Colonial Hockey League History

COLONIAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

(1991 - 1997)

While the professional game was rapidly growing in the United States, the Senior game was all but dead in Canada unable to attract players interested in playing amateur hockey. In 1991, Colonial Hockey League was formed as a Semi-Professional League centered in Ontario and Michigan. They were able to tap into a couple of Ontario Senior towns (Brantford and Thunder Bay) and a few US centers abandoned by the International Hockey League. Certainly humble beginnings....

In its second season, all five charter franchises returned. In addition were expansion teams in Chatham and Muskegon. Once again, the league moved into a former IHL town and into a former Ontario Senior hotbed.

For it's third season, the Flint Bulldogs reloated to Utica. However, the Flint market was not left vacant as the expansion Flint Generals started up. The league was now up to eight franchises.

In 1994, the St. Thomas Wildcats relocated to London, Ontario. The new London team had struck a tentative affiliation with the St. Louis Blues. At the last minute, the partnership fell apart and the London team retained the Wildcat name. Also, the Chatham Wheels moved into Saginaw, Michigan, another vacant IHL town. Utica renamed their team the Blizzard and Thunder Bay struck a deal with the Ottawa Senators and changed their name to that of their parent club.

In 1995, the league temporarily lost their first franchise. The London Wildcats suspended operations for a year. They returned the following season as the Dayton Ice Bandits (Yet another former IHL town). The league did not actually drop in size since they also added two more expansion teams in the Madison Monsters and Quad City Mallards. The expansion beyond the leagues initial geographical area was a significant step as the league was now an established low level professional league.

In 1996, Thunder Bay dropped their Senators name in favor of the Thunder Cats while the Saginaw Wheels changed their name to the Lumber Kings. The Detroit Falcons became the Port Huron Border Cats (Another former IHL town) and Dayton returned to the league increasing the number of teams to ten.

This marked the last year for the Colonial Hockey League as they opted to change their name to the United Hockey League in 1997.