Heading into the second week of June, the recently minted CIHL is beginning to announce teams.
The newly sanctioned league under the Amateur Athletic Union has previously announced the Espanola Rivermen formerly of the NOJHL, and the Colborne Cramahe Hawks.
TJHN has now learned that the CIHL will place its third team in Milton Ontario and play its games out of John Tonelli Sports Centre. The team will be named the Milton Battle Arts Cobras.
The Milton Battle Arts Cobras will be playing in the John Tonelli Sports Centre which is rather ironic since John Tonelli is one of the iconic players that have graduated from the Milton Icehawks program.
For those who are not familiar with the Milton Icehawks, the team has been in existence in Milton Ontario, since 1966. A member of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, the Icehawks were eliminated in the OJHL playoff quarter finals in the 2013-2014 season.
While the markets of Colborne and Espanola have no other competition in the form of junior hockey when it comes to selling tickets, and sponsorships. The Battle Arts Cobras will be going head to head with a long standing OJHL franchise for fans and sponsor dollars in the Milton marketplace.
The CIHL is expected to announce three more teams in the coming weeks. Meanwhile Leagues across Canada and the United States have been recruiting and signing players for well over a month now.
Certainly, any team, in any league, has to be up and running in order to be ready to compete in 2014-2015. With less than 90 days before players will begin reporting to their new teams for next season, it is expected that these announcements would be made this week.
TJHN will update this story as more information becomes available.
