The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

league, with teams in the United States and Canada. The league was headquartered in

Rochester, Michigan Rochester is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 12,711 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is a northern suburb in Metro Detroit located 20 miles north of the city of ...

, and, in its last year, consisted of seven teams. It folded in 2010, with most of its teams joining the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

. The Central Hockey League teams still operating in 2014 were then added to

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

. The only former CoHL/UHL/IHL teams still active as of 2024 are the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team, which currently plays in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In all of North American professional hockey, only the Orig ...

and

Kalamazoo Wings The Kalamazoo Wings, nicknamed the K-Wings, are a mid-level professional ice hockey team in Kalamazoo, Michigan. A member of the ECHL's Western Conference, Central Division, they play in the 5,113-seat Wings Event Center. They are the affiliate ...

History

The UHL was originally formed in 1991 as the Colonial Hockey League and had teams in

Brantford, Ontario Brantford (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River (Ontario), Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by County of Brant, Brant County but is politically separate wi ...

;

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

;

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...

;

St. Thomas, Ontario St. Thomas is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It gained its city charter on March 4, 1881. The city is also the seat for Elgin County, although it is independent of the county. At the time of the 2021 Census, the population of the city w ...

; and

Thunder Bay, Ontario Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...

; the avowed goal of the league organizers was to fill the low-level niche in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

area abandoned by the original International Hockey League as the latter league engaged in upmarket expansion. As time passed, the CoHL moved eastward, into places like Glens Falls, NY; Danbury, CT; Utica, NY; Binghamton, NY; and Richmond, VA. During that expansion, the league was renamed "United Hockey League" (UHL) and the headquarters was moved to Lake St. Louis, Missouri, in 1997. The 2006–07 season was the last season of play for the league under the UHL name. Following the 2006–07 season, the league lost half of its ten teams. The franchises in Moline and Rockford, Illinois moved to the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

, the team in Elmira, New York, went to the

, and the franchises in Chicago, Illinois and Port Huron, Michigan ceased operations. In June 2007, at the league’s annual meeting, the UHL announced that it was changing its name to the "International Hockey League" (IHL). Paul L. Pickard was named the first president and CEO of the new IHL. During that summer, the UHL headquarters moved from Lake St. Louis, Missouri, to

. The UHL's rebranding was intended to evoke the original IHL, which had ceased operations in 2001 and covered much of the new IHL's footprint. The

were a longtime member of the original league while the

and Flint Generals franchises were revived names of the original

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

and

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

IHL teams. On July 13, 2010, the league announced an agreement with the

, the effects of which saw five IHL teams – the Bloomington PrairieThunder,

Dayton Gems The Dayton Gems were a minor league ice hockey team based in Dayton, Ohio, and members of the International Hockey League from 1964 to 1977, and 1979–1980. The Gems were an expansion team assembled from various cast-offs and young players loo ...

Evansville IceMen The Evansville IceMen were a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL in Evansville, Indiana. The franchise was originally a member of the United Hockey League before it merged into the Central Hockey League in 2010. The franchise won four post-s ...

and

Quad City Mallards The Quad City Mallards were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa that competed in the United Hockey League, International Hockey League, Central Hockey League and ECHL. They were named aft ...

– absorbed into the CHL. The remaining two franchises from the league's last season that were not absorbed into the CHL, the Flint Generals and the Port Huron Icehawks, folded.

Governance

Dennis Hextall Dennis Hextall (born April 17, 1943) is a former professional hockey forward who spent most of his career with the Minnesota North Stars and Detroit Red Wings. He is the son of Bryan Hextall, brother of Bryan Hextall Jr., uncle of Ron Hextall a ...

was named as the president and commissioner of the International Hockey League on September 2, 2009. Hextall was preceded by Paul Pickard, who served as commissioner for the first two years of the renamed league (2007–2009). Several UHL teams had affiliations with the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

, and the All American Hockey League.

Teams

Timeline

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:01/01/1991 till:11/25/2010 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.95,0.5,0.4) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:barcolor from:07/01/1991 till:06/01/1998 text: Brantford Smoke (1991–1998) bar:1 color:barcolor from:07/01/1998 till:06/01/2002 text: Asheville Smoke (1998–2002) bar:2 color:barcolor from:07/01/1991 till:06/01/1993 text: Flint Bulldogs (91–93) bar:2 color:barcolor from:07/01/1993 till:06/01/1994 shift:(20) text: Utica Bulldogs (1993–1994) bar:3 color:barcolor from:07/01/1991 till:06/01/1996 text: Michigan/Detroit Falcons (1991–1996) bar:3 color:barcolor from:07/01/1996 till:06/01/2002 text: Port Huron Border Cats (1996–2002) bar:4 color:barcolor from:07/01/1991 till:06/01/1999 text: Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks/Senators/Thunder Cats (1991–1999) bar:4 color:barcolor from:07/01/1999 till:06/01/2007 text:

Rockford IceHogs The Rockford IceHogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Rockford, Illinois. They are members of the American Hockey League (AHL), having begun play in the League starting in the 2007–08 season. The team plays their home games at the ...

(1999–2007) bar:5 color:barcolor from:07/01/1991 till:06/01/1994 text: St. Thomas Wildcats (91–94) bar:5 color:barcolor from:07/01/1994 till:06/01/1995 text:

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

(94–95) bar:5 color:barcolor from:07/01/1996 till:06/01/1997 shift:-10 text: Dayton Ice Bandits (96–97) bar:5 color:barcolor from:07/01/1998 till:02/22/2001 shift:20 text: Mohawk Valley Prowlers (1998–2001) bar:6 color:barcolor from:07/01/1992 till:06/15/1994 shift:-20 text: Chatham Wheels (92–94) bar:6 color:barcolor from:07/01/1994 till:12/19/1999 text: Saginaw Wheels/LumberKings/Gears (1994–1999) bar:6 color:barcolor from:12/31/1999 till:06/01/2000 text: Ohio Gears (1999–2000) bar:7 color:barcolor from:07/01/1992 till:06/01/2010 text: Muskegon Fury/Lumberjacks (1992–2010) bar:8 color:barcolor from:07/01/1993 till:06/01/2010 text: Flint Generals (1993–2010) bar:9 color:barcolor from:07/01/1994 till:06/01/1997 shift:0 text: Utica Blizzard (94–97) bar:9 color:barcolor from:07/01/1997 till:06/01/1999 shift:-10 text: W-S IceHawks (97–99) bar:9 color:barcolor from:07/01/1999 till:06/01/2006 text: Adirondack Frostbite/IceHawks (1999–2006) bar:10 color:barcolor from:07/01/1995 till:06/01/1999 text: Madison Monsters (1995–1999) bar:10 color:barcolor from:07/01/1999 till:06/01/2002 text: Knoxville Speed (1999–2002) bar:11 color:barcolor from:07/01/1995 till:06/01/2007 text:

(1995–2007) bar:12 color:barcolor from:07/01/1997 till:06/01/2002 text: B.C. Icemen (1997–2002) bar:13 color:barcolor from:07/01/1999 till:06/01/2010 text:

(1999–2010) bar:14 color:barcolor from:07/01/1999 till:06/01/2000 shift:-35 text: Madison Kodiaks (99-00) bar:14 color:barcolor from:07/01/2000 till:06/01/2009 shift:35 text:

(2000–2009) bar:15 color:barcolor from:07/01/1999 till:06/01/2006 text: Missouri River Otters (1999–2006) bar:16 color:barcolor from:07/01/2000 till:06/01/2007 text:

Elmira Jackals The Elmira Jackals were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Elmira, New York. They were members of the United Hockey League from 2000 to 2007 and the ECHL from 2007 to 2017. The Jackals played their home games at First Arena. ...

(2000–2007) bar:17 color:barcolor from:07/01/2000 till:06/01/2002 text: New Haven Knights (2000–2002) bar:18 color:barcolor from:07/01/2002 till:06/01/2005 text: Port Huron Beacons (02-05) bar:18 color:barcolor from:07/01/2005 till:06/01/2006 text:

Roanoke Valley Vipers The Roanoke Valley Vipers were a minor professional ice hockey team located in Roanoke, Virginia. They were a member of the United Hockey League and played in the Roanoke Civic Center. The franchise was formed in 2002 as the Port Huron Beacons ...

(2005–2006) bar:19 color:barcolor from:07/01/2003 till:01/19/2004 text: Columbus Stars (2003–2004) bar:20 color:barcolor from:07/01/2003 till:06/01/2006 text: Richmond RiverDogs (03-06) bar:20 color:barcolor from:07/01/2006 till:06/01/2007 text: Chicago Hounds (2006–2007) bar:21 color:barcolor from:07/01/2004 till:06/01/2006 text:

Danbury Trashers The Danbury Trashers were a United Hockey League (UHL) professional ice hockey team located in Danbury, Connecticut, first established in 2004 as an expansion team. The team was named for its owner's business in waste management; James Galante p ...

(2004–2006) bar:22 color:barcolor from:07/01/2004 till:06/01/2005 text: Kansas City Outlaws (2004–2005) bar:23 color:barcolor from:07/01/2004 till:06/01/2006 text: Motor City Mechanics (2004–2006) bar:24 color:barcolor from:07/01/2005 till:06/01/2007 text:

Port Huron Flags The Port Huron Flags were a minor league professional ice hockey team located in Port Huron, Michigan Port Huron is a city in and seat of government of St. Clair County, Michigan, United States. The population was 28,983 at the 2020 census. ...

(2005–2007) bar:25 color:barcolor from:07/01/2006 till:06/01/2010 text: Bloomington PrairieThunder (2006–2010) bar:26 color:barcolor from:07/01/2007 till:06/01/2010 text: Port Huron Icehawks (2007–2010) bar:27 color:barcolor from:07/01/2009 till:06/01/2010 shift:-75 text:

(2009–2010) bar:28 color:barcolor from:07/01/2009 till:06/01/2010 shift:-105 text:

(2009–2010) LineData = at:06/15/1997 color:black width:1 at:06/15/2007 color:black width:1 ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1991

History of teams

* Adirondack Frostbite 2004–2006 * Adirondack IceHawks 1999–2004, later Adirondack Frostbite * Asheville Smoke 1998–2002 * Arctic Xpress 2000–2001 (did not play), later Canton Xpress * B.C. Icemen 1997–2002 * Bloomington PrairieThunder (2006–10), merged into

* Brantford Smoke 1991–1998, later Asheville Smoke * Canton Ice Patrol 2002 (did not play) * Canton Xpress 2001 – January 28, 2002 (did not play), later Canton Ice Patrol * Chatham Wheels 1992–1994, later Saginaw Wheels * Chicago Hounds 2006–2007 * Columbus Stars 2003 – January 9, 2004 *

2004–2006 *

2009–2010, merged into

* Dayton Ice Bandits 1996–1997, later Mohawk Valley Prowlers * Detroit Falcons 1992–1996 *

2000–2007, moved to

2010, merged into

* Flint Bulldogs 1991–1993, later Utica Bulldogs * Flint Generals 1993–2010 *

1999–2010, merged into

2000–2009, Wings moved to

* Kansas City Outlaws 2004–2005 * Knoxville Speed 1999–2002 * Lehigh Valley Xtreme 2000 (did not play) * London Wildcats 1994–1995, later Dayton Ice Bandits * Madison Kodiaks 1999–2000, later

* Madison Monsters 1995–1999, later Knoxville Speed * Michigan Falcons 1991–1992, later Detroit Falcons * Missouri River Otters 1999–2006 * Mohawk Valley Prowlers 1998–February 2001 * Motor City Mechanics 2004–2006 *

Muskegon Fury Muskegon ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Muskegon County, Michigan, United States. Situated around a harbor of Lake Michigan, Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, and boating. It is the most populous city along Lake Michigan' ...

1992–2008, rebranded as Lumberjacks *

Muskegon Lumberjacks The Muskegon Lumberjacks are a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League. They play in Muskegon, Michigan, at Trinity Health Arena. The Lumberjacks replaced the International Hockey League fr ...

2008–2010, later

* New Haven Knights 2000–2002 * Ohio Gears December 20, 1999 – 2000, later Arctic Xpress * Port Huron Beacons 2002–2005, later

* Port Huron Border Cats 1996–2002 * Port Huron Icehawks 2007–2010 *

2005–2007 *

1995–2007 *

2009–2010, merged into

* Richmond RiverDogs 2003–2006, later Chicago Hounds *

2005–2006 *

1999–2007, assets bought out by

* Saginaw Gears 1998 – December 19, 1999, later Ohio Gears * Saginaw LumberKings 1996–1998, later Saginaw Gears * Saginaw Wheels 1994–1996, later Saginaw LumberKings * St. Thomas Wildcats 1991–1994, later London Wildcats * Thunder Bay Senators 1993–1996, later Thunder Bay Thunder Cats * Thunder Bay Thunder Cats 1996–1999, later

* Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks 1991–1993, later Thunder Bay Senators * Utica Bulldogs 1993–1994 * Utica Blizzard 1994–1997, later Winston-Salem IceHawks * Winston-Salem IceHawks 1997–1999, later Adirondack IceHawks

Colonial/Turner Cup champions

The Colonial Cup was the league's championship trophy. The name was changed to the Turner Cup in 2007 to reflect the original IHL's championship trophy, also named the

Turner Cup The Turner Cup was the championship trophy of the International Hockey League from 1945 to 2001 and the renamed United Hockey League from 2007 to 2010. The Cup was named for Joe Turner, a goaltender from Windsor, Ontario. Turner became professi ...

. * 1992 – Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks * 1993 – Brantford Smoke * 1994 – Thunder Bay Senators * 1995 – Thunder Bay Senators * 1996 – Flint Generals * 1997 –

* 1998 –

* 1999 –

* 2000 – Flint Generals * 2001 –

* 2002 –

* 2003 –

* 2004 –

* 2005 –

* 2006 –

* 2007 –

* 2008 –

* 2009 –

* 2010 –

Awards

* UHL Best Goaltender

References

External links

Official IHL website

{{Professional Hockey Defunct ice hockey leagues in the United States Defunct ice hockey leagues in Canada Minor league ice hockey 1991 establishments in the United States 2010 disestablishments in the United States 1991 establishments in Canada 2010 disestablishments in Canada