Eastern Hockey League (EHL)/World Hockey Association 2 (WHA-2) - Another Twist on MLN Sports Zone, A Minor League Sports News Magazine News

Another Twist
The WHA2 becomes the EHL in the latest saga of the southeastern minor league hockey soap opera.

Jonathan Roybal
MinorLeagueNews.com

Updated 04.30.04

04.22.04 -- The roller coaster ride that has been the southeast minor league hockey scene over the last three years just took another sudden loop.

After one year of operation, the World Hockey Association 2 (WHA2) has disbanded and will take its six teams to form the reincarnated Eastern Hockey League (EHL).

There were several major determining factors as to why the WHA2 member teams decided to align with the EHL, according to the league.

These included a lack of support, direction, leadership, and proven ability to see the WHA materialize into a self proclaimed major professional hockey league.

The decision to disassociate with the WHA2, and for all intents and purposes, the World Hockey Association (WHA), was agreed to by the League's Board of Governors on March 3.

"The WHA failed to provide the committed ownership groups it assured us it would have,” said David Waronker, WHA2 founder and owner of the Orlando, Jacksonville and Macon teams.

This will be the third league in three years for Waronker. He was initially part of the now-defunct Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL), owning four teams (three active and one inactive) during the league’s one and only season in 2002-03.

Waronker removed his teams from the ACHL on April 13, 2003 to start the WHA2, citing administrative problems and alleged financial improprieties associated with ACHL founder Bill Coffey.

A "turf war" that ensued the following summer was finally put to rest by a court settlement, which released Waronker’s teams from the ACHL and ceded the territories for the franchises to the WHA-2.

The four remaining ACHL teams eventually left the league to form the South East Hockey League (SEHL), prior to the 2003-04 season.

The EHL anticipates starting the 2004-05 season with 10-12 franchises throughout the Southeastern United States.

The Miami Manatees franchise has been granted a temporary one-year suspension of operations while it looks to relocate for the 2005-2006 season, while an expansion franchise out of Cape Coral Florida has agreed to follow the former WHA2 member teams to the new league.

New potential ownership groups in Winston-Salem, N.C. and Huntsville, Ala., both are negotiating for new leases with the buildings in those cities. Both cities hosted SEHL franchises this season. It is not clear whether either of these two teams or the SEHL are willing to cede their ice to the new EHL-proposed franchises. The SEHL was unavailable for comment.

Should these franchises come to fruition, it would leave the SEHL with just two cities (Knoxville, Tenn. and Cape Fear, N.C.) for the upcoming season. Those cities might be forced to either join the EHL or another league, if the SEHL was unable to come up with enough expansion franchises to form a full season league.

Whatever the future holds, it would seem the EHL is in for an uphill battle according to one source, as the league itself is in arrears.

The March 26, 2004 edition of the Orlando Business Journal reported that the WHA2 is $500,000 dollars in debt. In addition, the Orlando Seals (owned by Waronker) has also run up a past-due rent bill of $130,000 for the use of the city-owned TD Waterhouse Centre.

Various attempts by MLN to contact Mr. Waronker for this story were unsuccessful.

The WHA2 teams struggled with attendance throughout the 2003-04 season and the instability of the league is sure to hurt the EHL in that department. For most of these cities, this is the 3rd league in 3 years; for Macon, it’s the 5th in 5.

Also, the affiliation with the WHA was a big selling point for the league during its inaugural season. Now that the affiliation is off the table, it remains to be seen just how viable the EHL really is.