The Central Hockey League

St. Louis Braves

Wirtz put the Arena ice to good use with his own Blackhawks farm team, the St. Louis Braves, one of the original five teams of the old Central Hockey League. For four seasons between 1963 and 1967. Gus "We've Got a Barn-Burner Tonight" Kyle coached the team to two semifinal tournaments of the old CHL. On the Braves' roster, before St. Louis joined the National Hockey League as the St. Louis Blues, were Phil Esposito and Dennis Hull, Brett Hull's uncle.

The Central Hockey League (1931-1935) was a minor pro league that operated in the northern United States. Some historical sites do not show this league as a separate entity but part of the American Hockey Association. They did play an interlocking schedule in 1935, but were two different leagues. After disbanding in 1935 some of the remaining teams joined the AHA.

The Central Professional Hockey League (1963-69) was a minor league professional hockey in the USA. The league was known as the Central Hockey League as of the 1969-70 season. The original members of the league were the Omaha Knights, Minneapolis Bruins, St Paul Rangers, St Louis Braves (Syracuse moved midseason to become the St. Louis Braves) and Cincinnati Wings (the Cincinnati franchise started in Indianapolis and moved to Cincinnati). The league was a developmental league for the NHL, with five of the six NHL teams being parent clubs in the first year.

The Central Hockey League (1969-1984) was renamed from the Central Professional Hockey League for the 1969-70 season. For the 1972/73 season with only four active teams, the league interlocked their schedule the Western Hockey League. This would lead to the Denver, Salt Lake City, and Seattle franchises joining the CHL for the 1974-75 season when the Western Hockey League folded.

The 1979/80 season saw the merger of the World Hockey Association and the NHL. This benifited the CHL with four of the former WHA cities joining the league. The league continued to struggle with viable franchises finally ending operations in 1984, with Indianapolis and Salt Lake City moving on to join the International Hockey League.

Team moves were common in the CHL. At the end of the 1967 season, the league shortened its name and became the Central Hockey League. However, the original name could still be found on the backs of pucks as late as 1975.

In 1972, the league nearly came to an end. The formation of the WHA drained much of the talent of the league. Boston had also set up a new team close to home in the AHL pulling the plug on the Oklahoma City Blazers. By 1982, the writing was on the wall for the CHL. They lost three of their oldest markets when the Dallas Black Hawks, Oklahoma City Stars and Forth Worth Texans did not start the year. They started with just six teams, two of which were new.

The 1982/83 season was not a good year for the C.H.L.. Cincinnati, Nashville, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Oklahoma City all suspended operations. Two cities did return to the league, Birmingham and Colorado (Denver). The league was now down to six teams. The Indianapolis Checkers went on to repeat as Adams Cup Champions.

The 1983/84 season welcomed its newest and last city, Montana (Billings), to join the C.H.L.. Wichita and Birmingham both ceased operations in the league. This brought the league down to five teams. The United States Olympic Team and the Canadian Olympic Team both played ten games in the league that year. Tulsa ceased operations on Febuary 16, 1984, but the C.H.L. took over the operations of the team. The C.H.L. Oilers played the final six weeks of the season and playoffs as a road team. Scott MacLeod, of the Salt Lake City Golden Eagles, set a league record that year with 75 assists. On April 27, 1984, The C.H.L. Oilers (Tulsa) went on to win their third Adams Cup Championship. This was the last game ever played in the "old" C.H.L. The C.H.L. as a league ceased operations on May 21, 1984. Salt Lake City and Indianapolis went on to join the I.H.L., while Montana and Colorado ceased operations.

The roots of the CHL go back to the old Eastern Professional Hockey League created by the NHL in 1959. The league essentially converted Senior Hockey teams in Ontario and Quebec into professional teams. What the NHL was looking for was a place to put many of their top players without interference. At that time, AHL and WHL teams were much more independent than they are now and the NHL wanted more control over the development of their players.

New Central Hockey League (CHL) came into being in 1992 as the brainchild of Bill Levins and Ray Miron, a recipient of the Lester Patrick Award for services to hockey from the NHL. When Bill passed, the championship trophy was named after him, then changed to the Ray Miron President's Cup after Miron's retirement.

The Central Hockey League continues to build on a tradition of outstanding competition and entertainment first established in the early 90’s. In the CHL’s first four seasons of play, the CHL had the unique distinction of centralized ownership. Now, all of the CHL’s current 15 teams are operated independently.

Arguably the most significant change over the past 13 years came in May of 2001, as the Central and Western Professional Hockey Leagues joined forces at a press conference in Oklahoma City that combined the top markets within both organizations under the CHL banner. The merger has been highly successful, with the CHL reaching several significant attendance marks in each of the past four seasons, including nearly 2.3 million fans in the 2004-2005 campaign. Since 1992, over 32 million total fans have visited CHL and WPHL arenas, and the CHL is proud to have led all "AA” professional hockey leagues in average attendance for four consecutive seasons.

Today, the CHL remains focused on continued expansion in conjunction with new facilities in new markets, building on the tremendous success experienced by our three most recent expansion clubs. The Laredo Bucks (2002), Colorado Eagles (2003) and Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (2003) have all enjoyed outstanding fan, corporate and media support while playing in new venues. This year the CHL welcomes its newest expansion club, the Youngstown SteelHounds, hoping to achieve similar success, and in 2006-2007 the CHL will welcome two additional expansion teams, with both Broomfield, Colorado and Prescott Valley, Arizona on schedule to open new facilities. The CHL’s long time New Mexico franchise also returns in 2006-2007, with the Scorpions moving to a new facility in Rio Rancho.

The CHL also is continuing to build as a development league, furthering relationships with both the National and American Hockey Leagues to continue to develop players, administrators and officials for the higher level leagues. Under the guidance of CHL President Brad Treliving, Commissioner Emeritus N. Thomas Berry and the CHL Board of Directors (consisting of Horn Chen, Rick Kozuback and Brad Lund) the CHL is committed to continuing to grow and develop our product and game.

The Tulsa Oilers are in the 17-team Central Hockey League, which was re-formed in 1992. The Oilers are one of only five teams that have played each season in the CHL since 1992. The Oilers are competing in the Northeast Division with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, Memphis River Kings, and Youngstown SteelHounds. The Oilers have a winning tradition in making the playoffs, including the 1992-93 season, when they won the inaugural CHL Championship over the Oklahoma City Blazers.

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