The comings and goings of the Federal Hockey League

Lots has been happening in the FHL, here's an update.

The Federal Hockey League continues to entertain with questionable press releases, a strange expansion draft, a disappearing reappearing club, and its expansion into tiny arenas.

The New Jersey Outlaws were welcomed into the league as an expansion franchise that will play out of the 600 seat Ice Vault in Wayne, NJ. The Outlaws joined the Danville Dashers and Green Mountain Rock Crushers as new expansion franchises. Pay close attention to the word expansion.

All of a sudden a website resembling a elementary school project popped up for a team in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The Niagara Falls Nationals appeared out of nowhere and didn't even have an official press release on the FHL website but listed themselves as the new franchise in the FHL.

No Joke, first Niagara Falls Nationals website

Prior to this the Rome Frenzy announced they were not returning next season and an article appeared in the Rome Sentinel confirming this. But wait, an article appeared in the Standard Freeholder stating that Rome had relocated to Niagara Falls and was in fact the Niagara Falls Nationals.Then another twist in the story as the Niagara Falls Nationals announced on their updated website that a "Block Buster" (sic) trade was completed with the Rome Frenzy.

The Nats. grabbed a bunch of scoring talent today in trades with the Rome Frenzy. Second in league scoring Tibor Varga went to the Nats along with the leagues leading goal scorer Vincent Nucci. Top offensive defensemen Leland Fidler also joined the scoring talent of the Nats.Tough Blueliner Kyle Roberts joined the talented crew along with centermen Jose Vasquez who can also put the puck in the net and the quick youngster from Sweden Niklas Agid rounded out the big trade. This team is going for offense.

Now why would a relocated franchise complete a trade with themselves? Case of split personality disorder? And who is writing their press releases?!

Gale Centre - Home to the Niagara Falls Nationals

A couple of weeks ago the expansion franchise out of Vermont, Green Mountain Rock Crushers, vanished from the "Teams" tab on the league website and the Crushers website disappeared from the Internet. But then it appeared again after a couple of days and the club announced that their free agent camp, which starts this weekend, will also be attended by several of the FHL clubs.

On June 7, the league announced that an expansion draft had been completed by the expansion franchises. Five rounds were completed and 15 players were selected. The teams that participated in the draft were: Danville Dashers, New Jersey Outlaws, and the Niagara Falls Nationals. Notice that the Niagara Falls Nationals were classified as an expansion franchise. Also notice that the Green Mountain Rock Crushers were left out of the draft which was a club that was officially announced on the league website as an expansion franchise. No announcement as to why.

The Cape Cod Barons are now called the Cape Cod Bluefins. Great name, but it seems the team is keeping the old colour scheme and logo of the Barons. I certainly hope they change the colours and logo because "Bluefins" don't correlate with a man in a top hat and the colour purple.

The league announced interest in the Lewiston, Maine market when the Maineiacs of Quebec Major Junior Hockey League made it known that the team might be leaving town. An article in the Maine Hockey Journal appeared in March stating the FHL's interest and in June the Maineiacs officially announced that they had been purchased by the QMJHL  and will no longer exist. So the FHL decided to re-post the Maine Hockey Journal article on their website in June after announcing the league had partnered with the online news website; ProHockeyNews.com. Nice way to show your new partner appreciation.

The league will be holding their annual general meeting on June 21 and hope to release the league schedule after. That leaves only ten days to get a deal finalized in Lewiston while the league also said it was planning on putting franchises out west to ease travel costs on the lonely Danville (Illinois) Dashers.