Last Thursday in an attempt to settle the east coast junior hockey situation, USA Hockey had an emergency meeting with many of the partys involved. Boston was the site, and the only thing missing was the tea party.
The USPHL seeking to form their own league has reportedly obtained USA Hockey sanctioning. The EJHL will merge with the AJHL forming the Eastern Atlantic Junior Hockey League. The Eastern States League has been absorbed by the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League. The Empire is still the Empire.
It also looks as though the USPHL will have a “B” league and possibly use other teams under their ownership as “C” teams.
Confused still? You should be.
The best part of this mess is that there has been no deals signed making any of this official.
Today one source said; “This is still a cluster ####. Nothing officially got done. They say paperwork will come in a few days, but who knows.”
Another source said; “USA Hockey doesnt care about anything other than the NTDP and the eight million they get from the NHL. This has gone on way to long.”
The USHL also threw some gas on the fire yesterday when drafting. Traditionally the USHL has loaded up with Mid West based players and the draft this year had a very strong eastern player presence.
The choice now for players in the east will be to attend USHL camps or the eastern camps. With all the confusion in the east, players will likely go USHL, and eastern teams may see a dramatic drop in the available player pool.
Players have already begun looking outside of the east coast for next season. A large number of eastern based players attended the TJHN pre draft showcase last weekend and many are receiving offers to play in the mid west this year. Several are already accepting offers simply to get out of the east coast mess.
TJHN will update this story as it continues to develop.
