and the former owner of the Kingston Voyageurs, and Cory and Amelia Caplan, former owners of the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs who now run Cosmos Sports, a Toronto sports management firm.
With the addition of Brampton and St. Charles Missouri, the CHL is up to 12 teams for the 2013-2014 season. Rumors in the pro hockey community say that the CHL may have one or two more new franchises to announce shortly.
TJHN will update this story tomorrow as it relates to junior hockey.
