Hello everyone,
I figure it is about time to provide an update on our expansion process as we are getting close to introducing our two new franchises to the league and doing our alignment for the upcoming season(s).
The week of January 24th is the date - we will unveil the new teams to the league. The following week we will then allow them to announce their first-ever head coach from the list of coaches currently looking for work in the CCHL.
Following that, we will have a drawing that assigns either the Canosa or Corfield Conference to our new members, and the week after that - we will announce our four division names for the following season. While these will honor hockey history (but not CCHL history), we are confident that you'll love the old-school flavor our executive committee has chosen for the 4 divisions.
With the divisions now named; a must to assign teams to them, we can then assign our teams to the divisions and we can begin to see what teams we are going to hate starting next season (as if you already don't hate Sudbury enough!).
Following that, we'll get into announcing the draft lottery odds (a bit re-vamped with expansion) and the regular season should conclude on March 8th. Following that we'll do the draft lottery to determine who picks first in the 2022 Shane Wright, errr CCHL Entry Draft.
Really there is a whole lot more happening but I'm excited as I believe it is probably going to be a very exciting bunch of months for the CCHL as a whole.
Expansion throws in a new wrinkle that none of us have had to deal with before in this league while providing a much-needed cash injection.
As commissioner, I cannot tell you how happy our free-agent players and agents are as well. I take calls daily from the agents of Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo expressing excitement about their players getting an opportunity next year with expansion, or on an existing CCHL roster. They've been honing their skills this past season and both look the best they have in years. While their contracts may not have been great the last season or two, they'll definitely add value to a team next year with more employment spaces opening up!
I'll leave a full tentative schedule at the bottom of this blog so you can see what it looks like going forward as it'll be a busy but important few months for the league!
Enjoy Monday's trade deadline and remember, you can't win sitting on your wallet or draft picks!
-The Commish
Tentative Schedule for expansion and up to the draft.
Week of Jan 24 - teams announced/intro to the league
Super job Matt!
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