United States Premier Hockey League

United States Premier Hockey League

Sport	Ice Hockey
Founded	2012
CEO	Richard Gallant
Commissioner	Jeff Nygaard
No. of teams	61 organizations
Country	United States
Most recent champion(s)	Jersey Hitmen (Premier) Hampton Roads Whalers (Elite) Dells Ducks (USP3/Midwest)
Official website	USPHL.com

The United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) is an American ice hockey league. Founded in 2012, the USPHL has grown to over 60 organizations from across the United States fielding teams in Premier, Elite, USP3, 18U, 16U, 16U Futures, and High Performance Youth divisions.

USA Hockey classifies the Premier, Elite, and USP3 Divisions as Tier III junior hockey leagues. 18U, 16U and 16U Futures divisions are Tier I youth hockey divisions. All divisions are sanctioned by USA Hockey.^[1]

History

The league was originally founded with three divisions (Premier, 18U and 16U), but on June 6, 2013, it was announced that the USPHL would absorb the Empire Junior Hockey League (becoming the Empire Division) and the newly formed Eastern Elite Hockey League (becoming the Elite Division). With the additions, the USPHL added 16 organizations to the original 15.

On March 7, 2014, the USPHL announced the formation of the 16U Futures (16UF) Division.^[2] The division is guided for players who aspire to play midget hockey, but are not yet ready for the 16U Division. Eight organizations field teams in the 16UF Division for the 2014-15 season.

During the 2014 off-season the USPHL lost the New York Applecore (Empire), but added the Providence Capitals (Elite & 16U), Jersey Shore Whalers (Empire), and the Richmond Generals (Elite, Empire) organizations to increase the total number of organizations to 35 headed into the 2014–15 season.

The USPHL announced on December 18, 2014 the formation of a Midwest Division to begin in the 2015–16 season by adding several teams from the Minnesota Junior Hockey League.^[3] By the end of the season, the Midwest Division would add all but one active MnJHL team causing the MnJHL to disband for the following season. On March 10, 2015, the USPHL also added the entire Midwest Junior Hockey League to its new Midwest Division for the 2015–16 season.^[4] USPHL Midwest became the fourth Tier III division under the USPHL umbrella.

The changes for the 2015–16 continued into April when the New York Aviators announced their decision to leave the USPHL and join the NA3EHL. The USPHL promptly re-assigned the Aviator franchise to Rye, New York and was renamed to the New York Dragons.^[5] In early April 2015, the Empire Division would expand to Daytona, Florida with the Daytona Racers. Also in April, it was announced the Empire Division would be renamed as the USP3 Division. In late April 2015, the Charlotte Rush was announced as an expansion franchise by adding two teams, one in the Elite Division and one in the USP3. The Wooster Oilers from the former MnJHL decided against fielding two Tier III teams and dropped their membership in the USPHL Midwest and would only play in the North American 3 Hockey League. Initially announced with 22 member teams, the new Midwest Division saw a number of teams cease operations prior to the 2015–16 season including the Indiana Attack, Ironwood Fighting Yoopers, Minnesota Owls, Soo Firehawks, and St. Louis Storm due to lack of players. The Midwest Division did not have its own championship playoffs, but instead the top two teams in each conference from the Midwest and USP3 Divisions played for a single championship.

On January 14, 2016, the league announced the formation of a High Performance Youth Division for the upcoming 2016–17 season. The new division will add 14 and under (Bantams), 12 and under (Peewees), along with 10 and under (Squirts) to the USPHL umbrella. Charter members of the High Performance Youth Division will include the New Jersey Rockets, Hartford Junior Wolfpack, Jersey Hitmen, and P.A.L. Jr. Islanders. In late April, the USPHL announced that the Elite and USP3 Divisions were expanding by splitting the teams from the one-year-old Midwest Division into the Elite and USP3 platforms.^[6] More changes came on May 20, 2016, when the USPHL added the four remaining teams from the former Northern Pacific Hockey League to the USP3 as a Pacific Division.^[7] Before the start of the season, the loss of the Illiana Blackbirds (Elite), Michigan Wild (USP3), and Marquette Royales (USP3) was offset by the additions of Team Beijing (Elite), another team from the New York Aviators organization (Elite), and the return of the Ironwood Fighting Yoopers (USP3).

In October 2016, the USPHL announced it had applied to USA Hockey for approval to start a Tier II junior league for the 2017–18 season. The proposed Tier II USPHL division was announced to consist of 11 teams, seven from organizations in the USPHL Premier, the newly added Rochester Monarchs, and the Boston Bandits, New Jersey Rockets, and Northern Cyclones from the Eastern Hockey League.^[8] At the time, the only USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier II league is the North American Hockey League.

Member teams

The USPHL consists of Premier, Elite, USP3, 18U, 16U, 16U Futures, and High Performance Youth divisions with organizations located on the East Coast, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest United States.

Champions

*2016 Championship series was held between the new Midwest Division and the re-branded USP3 Division (formerly named Empire Division) for a single champion won by the Midwest's Dells Ducks

Former teams

• Adirondack Jr. Wings— (2013–15, Empire/16U/16U Futures Divisions) Team ceased operations prior to 2015–16 season; also fielded youth teams for one more season.^[10]
• Bay State Breakers— (2013–15, Premier Division) Premier franchise sold to the Syracuse Stars organization; continues to field their Elite Division and youth teams.^[11]
• Brewster Bulldogs— (2013–15, Empire Division) Formerly in the Empire Junior Hockey League; continues to field their EHL 19U Elite team that was formerly in Metropolitan Junior Hockey League until 2016.
• Florida Bulldogs— (2013–15, Elite Division) Formerly called the Space Coast Jr. Hurricanes when the organization joined from the Eastern Elite Hockey League and for the 2013–14 USPHL season; merged with the Roswell Bulldogs organization in April 2014 and played under that name for the 2014–15 season; renamed Florida Bulldogs prior to the 2015–16 season but ceased operation due to lack of players after one game, an 8-2 loss to the Palm Beach Hawks.^[12]
• Frederick Freeze– (2013–16, Empire/USP3 Division) Formerly in the Empire Junior Hockey League, removed from USP3 schedule in September 2016.
• Illiana Blackbirds– (2015–16, Midwest Division) Based out of Dyer, Indiana; joined from the Minnesota Junior Hockey League in 2015; merged into the Elite Division for 2016–17 but ceased operations prior to scheduling.
• Indiana Attack— Announced team for 2015–16 season in the Midwest Division; formerly the Fort Wayne Federals of the Minnesota Junior Hockey League; canceled their opening night game against the Alpena Flyers one day before it was scheduled and ceased operations.^[13]
• Ironwood Fighting Yoopers— Announced team for 2015–16 season in the Midwest Division; formerly in the Minnesota Junior Hockey League; took leave of absence prior to first season. The team has been announced to return as part of the USP3 in 2016–17.
• Jersey Wildcats— (2013–15, Empire Division) formerly in the Empire Junior Hockey League; continues to field a team in the North American 3 Atlantic Hockey League (formerly called the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League).
• Marquette Royales– (2015–16, Midwest Division) Formerly in the Minnesota Junior Hockey League, moved to the USP3 Division in 2016 but was removed from the schedule prior to the 2016–17 season.
• Michigan Wild– (2015–16, Midwest Division) Joined from the Midwest Junior Hockey League as the Michigan Ice Dogs but were renamed the Wild prior to their first season in the USPHL; joined the USP3 Division in 2016 but were removed from the schedule less than one week before the start of the season.
• Minnesota Owls— Announced team for 2015–16 season in the Midwest Division; formerly in the Minnesota Junior Hockey League; took leave of absence prior to first season.^[14]
• New York Apple Core— (2013–14, Empire Division) Formerly in the Empire Junior Hockey League; continues to field their Eastern Hockey League teams.
• New York Aviators— (2013–15, Empire Division) The organization decided to play in the North American 3 Eastern Hockey League and the Empire franchise was reassigned to the New York Dragons. The Aviators returned to the USPHL with an Elite Division and youth teams in 2016. The former NA3EHL team became the Long Island Sharks in the North American 3 Hockey League.
• New York Dragons– Announced team for the 2015–16 season in the USP3 Division with the franchise rights from the previous New York Aviators but appears to have dropped from the division prior to the season.
• Portland Jr. Pirates— (2013–16, Premier/Elite/18U Divisions) Based out of Saco, Maine. Not listed by USPHL in 2016 but continues to operate youth hockey programs outside the USPHL umbrella.
• Providence Capitals— (2014–16, Elite/18U/16U Divisions)
• Rochester Jr. Americans— (2013–16, Premier/Elite/18U Divisions) Replaced by the Rochester Monarchs organization.
• SCV Magicians— (2015–16, Midwest Division) Joined as the Hudson Crusaders of Hudson, Wisconsin, from the Minnesota Junior Hockey League in 2015; rebranded prior to their first season in the USPHL and relocated mid-season to Vadnais Heights, Minnesota; relocated again in 2016 to become the River Falls Renegades in River Falls, Wisconsin.
• Soo Firehawks— Announced team for 2015–16 season in the Midwest Division; formerly in the Midwest Junior Hockey League; ceased operations prior to first season.^[15]
• St. Louis Storm— Announced team for 2015–16 season in the Midwest Division; formerly the St. Louis Frontenacs of the Minnesota Junior Hockey League; ceased operations prior to first season.^[16]
• Team Comcast— (2014–15, 18U/16U Divisions) Youth teams associated with the Philadelphia Flyers Junior Hockey Club.
• Traverse City Hounds— (2015–16, Midwest Division) Joined from the Midwest Junior Hockey League in 2015; renamed Traverse City North Stars after the former former NAHL team in 2016.

References

External links

• Official USPHL website
• Official USA Hockey website