The USA Central Hockey League (USACHL) was a

junior ice hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from ...

league based in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. The league was not sanctioned by any outside hockey governing body, but was structured as a "free-to-play" junior league similar to

USA Hockey USA Hockey is a national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the governing body for organized ice hockey in the United S ...

's Tier I and Tier II as opposed to the "pay-to-play" Tier III leagues.

History

The league announced its formation in March 2018, founded by former

El Paso Buzzards The El Paso Buzzards were a professional ice hockey team in El Paso, Texas, United States, and were members of the Western Professional Hockey League and Central Hockey League. They played their home games at El Paso County Coliseum. The team w ...

owner Bill Davidson and former

Western Professional Hockey League The Western Professional Hockey League (abbreviated WPHL) was a minor professional ice hockey league. The WPHL operated from 1996 to 2001 with teams based in the southern United States, primarily Texas and Louisiana. The league started with six te ...

founder Rick Kozuback. The league named former

Salmon Arm Silverbacks The Salmon Arm Silverbacks are a junior ice hockey team from Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada. They are a part of the British Columbia Hockey League. The Silverbacks returned a BCHL team to Shuswap/Salmon Arm 12 years after the previous tea ...

general manager Troy Mick as its first president. The USACHL announced it was planning a sixty-game regular season schedule that lasts from October until March. The league was initially planned to consist of six teams, targeting cities associated with the defunct

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 ...

(CHL), for its inaugural 2018–19 season featuring players under twenty-years-old. The first two teams were announced in Laredo and

Hidalgo, Texas Hidalgo is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. Its population was 11,198 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, and in 2020, the population had risen to 13,964. History The area that is now Hidalgo was first settled by Spanis ...

, both teams sharing branding with former CHL teams, the

Laredo Bucks The Laredo Bucks were an ice hockey team in the Central Hockey League. The Bucks played in Laredo, Texas, United States at the Laredo Energy Arena, formerly known as the Laredo Entertainment Center. On May 1, 2012, the management, citing declin ...

and Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. The third announced was in

Wichita Falls, Texas Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan area, Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer County, Tex ...

, and were named the Wichita Falls Force through a naming contest. Wichita Falls had gone without a hockey team for one season after the

North American Hockey League The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 50th season of operation in 2024–25. It is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternati ...

Wichita Falls Wildcats The Wichita Falls Wildcats were a Tier II junior ice hockey team in the North American Hockey League's South Division. The Wildcats played out of the 7,380-seat Kay Yeager Coliseum in Wichita Falls, Texas. After failing to find a buyer, the Wil ...

ceased operations in 2017. However, with the announced October season start date approaching, the league announced at the end of August a fourth and final 2018–19 team called the Texas Lawmen to be based in

McAllen, Texas McAllen is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Hidalgo County. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexican border. The city limits extend south to the Rio Grande, acros ...

. The league stated it was purchasing the Frio Grande Valley Ice Center as the Lawmen's home arena and would renovate the building. The league played its first game on October 26, 2018, when the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees defeated the Laredo Bucks. After the opening week, several games were postponed due to rink availability or arena issues. Within the first month of play, USACHL president Troy Mick, along with the original four original head coaches all departed from the league. The sale of the Frio Grande Valley Ice Center fell through, forcing the team to use the nearby Killer Bees home venue for scheduled home games. The Lawmen's first few games also did not allow spectators in the arena as there was not enough time for the arena to advertise the game in order to sell tickets. On November 14, 2018, all league operated social media sites were shut down or deleted. The league stated they believed a disgruntled or unpaid employee had taken over the sites and the league was working on reclaiming them. By November 17, the social media sites had still not been reclaimed and were eventually renamed, with the league creating new Twitter accounts for the USACHL and for the affected teams. During the November 23 game of the Bucks at the Wichita Falls Force, the team issued handouts to the attendees continuing to blame the unpaid employee for taking the social media sites, but stated the league is continuing operations regardless. By the November 23 game between the Killer Bees and Lawmen, the teams played a three-on-three showcase due to lack of players. The following week on November 29, the Lawmen were down to only three players, the second coaching staff all resigned, and the team ceased operations. On November 30, the Wichita Falls home game against the Killer Bees was cancelled citing bus scheduling issues. However, the city of Wichita Falls announced they had actually locked out the Force from the arena due to late payments and the December 1 and 2 games were also cancelled. On December 1, the Wichita Falls billet families for the players announced the rest of the players were leaving and the Force had folded. On December 3, parents of players for the Laredo Bucks announced their kids were leaving the team. On December 7, the league cancelled the remainder of the season. The league management later issued a press release claiming "business interference" as the reason for the league's suspension and that the league would return in the 2019–20 season, which did not happen.

History

Teams

References

External links