Minor League - Ice Hockey

Ice Hockey

The sport with the next most extensive system of minor league teams other than baseball is ice hockey. In North America, between 1988 and 2005, 233 minor professional ice hockey teams played in a total of 160 cities in 13 minor professional leagues. The vast majority of these teams played in the United States, with only 21 of these teams based in Canadian cities. 123 of these minor professional teams played in the southern United States. One reason given for the large number of American based teams is that minor league franchises will frequently move from city to city, and even between leagues. In contrast, Canadian cities more commonly host junior ice hockey teams, which operate at a semi-professional level and develop teenage prospects prior to their move to the professional leagues.

The American Hockey League is the most prominent of the minor hockey leagues in North America.

Current Minor Leagues

• American Hockey League (AHL)
• ECHL (formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League)
• Central Hockey League (CHL)
• Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL)
• Federal Hockey League (FHL)
• Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey (LNAH)

Former Minor Leagues

• Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL), now part of the Southern Professional Hockey League
• International Hockey League (IHL), merged into the American Hockey League
• International Hockey League (2007) (IHL), formerly the United Hockey League and Colonial Hockey League, now part of the Central Hockey League
• South East Hockey League (SEHL), now part of the Southern Professional Hockey League
• World Hockey Association 2 (WHA2), now part of the Southern Professional Hockey League
• West Coast Hockey League (WCHL), merged into the ECHL
• Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL). merged into the Central Hockey League

All National Hockey League teams have a farm team in the American Hockey League and often share a team in the ECHL. On "the farm" the NHL team will develop young players and, occasionally, rehabilitate older players who are injured or whose quality of play has slumped. These teams, in turn, have lower-level minor leagues to draw players from and pass players down to. Minor ice hockey leagues should not be confused with Junior or Senior ice hockey leagues. They are different in that minor professional hockey leagues do not have restrictions on the age or experience levels of their players, but Junior and Senior leagues do.