2011-12 Season Soon to be Underway

 Picture from: http://icegators.com/

Like many other 'Gator fans out there, we too are anxiously awaiting the 2011-12 SPHL season.

(Frozen Chomp) Today is the first day of IceGators training camp! Before we get this season underway, let's look at what has happened during the off-season.

NEW LEAGUE

One of the most talked about things to happen during the off-season is the emergence of the new Federal Hockey League (FHL). Like the SPHL, the FHL is a Single-A hockey league. Therefore, there will be a never ending fight between the two leagues over players in hopes that one of the teams can emerge as the premier Single-A league.

In order to safeguard their better players, the SPHL introduced a new league-wide ruling which prevents any player on the protected list, as of the end of last season, from returning to the SPHL if they appear in as little as one FHL game.

Even though the SPHL has been around since 2004 and is a well established Single-A league, former SPHL players have signed with FHL teams because the league is offering the players more money than the SPHL teams are. One important thing to note is that the FHL team arenas, on average, are significantly smaller than the SPHL arenas. This raises the question: Will the FHL make enough money to compensate the players as promised? Only time will tell.

SPHL LEAGUE OVERVIEW

Tim Kerr, the owner of the Ice Flyers,  acquired the defending SPHL Champions, the Mississippi Surge in the off-season. Kerr's first move as the owner of the Surge was to fire the championship coach/GM/part-owner, Stephan Walby. Many of Walby's former players have decided not to return to the Surge, many of them deciding to test the waters of the FHL.

The SPHL gained its 9th franchise, the Mississippi Riverkings, formerly of the CHL. This team is very stable, having been around for almost two decades. This team was once the home of the IceGators coach, Killer Kaminski  and General Manager, Louis Dumont, so this should be an instant rivalry for the 'Gators. With its rich history, the Riverkings bring much to the SPHL. Like the Surge, they too have also fired their head coach and appointed longtime veteran defenseman, Derek Landmesser as their new leader. Their training camp roster has six IceGators from the 2010-11 season; Scott Darling (Goalie), Paul D'Agostino (D), Gentry Zollars (D), Ryan Ramage (D), Trevor Kraz (Veteran Center), and Nick Vandenbeld (F).

This week opens the IceGators training camp. We'll outline the training camp roster later in the week.