May 5, 2016
HomeJunior HockeyMidwest teams move into USPHL Divisions

Midwest teams move into USPHL Divisions

By  Junior Hockey, United States Premier Hockey League-Midwest  0 Comments

After a season-long audition, the United States Premier Hockey league Midwest teams are officially entering USPHL Divisions for the 2016-17 season.

A group of 17 teams from the former Minnesota Junior Hockey League and Midwest Junior Hockey League merged over the summer of 2015 to form the USPHL Midwest which played its own season with its top teams entering the USP3HL for the post season.

At a recent league meeting it was announced nine teams from that division will move into the USPHL Elite Division for the upcoming 2016-17 season while the remaining eight — along with the Ironwood Fighting Yoopers, a former MnJHL team that sat out this past season — will play in the USP3HL.

The new Midwest Division of the USPHL will include in alphabetical order are: Blaine Energy, Chicago Cougars, Dells Ducks, Detroit Fighting Irish, Forest Lake Lakers, Illiana Blackbirds, St. Croix Valley Magicians, Steele County Blades and Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings.

The Elite Division of the USPHL already includes a recently expanded East Division with 11 teams primarily from the New England states and into upstate New York along with a nine-team Southern Division that includes clubs stretching along the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Florida.

The remaining nine USPHL teams: Alpena Flyers, Decatur Blaze, Ironwood Yoopers, Kalkaska Rhinos, Marquette Royales, Michigan Wild, Motor City Hawks, Traverse City Hounds and Tri City Icehawks will stay as official teams in the USP3HL Division which also includes an Eastern Division with a half dozen teams and an 11-team Southern Division.

Each the USPHL Elite and USP3 game schedules will consist of 44 regular season games.  Of which, between eight and 12 will be played in a showcase format.  Cross-division games will allow for scouts to directly compare players and teams from the North, South, and Midwest divisions.  At the same time, traditional matchups within each division will continue to focus on building healthy rivalries and league parity.
The announcement comes on the heels of the Hobey Baker Award ceremony, in which Harvard’s Jimmy Vesey became the second USPHL alumni to win the award in as many years.  In 2015, the honor went to Junior Bruins alumnus Jack Eichel.
Two other major college hockey awards were also presented to USPHL alumni. Matt Vidal (Bay State Breakers) was named the winner of the Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award, and Chris Dylewski (Tampa Bay Juniors) was presented with the Hockey Humanitarian Award, honoring college hockey’s finest citizen.
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jimmerdenhollander@gmail.com

Born and raised in Ontario, Canada and moved to the state of Wisconsin in my late 30's. I worked at various newspapers and magazines in various sports positions for 25 years before changing careers five years ago. Now I am streamlining my focus on hockey only and in particular, all levels of hockey in the American Midwest.

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